MANKATO —
Mankato senior Taylor Hayenga is probably best known for his skills on the basketball court, but the 6-foot-2 student-athlete knows his way around the disc and shot put pits pretty well, too.
Hayenga has been posting some decent distances this year, which isn’t bad considering he spends most of his offseason fine-tuning his basketball game.
“I didn’t throw at all during the offseason,” Hayenga said Tuesday, shortly after his final toss in the shot put. “I’ve just been working on my form. My footwork is probably a little better than last year, and I’m stronger, too.”
Hayenga turned in a first and second at Tuesday’s meet, helping the Cougars to a first-place team finish in a Big Nine Conference triangular. East scored 81 points, Rochester Century was second with 61 and Albert Lea was third with 44.
Hayenga won the discus with a throw of 147-feet-4 and was the runner-up in the shot put at 49-5 1/2. Joy Visto, a first-year throwing coach for the Cougars, said Hayenga has two key attributes going for him.
“He’s very strong and he’s very quick,” said Visto, who was a thrower at the University of Minnesota-Morris. “Early on, coach (Dusty) Julius and I were tinkering with his rotation, but he has such a natural glide we didn’t want to change it too much. I’m sure playing basketball helps him in the throws.”
Hayenga said his two goals for this season are to reach 50 feet in the shot put and the 150-foot mark in the discus.
“If I can hit both of those I should have a good shot at going to state,” he said. “I know some of the top guys in the section last year graduated, but there were some good guys coming back, too. We’ll just have to see.”
The Cougars opened the meet by winning the 4x800-meter relay. The foursome of Aaron Faugstad, Luis Mendez, Nate Iversen and Sam Rykhus turned in a time of 9:11.70.
East’s 4x2 relay of Yousef Harwil, Calvin Deike, Cody Lorentz and Neil Nienaber won in 1:37.35. The Cougars’ final relay win came in the 4x4 where the quartet of Nic Seiler, Gabe Eichberger, Nienaber and Ben Neyers turned in a winning time of 3:37.52.
Among the individual champions for East were Matt Roberts in both the 110 hurdles (15.71) and the pole vault (13-0); Harwil in the 100-meter dash (11.93); Ryan Erdman in the 1,600 meters (4:42.33); and Neyers in the 200 meters (23.61).
Mankato East Triangular
(at Wolverton Field)
TEAM SCORES: 1--Mankato East 81; 2--Rochester Century 61; 3--Albert Lea Area 44.
4x800-METER RELAY: 1--Mankato East (Aaron Faugstad, Luis Mendez, Nate Iversen, Sam Rykhus) 9:11.70; 2--Rochester Century 9:28.42.
110 HIGH HURDLES: 1--Matt Roberts (ME) 15.71; 2--Tyler Wichmann (AL) 17:07; 3--William Kolb (RC) 17.27; 4--Clint Frandsen (RC) 17.93.
100 METERS: 1--Yousef Harwil (ME) 11.93; 2--Matthew Marks (RC) 12.31; 3--Michael Adkins (RC) 12.45; 4--Jaden Thomson (ME) 12.62.
4x200-RELAY: 1--Mankato East (Yousef Harwil, Deike, Cody Lorentz, Neil Nienaber) 1:37.35; 2--Albert Lea Area 1:37.73.
1,600 METERS: 1--Ryan Erdman (ME) 4:42.33; 2--Samuel Schroeder (RC) 4:58.36; 3--Blair Bonnerup (AL) 4:58.58; 4--Seth Massot (RC) 4:59.15.
4x100-RELAY: 1--Rochester Century 46.95; 2--Mankato East 47.42; 3--Albert Lea Area 48.95.
400 METERS: 1--Dominick Jacobs (RC) 54.11; 2--Ryan Erdman (54.82; 3--Clayton Bratten (AL) 55.06; 4--Adam Lorentz (ME) 56.11.
300 INTERMEDIATE HURDLES: 1--Brody Sunblad (AL) 43.57; 2--Noah Miller (ME) 45.36; 3--Matthew Marks (RC) 45.42; 4--Alexander Frandsen (RC) 45.45.
800 METERS: 1--Michael Allen (RC) 2:06.11; 2--Ryan Erdman (ME) 2:10.14; 3--Paul Hale (RC) 2:12.40; 4--Aaron Faugstad (ME) 2:14.92.
200 METERS: 1--Ben Neyers (ME) 23.61; 2--Matt Roberts (ME) 24.67; 3--Taylor Harris (AL) 35.79; 4--Hayden Ashworth (RC) 26.52.
3,200 METERS: 1--Brandon Bonnerup (AL) 11:06.05; 2--Justin Kotajarvi (RC) 11:31.13; 3--Steven Iversen (ME) 11:56.10; 4--Kirk Busche (RC) 11:59.23.
4x400-RELAY: 1--Mankato East (Seiler, Eichberger, Neil Nienaber, Ben Neyers) 3:37.52; 2--Albert Lea 3:38.91.
SHOT PUT: 1--Bryce DeBoer (AL) 52-5.5; 2--Taylor Hayenga (ME) 49-5.5; 3--Nathan Lingbeck (ME) 38-5; 4--Jacob Kunkel (AL) 37-4.5.
DISCUS: 1--Taylor Hayenga (ME) 147-4; 2--Jacob Kunkel (AL) 122-1; 3--Elleciah Humphrey (RC) 113-10; 4--Matt Bornholdt (Me) 110-7.
LONG JUMP: 1--Tyler Wichmann (AL) 19-feet-6; 2--Yousef Harwil (ME) 19-2; 3--Alexander Frandsen (RC) 18-10; 4--Clint Frandsen (RC) 18-2.
TRIPLE JUMP: 1--Alexander Frandsen (RC) 40-feet-8.5; 2--Cody Lorentz (ME) 35-10.5; 3--Preston Smith (AL) 35-4; 4--Isaac Ware (AL) 34-3.75.
HIGH JUMP: 1--Clint Frandsen (RC) 6-feet-3; 2--Ben Neyers (ME) 6-0; 3--Tyler Wichmann (AL) 6-0; 4--Jacob Riggott (RC) 5-10.
POLE VAULT: 1--Matt Roberts (ME) 13-feet; 2--Michael Adkins (RC) 12-6; 3--William Kolb (RC) 12-6; 4--Caleb Paarmann (ME) 12-0.
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