Posted: 6/13/07
NB relay team finishes 10th at state
 JJ Koeber, back left, hands off to teammate Aaron Cedergren for the second leg of the 4x800 relay at the state meet June 9 at Hamline University. At right, Raymond Heinkel of Buffalo hands off to David Pallesen. |
By Steve Morris
Racing in the first event of the day, the North Branch 4x800 relay team took 10th place out of 11 teams at the state track meet, June 9, at Hamline University in St. Paul.
The team of JJ Koeber, Aaron Cedergren, Cody Good and Nick Ramberg finished in a time of 8:09.90, nearly eight seconds slower than what they ran at the section meet in Grand Rapids.
The team from Willmar won the race in 7:47.33, which set a Minnesota State meet all-time record.
At the state meet, the boys switched the order of the relay. Typically, Cedergren would start the race for the boys. At Hamline, the coaches decided to go with Koeber. Head coach Brian Hasleiet said many teams run their second fastest kid first.
Koeber went out strong to start and stuck with the pack for most of his portion of the race, putting Cedergren in good position. Koeber said part of his aim was to not get boxed in during the start. Hasleiet said Koeber did exactly what they wanted him to do.
"I felt fine, but it was a little faster than what I usually start out," Koeber said.
From there, the competition inched away from the Vikings and by the time the baton was handed to Ramberg, the race was nearly out of reach. Ramberg ran most of his race alone and was unable to eat up the lost ground.
Despite the finish, Hasleiet was happy they made it this far.
"The guys have just had a great career and I appreciate what they have done for the program. We're really gonna miss them," he said.
800 preliminaries
On June 8, Ramberg ran in the 800 prelims and failed to qualify. He finished with a time of 1:58.06. Senior Zachary Mellon of Buffalo won the 800 in a time of 1:52.66.
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