One giant leap for the Patriots
Pequot Lakes' Michaelson wins Class A title with school-record long jump effort
Pequot Lakes senior Nolan Michaelson won the Class A state long jump title with a leap of 21 feet, 10 inches on Saturday, June 9, at Hamline University. The jump also broke a school record for the Patriots.
Nolan Michaelson not only reached his goal of setting a school record, but he also took home a Class A state championship.
The Pequot Lakes senior captured the first boys' track and field title in Pequot Lakes High School history on Saturday, June 9, when he finished first in the long jump with a school-record 21-foot, 10-inch effort at the state meet at Hamline University.
Michaelson, who qualified by standard for state after finishing third at the Section 6A meet, advanced to the final and then surprised the field when he held off runner-up Kendall Strandlund of Christ's HOF with 21 feet, 9.25 inches, and Brian Huber of Staples-Motley with 21-9.
"It could not have happened to a nicer athlete," Pequot Lakes coach Dave Guenther said of Michaelson's title. "His football season ended on the sidelines (an injury in the section final). And then to come back to finish his senior year like this is great. It was well deserved."
Michaelson took advantage of the warm weather during Friday's preliminaries and advanced to Saturday's finals.
"His first jump in the finals was in the 20-foot range, which was disappointing," Guenther said, "but when you wait for the other flight, it's hard to get back up in to those higher jumps."
Mike Nelson, Pequot Lakes' jumping coach, talked with Michaelson and they both decided to go for another jump right away.
"It was the right thing to do instead of waiting," Guenther said. "And he nailed it. Nolan was so happy to have the school record, but then he also realized he was in first place. All the other jumpers still had two attempts, and that got a little nerve racking."
Michaelson watched as each jumper failed to pass his mark.
"Brian Huber had the best jump coming in, and we just waited until Huber got his last jump in," Guenther said. "It took a while to sink in that Nolan (Michaelson) had won the first boys' track title at Pequot Lakes and set the record (which had been 21 feet, 8 inches set by Simon Stricker in 1997).
"On the way home, Nolan was getting text messages and phone calls. I also thought it was cool that Simon (Stricker) called to congratulate him. He understood that records were made to be broken."
The Pequot Lakes 4x100 relay of Travis Noska, Tyler Tappe, Isaac Allen and Nolan Michaelson finished ninth in 45.23. Waseca won the relay in 43.89.
"The main goal (of the relay) was to make the finals, which we had done the past two years," Guenther said. "With our time, we were hopeful of making the top nine. So we were happy to get (the relay) to the podium."
Waseca finished first with 56 points while Foley was second with 46. The Patriots were 28th with 13 points.
