Hollar races to 3 state track medals for River Valley (2024)

Marshall Independent

Story by Travis Rosenau

trosenau@nujournal.com

ST. MICHAEL — River Valley’s Hailey Hollar stayed busy during this year’s Class A State Track and Field Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

River Valley’s Marley Hewitt, right, takes the baton from teammate Hailey Hollar in the girls 4x400-meter relay finals Friday at the Class A State Track and Field Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School in St. Michael.

It wasn’t anything she wasn’t used to, though.

Having competed in four different events all season during her senior year with the River Valley track and field team, Hollar competed in all four of those same events at the state tournament this year. That was her goal coming into her senior year. She not only met that goal, she surpassed it by taking home three Class A state medals this year.

On Friday, Hollar took third in the girls 100-meter dash finals (12.13), fourth in the girls 200-meter dash finals (25.05) and helped the River Valley girls 4×400-meter relay team (Hollar, Marley Hewitt, Marissa Pabst and Brynne Ibberson) take home a second-place medal with a PR time of 4:02.68.

“That was my goal, obviously, getting to four events,” Hollar said. “I think coming off the 100, I just had really high hopes for that. My times had dropped by like two-tenths of a second and I was running about the time that would have gotten first place last year at state, so I was having really high hopes for that. I ran the prelims on Thursday for the 100 … and I think I got fifth, and I kind of just felt down because, obviously, I wanted that gold medal.

“Then I kind of took that mindset to long jump and I wasn’t mentally in it, but I made my goal of getting there in all four events, so that’s something to be proud of, so I didn’t hang my head for too long. I kind of picked myself back up and got focused on the 200 and the 4×4.”

Minnesota Valley Lutheran/New Ulm Cathedral’s Kendrick Henry competes in the boys 4x400-meter relay finals Friday at the Class A State Track and Field Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School in St. Michael.

In the girls 100 finals, Hollar’s 12.13 final time saw her cruise past her fourth-place state time in the event last year (12.56). That improvement saw her climb up another spot on the podium this year.

“With it being like the first event of the whole meet, it’s easy for my focus to kind of go there a lot,” Hollar said of the 100. “And then I have a big break before the 200 and 4×4, so, yeah, as soon as the track opens, it’s warming up for the 100, so I think that’s where a lot of my focus goes. … That’s kind of my favorite event, but this year I got way stronger in the 200 as well by conditioning in the offseason and the winter mostly.

“I did a fall sport in volleyball and just track for the spring and I ended up not doing basketball the past couple years and I went out for that my senior year and I think that definitely helped conditioning-wise, made me much stronger in that event as well.”

Hollar competed in the girls long jump finals on Thursday, finishing 24th with a top jump of 16 feet, 1/2 inches.

Last year, Hollar made it to state in the 100, the 200 and was part of River Valley’s state 4×100 relay team.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran/New Ulm Cathedral’s Justin Thompson runs during the boys 4x200-meter relay finals Friday at the Class A State Track and Field Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School in St. Michael.

In the final track and field event of her prep career, Hollar celebrated a 4×400 second-place finish alongside her teammates.

“It was so special to be a part of our 4×4 team,” Hollar said. “The beginning of the year, I had no idea what relay they were going to put me in, It was between the 4×1, 4×2 or 4×4. I kind of thought my coach was crazy for thinking about putting me in the 4×4 as I had never done it before, I kind of just stuck with the 100 and 200.

“I love my teammates this year, it’s been so fun watching each of them grow. We were going for first, we were undefeated all season until today, but obviously second is nothing to hang our heads about. We PR’d by 3 seconds, I mean 4:02 is a crazy time for a 4×4, so we’re still celebrating that and nothing to hang our heads about.”

River Valley also saw more medals handed out Friday when its girls 4×800 relay team of Katie Thram, Pabst, Aubrey Steffl and Ibberson took fourth with a season-best time of 9:43.74.

Also from the area, Minnesota Valley Lutheran/New Ulm Cathedral saw two boys relay teams place in final events. The MVL/NUC boys 4×200-meter relay team of Josh Bentler, Jared Frey, Justin Thompson and Ben Halvorson took ninth in the finals with a time of 1:32.89.

Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet’s Connor Martens runs in the boys 100-meter dash finals Friday at the Class A State Track and Field Championships at St. Michael-Albertville High School in St. Michael.

The MVL/NUC boys 4×400-meter relay team of Thompson, Elliott Hoffman, Kendrick Henry and Halvorson turned in a season-best time of 3:30.6 to take ninth in the finals.

Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Garrett Schmidt took home an eighth-place medal in the boys 110-meter hurdles finals with a time of 15.29. Schmidt, a senior, was one-tenth of a second behind the seventh-place finisher, James Weber of Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd.

Also for GFW on Friday, Alex Johnson took 14th in the boys discus finals with a top throw of 141 feet, 2 inches.

Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet senior Connor Martens finished ninth in the boys 100-meter dash finals Friday with a time of 11.23. Also for LCWM/N, the boys 4×100-meter relay team of Logan Sandmeyer, Martens, Logan Quade and Wesley Hoffman finished sixth in the finals with a season-best time of 44.08.