Ponies Track And Field Teams Ready For True Team Meet

Not only are Stillwater's track and field teams hosting the 25th True Team state meet, but they will be competing and will have to be strong up and down the roster.

The True Team Championships differ from the Minnesota State High School (MSHSL) state meet, because every athlete’s score counts.

“It really shows how strong your whole team is,” Ponies girls track and field coach Dawn Podolske said. “Depth really is key to this meet and I really enjoy it for that reason.”

Stillwater beat second place Eagan in the 2AAA section meet at Eagan to advance to state. Its 745.5 points were only 9.5 better than the Wildcats, but enough for the Ponies to advance.

“We competed really well there and it showed how strong our team is,” senior captain Caitlin Hewes said. “There really isn’t an event that we are weak at, which is why we should do well at the state meet.”

If there isn’t a weakness on the Ponies track team coming into the True Team meet, their bread and butter is the relays.

Hewes is part of the 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams that were victorious in the section meet.

All four relay teams won at Eagan and was a big reason why the Ponies are going to be competing this weekend.

“That is our strength and has been all year,” Podolske said. “There is a lot of depth there and it showed at sections and I think we can do well at state.”

“We do really well in our relays and that is probably is our best event as a team,” Hewes added. “Again, you need your whole team to be perfect to win, because one thing can go wrong and you don’t win. We have been pretty good all year with that in our relays.”

Stillwater will bring in a mix of experienced leadership along with a roster filled with talented youth.

It is hit or miss to Podolske on whether or not the Ponies underclassmen will do well at state, same with the meet being held at Stillwater.

“Sometimes our younger athletes are so young, they don’t know how to be nervous for this,” she said. “At the same time, when you get there for the first time and see everything going on, it can be pretty nervous, but we have some girls with a lot of experience and they are always there to help.

“With this being held at our school, the same thing applies. You just don’t know what will happen. There are times that I like taking the bus to a meet, because we are all together. When a meet is at home, sometimes we just go off and do our own thing.”

The Ponies will have to look at taking down Suburban East Conference rival Mounds View, which is the favorite, Podolske said.

A task that may be harder to do than in years past because of numbers.  Poldolske said she usually has 125 athletes come out for track, but this year there were only about 75 that are on board.

“Some new sports like lacrosse took some away from us,” Podolske said. “That is OK, but we have seen a dip with some new sports coming out.”

Regardless, the Ponies still have one of the stronger teams at the True Team meet and Hewes said she expects the Ponies to be right there.

“We just need everyone to do their best and we should be in good shape,” she said. “Just have to take a few first place finishes and anything can happen.”

Along with the girls team, the boys will be there as well. It is coached by Scott Christensen, who has led the Ponies to True Team titles in 1994, 1995 and 1997.

The boys are coming off of a couple of strong meets where they beat Hopkins, Edina and Eden Prairie.

The Ponies boys then rolled to their Section 2AAA True Team title with 878 points—122 points better than runner-up Eagan—by winning three relays and four individual events; Neil Goff won the 400-meter run and anchored the victorious 4x200- and 4x400-meter relay teams.

“It is so nice to have them there, too,” Hewes said. “It can be a long day, so we will be able to watch and cheer for a lot of people this weekend.”