Track and field season preview: Who and what to watch

Dynasty looms

Dynamic sisters Jada and Jia Lewis of Minneapolis Edison are on the verge of a track and field dynasty. The sprinters look to carry the Tommies to a second consecutive Class 1A title and the third in four seasons. They each earned all-state honors in the 100- and 200-meter dash and ran a leg of the winning 4x100 relay team. Fellow relay members Chauntel Fleming and Linda Senaphanh also return.

Showcases await this spring for both talented individuals at the Hamline Elite Meet and deep programs at the True Team state meet. The 12th running of the Elite Meet takes place the evening of April 28 at Hamline University. Top athletes, regardless of their program's high school classification, compete head to head. True Team, which turned 30 last spring, takes place May 20-21 at Stillwater High School and is sponsored by the coaches association. Each team is allowed three entries in individual events and one entry in each relay. Every entry scores points according to the order of finish, making depth paramount to success. The MSHSL state meet is June 9-10 at Hamline.

Edina's foursome of Tate Sweeney, Maria Rickman, Amanda Mosborg and Emily Kompelien won the 4x800 relay with a time of 8 minutes, 59.69 seconds — the state's first sub-nine-minute performance by a female relay team. All four are back. Will Edina win again or can Minnetonka regain its mastery of the event? The Skippers' four-year run as champions ended last spring.

A handful of athletes will challenge for multiple first-place medals. Eden Prairie senior Denzel Brown won the 200 and placed second in the 100. Javien Versey, a senior from Minneapolis Henry, placed second to Brown in the 200 and fifth in the 100. Eastview senior Darren Misiak earned all-state citation in both events. On the girls' side, St. Michael-Albertville senior Anna Keefer won the long jump and placed second in the 100. Bloomington Kennedy senior Honour Finley won the 400 and took second in the 200. And Armstrong junior Alexandrea Hurst won the shot put and finished second in the discus.

Class 1A is no slouch this spring. Noah Carlson of Rushford-Peterson won the 200, long jump and triple jump last spring. T'Nia Riley, a junior at Minneapolis North, won the girls' 100 and 200. St. Clair junior Mitchell Weber swept the shot put and discus. And Tierney Wolfgram, an eighth-grader at Math & Science Academy in Woodbury, took second in the 3,200.