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The Hamline Elite Meet is an invite-only competition placing the top athletes within the state, regardless of competitive class, into one meet. Track and field programs from around the state submit times in hopes of being selected to compete among the best athletes in Minnesota.
Murray County Central’s own Amanda Overguaaw was one of the sixteen girls that qualified in the 3200 meter run. Of those sixteen, three of them compete at the class A level while the others are in AA or AAA. Class A competitors joining Amanda included Jade Rypkema of Nevis and Laura Thompson of Fairmont. At the 2021 state meet, those two finished first and second while Amanda was third. All three were within a second from each other.
The runners, performing in a light rain, ran within a pack for the first two laps until Rypkema decided to increase the pace and separate herself from the others. Amanda made the decision to go with her. Those two ran the rest of the race together, 30-50 meters ahead of everyone else.
As it got to the last lap, the two battled it out but it was Rypkema that was able to out sprint Overguaaw in the closing meters to come out on top with a time of 10:45. Overguaaw placed second, breaking her personal best school record time by 4 seconds finishing with a time of 10:50. In third was class A runner, Thompson, giving them a clean sweep over the AA and AAA competition.
On her race and experience, Amanda said, “This is an experience I’ll never forget. It was awesome to be able to run against the top runners in the state, seeing where I rank. I will use this as motivation going forward throughout the season.”
