Falls High track hosts IRC Meet: Gelo, Solo and Murcia lead Broncos to third place finish

By JOE KRAUSE, Sports Editor

The Falls High track played host to the 2008 Iron Range Conference Boys’ Track and Field Meet Wednesday afternoon.
The meet was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but inclement weather forced school officials to move the meet to Wednesday.
The Broncos boys finished in third place behind AA powers Grand Rapids and Hibbing in the event.
Senior Raphy Gelo won the pole vault title with a height of 13 feet, six inches while fellow senior Eric Solo took the discus title with a toss of 158 feet, 10 inches.
Senior Martin Murcia took second place in the triple jump with a jump of 38 feet, one and one half inches. All three made the All-Conference Team by finishing in the top two in their events.
Solo’s performance in the discus placed him eighth on the FHS all-time list and knocked former head coach Charlie Anderson off of the list.
“I know the discus was sweet for Eric,” Broncos head coach Paul Hjelle said. “It’s a good thing he did it this year because if he’d done it last year, I don’t think his former coach would have been too happy.
“Charlie did a great job coaching Eric and Jay Boyle has taken over and continued to get the best out of him.”
The Broncos had several athletes finish in the top ten in their events scoring valuable points for the team.
“I was pleased with our performances today,” Hjelle said. “We had several personal bests and also several who earned letters today by placing in the top eight in their events.”
The team will compete in one more meet today in Warroad in preparation for the Sub-Section meet that will be held next Wednesday in Hibbing.
“We are going to sit down today and figure out our Sub-Section Team and hopefully qualify most of the guys for the Section Meet,” Hjelle said.

Wednesday’s results
4X800 meter relay
Briggs, Severson Weir and Youso; 9:11.14 4
100 meter hurdles
Aaron Skoglund 16.92 3
Ryan Tomevi 19.37 7
100 meter dash
Martin Murcia 11.72 3
Kevin Gorden 12.94 13
Eric Glascock 12.99 14
1600 meter run
John Sobczynski 5:09 8
4X100 meter relay
Glascock, Gorden, Tomevi and Richards; 49.47 3
400 meter dash
Thomas Briggs 55.85 5
Cody Christianson 56.29 7
Brandon Richards 59.40 11
300 meter hurdles
Rocky LaBlanc 48.07 7
Skoglund 50.95 9
800 meter run
Anthony Youso 2:16.56 7
Tyler Weir 2:26.83 12
200 meter dash
Gelo 24.26 4
Richards 24.87 7
Codie Fodness 27.20 13
3200 meter run
Sobczynski 11:11.12 7 4X400 meter relay
Briggs, Weir, Severson and Christianson; 3:55.27 4
Shot put
Eric Solo 48’ 2” 2
Michael Seegert 34’ 9” 13
Discus
Solo 158’ 10” 1
Seegert 94’ 6.5” 8
Long jump
Gelo 17’ 11.5” 5
Martin Murcia 17’ 11” 6
Ryan Tomevi 16’ 8” 9
Triple jump
Murcia 38’ 1.5” 2
Tomevi 34’ 9” 4
High jump
Shawn Filipiak 5’ 6” 4
Skoglund 5’ 4” 6
Eric Christenson 5’ 2” 9
Pole Vault
Gelo 13’ 6” 1
LaBlanc 10’ 4
Alex Schwartz 10’ 6
Team Results
1. Grand Rapids 215
2. Hibbing 144.5
3. International Falls 120.5
4. Virginia 93
5. Eveleth-Gilbert 74
6. Mountain Iron-Buhl 13
7. Mesabi East 10