The United South Central/Alden-Conger boys’ and girls’ track and field teams advanced to the state true team meet Tuesday after qualifying at the Section 2A true team championships in Maple River.

The Rebels boys’ team finished at the top of the order with 764 points, 49 points ahead of runner-up Lake Crystal-Welccome-Memorial/Nicollet. Blue Earth Area was third with 698.5 points and LeCenter/Cleveland was fourth with 689.5.

The Rebels were locked in a dual with LC-W-M/N most of the way and trailed by eight points with four events left to score.

The Rebels 200-meter dash duo of Teddy Wiebold and Thane O’Rourke finished second and fifth, respectively, to outscore their LC-W-M/N counterparts by seven points to get it close.

In the pole vault Riley Niebuhr and Skylar Peterson finished fourth and 10th, respectively, for another 12 point swing. This was followed by the 3,200-meter run, which Dylan Baumann and Daniel Elmer finished second and seventh in, respectively, to open up a 46-point lead with the 4×400-meter relay to go. The Rebels finished fourth in that event to nail down the win and advance to the state true team meet held at 10 a.m. Saturday in Stillwater.

First-place finishers for the Rebels were Seth Treptow (high hurdles), Baumann (1,600-meter run), Tony Willette (discus) and the 4×200-meter relay team of O’Rourke, Chris Melby, Jannik Rosemeyer and Wiebold.

“The boys’ team’s performance was more about team than individual heroics, although there were plenty of each,” Rebels coach Kent Viesselman said. “The win was a team win.”

Viesselman said the championship came down to two important things: Baumann, Jay Staloch and Elmer’s ability to have quality races in two separate events, and the performances of Teddy Wiebold, Rosemeyer, Seth Treptow and Jacob Fawcett to have solid showings in the long and triple jump.

“We came out of those two events much better than expected,” Viesselman said. “It’s tricky, and probably wrong, to pick out individuals in a team competition. We were solid in every event and the day went well, but it seemed to me at the time that those were the two things that may have made the difference.”

Rebels girls’ team earns wildcard berth

The Rebels girls’ team had to wait until Saturday to find out that they, too, would be competing in the state true team meet.

“The girls’ performance embodied everything that is good about true team track,” Viesselman said.

According to Viesselman, the true team series was developed in Minnesota in 1986 to recognize the team with the best balance best depth as team champions, not just exceptional individual athletes.

The true team series also has something that is unique to Minnesota track, which is the wildcard, where the best of the second-place teams throughout the state advances, along with the eight section champions, to the state true team meet. The Wildcard is determined after the section results are in by running the eight section runner-ups against each other in a paper meet, using their performances from their respective section meets. The Rebels girls’ team learned Saturday morning that they had finished first in the wildcard competition by 70 points.

Two second-place finishes were turned in by Amanda Allis in the Shot Put and the 4×100-meter relay team of Mikayla Gormley, Linsey Thisius, Anissa Janzig and Ariel Keller.

“The girls got it done without winning a single event,” Viesselman said. “That makes it even more impressive. It was a solid team performance throughout the meet.”

The Rebels scored the highest in the 1,600-meter run where Andree Escherich and Hannah Goemann finished third and fourth, respectively.

Escherich was able to come back with a third-place finish in her first 3,200-meter race of the year, and Hannah came back with a second-place finish in the 800-meter run and a strong anchor performance to nail down the second place finish in the 4×400-meter relay.

“Those were key performances, but for the most part, the story was the performances of both entries in all 18 events,” Viesselman said.

The Rebels girls’ compete in the state true team meet at 10 a.m. Saturday in Stillwater.