Stellar finish at state track for Mustang stars

BY BRUCE STRAND SPORTS WRITER

Taylor Isabel and Elliott McArthur closed their glittering Mounds View high school track careers by running among the leaders in multiple races at the state Class 3A state meet at St. Michael-Albertville.

Isabel, after placing second in the 3200 in school record 10:40.77 on Thursday, finished a strong third in the 1600 on Saturday in 5:02.82, not a personal best while battling a brisk wind. The future Minnesota Gopher had seven all-state runs in her track/cross country career.

McArthur, a North Carolina State recruit, ran all three of his finals on Saturday and boosted his career all-state tally to eleven.

He started with a fifth-place finish in the 1600 in 4:18.00. Just over an hour later, he ran second in the 800 in 1:55.83, just behind Lakeville North’s Andrew Casey (1:54.83). Forty-five minutes after that, he anchored the 4x400 team that placed second in 3:22.21. Lakeville North (3:20.61) finished just ahead of Ethan Zhao, Cooper Fellman, Suleman Lubego and McArthur.

Mounds View’s other state medal winners were junior Collin Elliot, third in triple jump with career best 45-11 1/2; senior Abiola Bakare, fifth in high jump with 6-4; and eighth-grader Linnea Ousdigian, seventh in the 3200 in 10:52.93.

This was the first time McArthur ran three finals in one day; previously, he ran the 3200 instead of the 800, and the 3200 is held the first day.

“It was definitely challenging,” McArthur acknowledged. “You don’t want to let up in any of the races. If one does not go as well as you want, you have to go out and attack the next one.”

He had hoped to do better than fifth in the 1600, where the wind bothered him and he didn’t feel right.

“But I went out in the 800,” he said, “with a plan (devised) with my coach, and executed the plan, and got second.”

When he got the baton for the anchor leg of the meet’s final event, the 4x400, he said he “actually felt better” than he did in his first event, the 1600, and ran a blazing 48.9 split, moving his team up from fourth to second place.

In cross country, McArthur had eighth, ninth and 14th place finishes (top 25 are all-state). In track, he was fifth in the 1600 twice; second and seventh in the 3200; second twice and fourth in the 4x400; and now second in his first attempt at the 800.

“The 800 seemed to go better (than the 3200) for me this year. That’s why I made the switch, and I’m glad