Youth shows its potential for Raiders at Marathon meet

MEDFORD TRACK & FIELD

Both Medford track and field teams placed third Tuesday in a five-team meet at Marathon that featured four programs from the Marawood Conference.

In many cases, the Raiders used the meet to showcase some of its youngest and more inexperienced talent, but some veterans got some work in as well one week ahead of the Great Northern Conference championships, which will be held this coming Tuesday in Antigo.

The boys scored 114 points to place ahead of Prentice (90) and Athens (59) and well behind perennial Marawood powers Stratford (198) and Marathon (155).

They got strong individual outings from freshman Evan Paul and sophomore Cory Lindahl, who accounted for 49 of the team’s points. Paul won the high jump, hitting a season-best height of 5 feet, 9 inches to finish an inch ahead of Stratford’s Xander Curtice. Lindahl tied his season-best height at 5-2 to place sixth and Itsael Medina got his first mark of the season at 4-6, good for an 11th-place tie.

Paul also won the long jump competition with a leap of 17-11.25 that beat Prentice’s Alex Schantner by a quarter-inch. Jose Herrera was fifth for the Raiders at 17-4.25.

Lindahl won the 100-meter dash in 12.19 seconds, running this event for the first time this spring. He beat Stratford’s Kaden Griesmer by 0.47 seconds, while Paul wasn’t far behind, taking third in 12.68 seconds. Lucas Borman got fifthplace points for Medford at 12.94 seconds and Paxton Rothmeier debuted in 11th place at 13.48 seconds.

Schantner beat Lindahl by 0.21 seconds to win the 200-meter dash. Lindahl’s time of 24.94 seconds was easily his best, and was just enough to get him past his teammate, Medina, who was third in 25.07 seconds. Borman got the seventh-place points at 26.15 seconds, his best time. Rothmeier (27.81) and Gatlin Piller (27.98) were 11th and 12th.

One of the veterans, senior Jake Seifert, took third in the discus at 120 feet, trailing Brett Gertschen of Marathon (135-3) and Aiden Janke of Athens (129-2). Sophomore Logan Kawa set a personal record by taking sixth at 102-5, Will Haavisto set a new best at 73-7 while taking 12th and Jude Stark was 14th at 72-7. Seifert was fourth in the shot put at 40-11, Kawa was seventh at 37-1 and Haavisto was 13th at 32-1. Janke won that at 49-10.75.

Freshman Gage Losiewicz placed twice, taking third in the 400-meter dash at a season-best 56.36 seconds and sixth in the pole vault, clearing a personal-best 10-6. Stark was 11th at 8 feet. Borman was 11th in the 400 at 1:02.02.

Anthony Seidel was ninth in the 800-meter run at 2:38.2 and Rothmeier was ninth in the triple jump at 30-7.

Medford was second in all three of the relay races it entered. Medina, Paul, Isaac Kautzer and Herrera finished the 400-meter race in 48.98 seconds to trail Stratford (45.82). The Raiders added a weight-throwers crew of Kawa, Haavisto, Stark and Seifert that finished in 51.91 seconds.

Medina, Kautzer, Lindahl and Herrera posted a time of 1:39.54 in the 800-meter relay that is Medford’s fastest in the event so far this spring. Stratford just got by them at 1:38.3. Losiewicz, Kautzer, Seidel and Piller ran the 1,600-meter relay in 4:04.3 and were beaten by Stratford (3:43).

Richter wins two

Meredith Richter won the 200- and 400-meter dashes, while Brooke Rudolph, Jaylin Machon and Lindsey Klapatauskas also were individual winners for the girls, who scored 138 points. Marathon (207) and Stratford (153) took top honors, while Athens (94) and Prentice (9) were fourth and fifth.

Richter and teammate Alyssa Brandner took the top two spots in the 400 with times of 1:04.37 and 1:07.43, while Richter posted a time of 28.26 seconds in her first 200-meter dash of 2022. She beat Marathon’s Alexandria Kraimer by 1.21 seconds. Brandner was sixth in 30.48 seconds and Riley Clark got the eighthplace point at 31.07 seconds. Stacy Stolp got the last top-10 spot at 31.91 seconds. Ashley Hernandez (35.84), Emilia Zapata (36.35) and Osiris Medina (37.05) were 21st through 23rd.

Klapatauskas took the 100-meter dash in 14.17 seconds, 0.14 seconds ahead of Stratford’s Kassedey Downey. Myah Smith was 12th for Medford in 15.88 seconds, which is her best time so far. Klapatauskas was just shy of personal bests while taking third in the triple jump at 28-4.5 and fifth in the shot put at 29-7. Senior Sophie Brost was second in the triple jump at a season-best 30-10, while Stolp was fifth at 26-10.5 Rudolph won the 300-meter low hurdles in her best time of 53.38 seconds, 4.01 seconds ahead of Marathon’s Jayden Henrichs. Machon took the 100-meter high hurdles, dropping her time to 17.54 seconds, 0.19 seconds ahead of Marathon’s Chloe Lavalley. Machon finally got past that 8-6 barrier in the pole vault, hitting 9 feet to place second. Rudolph took second in the long jump at 14-4.25, trailing Lavalley (15-1.5). Raider Brenley Beran was third at 13-9.75, which is her new season-best distance. Stolp was eighth at 12-7, Hannah Fleegel was 12th at 12-1.75 and Smith was 15th at 11-4.25.

Marlee Perrin cleared 4-6 to take fourth in the high jump. Makayla Motte (62-9) and Kenya Mann (53-2) improved while taking 12th and 19th in the discus.

The team of Brandner, Clark, Rudolph

See MARATHON on page 6 and Richter won the 1,600-meter relay to end the night in a time of 4:34.6. They easily beat two Marathon teams. Beran, Clark, Stolp and Brost were second in the 800-meter relay at 1:57.94, 5.85 seconds behind Marathon. Perrin, Brost, Beran and Machon were second in the 400-meter race at 52.78 seconds, just 0.07 seconds behind Marathon.

The Raiders will get one last pre-GNC tune-up this Friday when they make their annual trip to the Wisconsin Dells Invitational.