Abbotsford track advances in 14 events
The Abbotsford Falcons had athletes qualify for sectionals in 14 different events after competing in the D3 regional track and field competition held in Stratford this Monday. They will have the opportunity to compete in Marathon this Thursday with a chance to advance to the state competition on the line.
Margo Pogodzinski and Marcus Bohl picked up the Falcons top finishes at the regional meet. The pair of throwers continued their successful seasons by taking second place in their respective events. Pogodzinski just beat out Shalisha Buchanan of Loyal in the shot put, tossing a personal best 32 feet, 10 inches in the event to punch her ticket to the next level. She also qualified for sectionals in the discus, taking fourth place in the competition by recording a throw of 97 feet, 10 inches.
Meanwhile, Bohl breezed past much of the field in the discus. His best throw of the day measured in at 150 feet, 10 inches and was nearly 20 feet further than his next closest competitor. A third Falcon, Sommer Brodhagen, also earned herself an opportunity to compete in Marathon by taking third place in the discus. She recorded a throw of 100 feet, five inches.
Chloe Cihlar, Sydney Falteisek and Christian Fuentes also took home third place honors in individual events at Monday’s meet.
Cihlar put in a time of 13.69 seconds in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash to qualify for the finals, where she took third with a time of 13.81 seconds. Falteisek’s time of 17.26 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles earned her third place in the event and Fuentes’ time of 23.95 was good for third in the 200-meter dash.
Fuentes also qualified for sectionals in the long jump, where he took fourth place with a leap of 18 feet, 11.5 inches. Fellow freshman Chase Boller will also be moving on for the boys in a different field event. Boller took fourth in the high jump, clearing a height of five feet, eight inches to qualify for sectionals.
Azul Diaz will represent the Falcons in Marathon as their sole individual event distance runner. She placed fourth in the 1600-meter run, recording a time of 6:17.46.
Diaz was also part of one of the four Falcons’ relays that earned a spot at the sectional meet. She and teammates Iris Cruz, Celia Schindler and Ana Flores took fourth place in the 4x800-meter relay event, putting up a time of 10:49.49.
Two other girls’ relay teams qualified, with the 4x200-meter team of Brodhagen, Cihlar, Schindler and Falteisek taking third with a time of 1:52.27 and the 4x100-meter team of Brodhagen, Cihlar, Falteisek and Calley Ruesch taking fourth with a time of 53.25 seconds.
The boys’ 4x200-meter relay of Boller, Fuentes, AJ Brodhagen and Emilio Escalera also grabbed a fourth place position in their competition. Their time of 1:37.22 pushed them through to Marathon.
The quartet almost qualified in a second race, but came up just a second short. The team put up a time of 46.95 seconds in the 4x100-meter relay, earning themselves fifth place.
Isabella Aguilera and Jack Schindler were also on the fringes of qualifying, taking fifth place in the shot put and the 1600-meter run respectively. Aguilera recorded a personal best outdoor throw of 30 feet, four-and-a-half inches in her final meet. Meanwhile, Schindler ended his year with his own personal best, posting a time of 4:46.00.
Falcons athletes who qualified will compete in Marathon on Thursday, May 25. Field events are to start at 3:30 p.m. while running events are set to begin at 4:15 p.m.
