MARATHON INVITATIONAL - Raiders, Redmen get some track & field work in at the Marathon meet

MARATHON INVITATIONAL

Moved back a day to May 8, the Marathon Invitational was a success for track and field athletes from Medford and Rib Lake high schools as they finally enjoyed a day of sun, warmth and little wind to do their work.

Medford, who didn’t bring its full arsenal of athletes and placed several of the athletes who did attend in different events than they’re used to, placed fourth in the girls standings in the seven-team meet with 76 points, while Rib Lake was fifth with 66.5. Marathon won with 182.5 points, easily outscoring Loyal (87.5) and Athens (78.5). Greenwood was sixth with 23.5 points and Columbus Catholic scored 15.5.

Among the scoring highlights for Medford: Senior Ella Daniels scored in three individual events, led by her second-place finish in the 1,600-meter run in a season-best 6:14.12. She took third with a distance of 14 feet, 7 inches in the long jump, an inch off her personal-best from last year, and was sixth in the 800-meter run in 2:47.75. Carly Koski was sixth in a much-improved 6:29.68 in the 1,600-meter run, Morgan Liske got the eighth-place point in the 800 at 2:50.71, while Koski was ninth in 2:54.28. Toryn Rau was sixth in the long jump, improving to 13-11.

Aliyah Pilgrim triple jumped for the first time this spring and took second at 30-6.75, just a quarter-inch behind Loyal’s Molly Zvolena. Lindsey Klapatauskas was fourth at 30-3.5, tying her season-best distance.

Adalyn Dittrich placed in both hurdles events, led by a second-place time of 57.16 seconds in the 300-meter race. She was 0.29 seconds behind Marathon’s Jayden Henrichs. Dittrich was sixth in the 100-meter high hurdles at 21.13 and hit a new best in the pole vault at 7 feet, which tied for 10th place.

Senior Rachel Wesle scored twice. She took fifth in the shot put at a season-best 29-8 and ran her first 400-meter dash, earning the eighth-place point at 1:13.7. In that race, Alexis Zuleger placed fourth (1:09.26) and Liske was fifth (1:09.27). Klapatauskas was ninth in the shot put at 27-8.

Medford’s 800-meter relay team of Pilgrim, Rau, Brenley Beran and Rivalee Stokes took second in 1:54.7, trailing Marathon (1:53.82). The 400-meter team of Klapatauskas, Stokes, Beran and Pilgrim was third in 54.41 seconds, trailing Marathon (53.48) and Loyal (53.8).

Among the scoring highlights for Rib Lake: Olivia Lopez, ever so slightly, lowered her school record time in the 200-meter dash from 26.92 seconds at last year’s state meet to 26.9 seconds in this meet. That was good for second place behind Loyal’s Addysen Wolf (26.87). Lopez won the long jump at 15-9.5 and took fifth in the triple jump at 29-7.25.

Maddie Rademacher and Hadassah Nelson were the high jump leaders in the meet. Rademacher tied her personal best and won at 4-8, while Nelson also hit 4-8, a new best by an inch, and was credited with second place. Rademacher also took eighth in the long jump at 13-10.5 and Emma Tlusty wasn’t far behind in 10th at 13-9.

Tlusty finished second in the 100-meter high hurdles at 18.03 seconds, 1.19 seconds behind Marathon’s Alisha Blenker, while Isabelle Gumz was fourth in 18.79 seconds. Gumz set a new personal-best in the discus at 87-7, which was good for third, and she threw 28-9.75 in the shot put which tied her for seventh with Greenwood’s Sarah Reiff.

Gumz, Tlusty, Kloey Paul and Lopez were right behind Medford in the 400-meter relay, taking fourth in 54.43 seconds.

Boys results

Rib Lake outscored Medford’s crew 51-50 for fifth place in the boys meet. Each team was well ahead of Greenwood (2). Marathon ran away with first place with 199 points, followed by Columbus Catholic (84), Athens (64) and Loyal (60).

Scoring highlights for the fifth-place Redmen included: A new personal-best and winning height of 6-1 for Jed Henderson in the high jump. He got an inch higher than Marathon’s Garrett Bracewell. Henderson also set a new best in the discus at 93-5, good for seventh place.

Henry Regier cut his time by almost six seconds and won the 1,600-meter run in a near photo finish with his brother Jack. Henry was 0.02 seconds faster at 5:00.8. This was Jack’s first mile run of 2024. Kaleb Scott added two seventh-place points at 5:17.05 and Elijah Scott just missed scoring, taking ninth in 5:23.01. Kaleb Scott was seventh in the 800-meter run in 2:18.35, while Elijah Scott got a point while taking 10th at 2:22.29.

Gus Zuleger placed in both horizontal jumps. He was sixth in the long jump at 16-1 and seventh in the triple jump at 30-6. Seamus Highfill was fourth in the triple jump at 32-5.5.

Rib Lake’s 400-meter relay team of Demetrio Garelli, Highfill, Isaiah Hubbard and Zuleger took third in 49.94 seconds, just behind Columbus Catholic (48.78) and Marathon (49.13).

Scoring highlights for Medford included: A win for senior Cory Lindahl in the long jump competition. Jumping for the first time this spring, he set a new personal record at 19-6.25, winning by almost 2 feet. Lindahl also placed fourth in the shot put at 33-0.5.

Will Daniels took second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 44.15 seconds, 1.2 seconds behind Bracewell. Not long after that in the 200-meter dash, Adam Kowalski was credited with three points while taking eighth in 25.74 seconds and Cade Wellman added two points with a ninth-place and season-best time of 25.93 seconds. Kowalski added a new best of 11 feet in the pole vault, good for fifth place.

Axel Brushaber took third in the triple jump at 34-6 and Logan Langdon got a point by taking eighth in the discus at 91-6, a new best. William Bartnik was 10th at 82-10.

Jordan Lavin, Wellman, Bartnik and Lindahl were fourth in the 400-meter relay at 50.46 seconds and Kowalski, Lavin, Bartnik and Daniels were fourth in the 800-meter relay at 1:47.08 and trailed Marathon (1:40.81), Columbus Catholic (1:43.51) and Athens (1:44.66).