Marcell seventh best in nation

By Casey Krautkramer

Marathon junior track and field thrower Chris Marcell is full of confidence. He believes that he’s capable of throwing the discus even further than he already has this season. Marcell broke Marathon’s school discus record of 181 feet with a throw of 201 feet, 11 inches at the home meet on April 17. His discus throw of 208 feet, 11 inches at the Pittsville meet on May 5 is currently the best in all state divisions and the seventh best in the nation this season.

Marcell’s final discus throw of 206 feet, one inch at Monday’s home meet easily won him the discus championship. After the competition, he reflected on how it feels to be the top discus thrower in the entire state this season.

“It’s a different feeling, that’s for sure,” he said. “Last year I think that I was barely in the top 10 so it’s definitely nice to be at the top of the list now, but I am hoping to progress even further in the rankings in the nation.”

Marcell believes that he’s capable of throwing the discus even further yet this season.

“I’ve shown a lot of hope during practices and even during meets,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of decent throws but I haven’t been able to connect on one yet.”

He believed that he could’ve won the WIAA Division 3 state discus championship last season, but it didn’t quite happen. The state championship discus throw was 172 feet, six inches while Marcell was state runners-up with a throw of 170 feet, eight inches. He placed eighth as a freshman in the state discus with a throw of 144 feet, three inches.

“That was a huge disappointment last year, I can tell you that but I am coming back this year with a little more enthusiasm,” Marcell said with a big grin on his face.

Marcell is also hoping to break Brad Bernarde’s school shot put record this season. His first-place winning shot put throw of 58 feet, 10 inches at Monday’s home meet wasn’t quite far enough to break Bernarde’s school record of 59 feet, four inches. It would be a big deal for Marcell to hold Marathon’s school records in both the discus and shot put throws.

“It would mean a lot, given that my freshman year I threw shot put once in a meet and they said that I was bad at it so I didn’t throw it anymore,” he said. “Last year I had a personal record of 48 feet in the shot put indoors but I wasn’t able to get over that in the outdoor season, so I went into this year thinking that I’d be happy if I cracked 50 feet but now by goal is to throw the shot put 60 plus feet.”

The Marathon boys and girls varsity track and field teams both won home meet championships on Monday. The Marathon girls amassed 166-1/2 points, far ahead of runners-up Loyal with 108. The Marathon boys also easily won the meet with 206 points, ahead of runners-up Medford with 120.

Red Raiders freshman Bristal Baumann won the girls pole vault at nine feet followed by sophomore teammate Natilee Hummer in second place at eight feet. Marathon senior Shilo Blake won the twomile run in 2:32.89 and sophomore Maycie Myszka won the long jump with 14 feet, 11-3/4 inches.

Marathon freshman Alec Miller won the boys pole vault at 13 feet followed by senior teammate River Stanecki in second place at 13 feet. Red Raiders senior Logan Witberler won the long jump with 19 feet, 4-3/4 inches and sophomore Garrett Bracewell won the 200-meter dash in 23.10 seconds. Marathon senior Logan Rohland won the 400-meter dash in 51.41 seconds and sophomore Brady Annis won the 800-meter run in 2:05.40.

Annis took second place in the one-mile run in 4:39.48 and Peters was third in 4:47.46. Marathon sophomore Landon Hilgart placed second behind Marcell in See TRACK AND FIELD/ page 20

DETERMINED TO SUCCEED - Marathon junior Chris Marcell gets ready to launch a long discus throw during Monday’s home meet, in front of his Gertschen family members there to support him. His final throw on Monday of 206 feet, one inch easily won him the Marathon meet discus championship. He has already broken Marathon’s school record in the discus this season and now he is chasing his first discus state championship after finishing runner-up last season and in ninth place as a freshman. He is the son of Nick and Jessie (Gertschen) Marcell.

STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER Track and field

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the boys shot put with a throw of 46 feet, 1/4 inch. Junior Luke Hoenish took second place in the 100-meter dash in 12.14 seconds, Bracewell was second in the high jump at six feet and sophomore Fred Tylinski was second in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.03 seconds.

Marathon senior Jayden Henrichs took second place in the girls 100-meter hurdles in 19 seconds and freshman teammate Sophia Kleist was third in 19.57 seconds. Junior Madelyn Volkman placed third in the 100-meter dash in 13.88 seconds and junior Mya Yach was third in the one-mile run in 6:12.07. Kleist took second place in the 300-meter hurdles in 54.36 seconds.

Red Raiders junior Emma Love placed second in the girls shot put with a throw of 31 feet, 1/2 inch and junior Claire Riesgraf was third at 26 feet, three inches. Love placed third in the discus at 95 feet, one inch and Riesgraf was fourth at 92 feet, 10 inches.

Marathon wins in Waupaca

Both Marathon boys and girls varsity track and field teams won Thursday’s Waupaca ‘Vic-Tree’ Invitational. Red Raiders head coach Curt Miller was pleased with both team’s amount of success during a nice sunny day in Waupaca.

“We scored a combined 213 points between the girls and boys teams to edge out New London by just over one point for the combined team championship in the 10team invite,” Miller said. “Both team put some excellent performances out there, including senior Shilo Blake winning the 3,200-meter run in 12:04.07 and the boys 4x200-meter relay team winning the event in 1:32.16, which is just shy of our school record. Relay members are sophomores Fred Tylinski, Garrett Bracewell and Brady Annis and senior Levi Krautkramer.”

Annis won the 800-meter run in 2:02.31. Bracewell won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.91 seconds followed by Marathon senior Logan Witberler placing second in 16.45. Bracewell took second place in the high jump with six feet. Witberler placed second in the triple jump with 40 feet, 7-1/4 inches.

Marathon’s boys 4x400-meter relay team of Annis, Bracewell, Krautkramer and senior Logan Rohland won the event in 3:29.27. The Red Raider girls’ 4x100meter relay team of sophomores Kayla Cihlar and Maycie Myszka, junior Madelyn Volkman and senior Addie Molepske won the event in 53.42 seconds.

Marcell won the discus at Thursday’s Waupaca ‘Vic-Tree’ Invitational with a throw of 206 feet, seven inches. He also won the shot put with 55 feet, 5-1/2 inches.

Red Raiders senior River Stanecki took second place in the boys pole vault at 13 feet, six inches followed by Marathon freshman Alec Miller placing third at 13 feet.

Marathon freshman Bristal Baumann placed third in the girls pole vault at nine feet. The Red Raider girls 4x400-meter relay team of Baumann, Myszka, Molepske and junior Mya Yach took third place in 4:44.05.

Athens competes in Stanley

The Athens girls varsity track and field team took fifth place and the boys took eighth place among 12 teams competing at Friday’s Stanley-Boyd Invite. Host Stanley- Boyd won the women’s championship and Neillsville won the men’s championship.

Athens sophomore Ellis Baer won the girls 1,600-meter run in 5:43.97 while Athens senior Brianna Sheahan took third place in 5:46.61. Baer placed second in the 800-meter run in 2:32.46 and Sheahan placed second in the 3,200-meter run in 12:44.54. Bluejays junior Sy’Rih Hartwig won the girls shot put with 38 feet, 10-3/4 inches and she placed fourth in the discus with 105 feet, one inch.

Bluejays senior Kyle Schreiner won the boys pole vault at 14 feet. Athens senior Malaina Telschow took second place in the girls pole vault at 10 feet, six inches.

Athens freshman Eli Schaer took third place in the boys high jump at five feet, eight inches and Athens freshman Ben Hartwig placed third in the 3,200-meter run in 10:42.98. Bluejays sophomore Brock Beaty took fourth place in both the 110-meter hurdles in 18.42 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles in 49.18.

LEAPING ON A WARM DAY IN MARATHON- Red Raiders freshman Cael Riesgraf competes in the high jump at Monday’s home track and field meet. He took fourth place at five feet, eight inches. Marathon resident Mark Meyering, who was in charge of the high jump event, is pictured holding the clipboard and Red Raiders high jump coach Nicole Myszka is also shown wearing Marathon red in the background.

STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER

POLE VAULTING WITH FARM SILOS IN THE BACKGROUND- Athens sophomore Grace Schreiner clears the pole vault bar on Friday at the Stanley-Boyd meet. She took sixth place at eight feet, six inches.

STAFF PHOTO/KRIS O’LEARY