WIAA DIV. 3 PHILLIPS REGIONAL - Distance, Henderson carry boys; Tlusty wins both hurdles races

WIAA DIV. 3 PHILLIPS REGIONAL

Several Rib Lake Redmen are moving on after top-four finishes in their events at Tuesday’s WIAA Division 3 Phillips regional.

The boys qualified 11 entries for sectional competition set for Friday at Colby, while the girls pushed three entries through, two from Emma Tlusty in the hurdles and Maddie Rademacher advanced in the high jump.

The boys made a push for second in the team standings but couldn’t quite catch Phillips, who outscored the Redmen 133116. Chequamegon took home the regional championship plaque with 147 points. The girls placed eighth in the 11-team meet with 36 points. Phillips clobbered the competition on that side of the meet with 168 points, well ahead of Chequamegon (89), Hurley (77) and Washburn (72).

Competition at Friday’s Colby sectional starts at 3 p.m. The top four finishers in each event will advance to state competition June 6-7 at UW-La Crosse.

Boys results

In the boys meet Tuesday, Rib Lake captured regional championships in five events, four of which came in distance running events.

The 3,200-meter relay team of Jack Regier, Truman Smith, Seamus Highfill and Kaleb Scott set the tone, winning the day’s first race in 8:31.87, 9.07 seconds ahead of runner-up Phillips. The Redmen enter Friday’s meet as the top seed in the sectional, based on regional times. Owen-Withee was nearly as fast, taking first at Gilman Tuesday in 8:31.96.

Next, Smith and Connor Highfill battled for the regional title in the 1,600meter run. Both set personal-best times as Smith won in 4:55.3, 0.74 seconds ahead of Highfill. They’ll be challenged Friday as Smith will come in as the 10th seed.

Scott claimed victory in the 800-meter run, posting his second-best time of the season at 2:02.78, 1.39 seconds ahead of Gavin Esterholm of Phillips. Seamus Highfill took third at 2:07.18, easily his best time of 2025 and will run at Colby. Scott is a state contender, holding the third seed in Friday’s competition.

Late in the meet, Regier clinched the 3,200-meter run championship with his time of 10:52.04. He could afford to pace himself as he built a big lead and won by 16.45 seconds over Evan Johnson of Phillips. Jackson Schutt of Rib Lake got the fourth qualifying spot with a time of 11:10.52, 0.88 seconds ahead of Nick Pesko of Phillips. Dene Zuleger was sixth for Rib Lake in 11:14.73, just off his season-best.

The meet ended with the team of Seamus Highfill, Smith, Connor Highfill and Scott taking second in the 1,600meter relay at 3:46.39, 3.22 seconds behind Phillips and 2.52 seconds ahead of third-place Hurley. They’re seeded seventh going into Friday.

Jed Henderson was Rib Lake’s fifth winner. The junior took the first step toward making a return trip to state by winning the high jump competition at 6 feet. He got 4 inches higher than Washburn’s Jasper Glase. Rib Lake’s Kylan Bartelt and David Pichea both cleared 5-4 to take fifth and sixth place, 2 inches away from being in sectional contention. That was a season-best jump for Bartelt.

Rib Lake had two more sectional qualifiers. Riley Johnson went a personalbest 33 feet even and took third in the triple jump, which was won by Jonathan Parker of Phillips at 36-1.5. Gavin Zondlo earned his first sectional berth with a third-place time of 18.97 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles, which had five competitors and was won by Bayfield’s Dashon Tourdot in 17.37 seconds. Zondlo added a point with an eighth-place time of 50.17 seconds in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, a personal-best.

Rib Lake had a near-miss in the 800meter relay where Johnson, Zondlo, Pichea and Gus Zuleger took fifth in 1:47.44, 0.92 seconds behind fourth-place Washburn. The 400-meter team of Henderson, Rylan Schaelzka-Lenz, Pichea and Gus Zuleger was sixth in 51.52 seconds, 1.15 seconds behind fourth-place Washburn.

Lawson Carlson capped his freshman year with a fifth-place throw of 103-4 in the discus. He was 8 feet, 7 inches out of fourth place. Chris Krause set a personal best by an inch, taking 11th at 80-9. Carlson also got an eighth-place point in the shot put with a toss of 34-1. Krause was 10th at 29-8.75.

Dene Zuleger scored a point in the long jump, taking eighth at 16-11.5, while Schaelzka-Lenz was 11th at 15-4.5. Gus Zuleger took seventh in the 100-meter dash final at 13.07 seconds. He was timed at 12.81 seconds and took sixth in the preliminaries. Schaelzka-Lenz (13.37) and Jack Dananay (13.86) were 10th and 11th. Dananay was eighth in the 200-meter dash at 28.16 seconds. Both of his sprint times were personal bests. Jaden Briggs was 13th in the 200 at 35.34 seconds.

Schutt just missed scoring the 400meter dash. He was ninth at 1:01.27, while Ian Weber was 11th at 1:04.64.

Hurley finished fourth in the team standings with 108 points, followed by Washburn (67), Bayfield (33), Mellen (29), Prentice (18), Mercer (6) and Butternut (5).

Girls results

Scoring wasn’t easy for the girls, but Rib Lake’s top two athletes found their way to sectionals in their top events.

Tlusty started her day with a winning time of 17.56 seconds in the 100-meter high hurdles. She had a 1.17-second margin over runner-up Jaycee Pomeroy of Phillips. Later in the 300-meter hurdles, Tlusty finished in 53.01 seconds to win that by another 1.17-second margin over Pomeroy. Tlusty’s time shows she’s a state contender in the high hurdles. She’s seeded fifth in Friday’s race.

Rademacher advanced by clearing 4-10 in the high jump. She tied Hurley’s Alexandra Tolemy for second place behind winner Kayla Gillett of Prentice, who also cleared 4-10 and won the tiebreaker amongst the three. Hadassah Nelson hit 46 for Rib Lake and was part of a three-way tie for fifth place, 2 inches shy of sectional contention.

The 400-meter relay team of Roxy Goberville-Lopez, Avelyn Schutt, Nelson and Rademacher came up just short of advancing. Their time of 59.39 seconds placed fifth, 0.67 seconds behind fourthplace Washburn. Goberville-Lopez scored the eighth-place point in the 100-meter dash final at 14.84 seconds. She had a preliminary time of 14.5 seconds. Nelson (15.51) and Maria Bisco (16.54) were 13th and 15th. Ella Grzanna got the eighthplace point in the 400-meter dash at 1:14.86. Goberville-Lopez (12-6.5) was ninth, Rademacher (12-3) was 11th and Grzanna (12 feet) tied for 13th in the long jump.

Kylie Schmidtfranz was 11th in the shot put at 19-3.5 and 14th in the discus at a personal-best 62-1. Schutt was 13th (34.11) and Lucia Nevarez was 16th (36.06) in the 200-meter dash.

Mercer was fifth in the team standings with 62 points, followed by Prentice (55), Butternut (45), Rib Lake (36), Mellen (34), Winter (19) and Bayfield (1).