EASTERN CLOVERBELT TRACK & FIELD - Gilman girls rise to 3rd place; jumps, hurdles are big for boys

A two-day wait was worth it for the Gilman girls, who earned their highest placement ever since joining the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference in 2011 by taking third in Thursday’s track and field championships held in Gilman.

Claire Drier re-set her own school record in the 100-meter high hurdles, Jaylen Copenhaver won the triple jump title while Addison Vick and Patricia Kloss were among the scoring leaders as Gilman compiled 116 points to trail Owen-Withee (159.5) and Neillsville (142.5) in the team standings.

Owen-Withee completed a sweep of the team titles by outscoring Neillsville 189163.5 in the boys meet. Gilman placed fourth with 79.5 points, including a championship from senior Trevor Vick in the triple jump. The Pirates were a mere half-point behind third-place Spencer.

The meet was postponed two days due to cold, wet, windy conditions on May 20.

The 116 points put up by the girls in competition are possibly the most ever by a Gilman team in a conference meet.

Drier’s winning time of 16.88 seconds in the 100-meter high hurdles put her 0.42 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Tayler Smith, a freshman from Neillsville, and beat her previous record of 17.15 seconds from last year’s regional meet. The senior’s fastest time this year had been 17.46 seconds on May 9. Gilman’s Rilla Syryczuk, running the high hurdles for the first time this spring, got to the final with an eighth-place finish in the preliminaries (20.5). She jumped to fifth in the final with a time of 19.98 seconds.

Drier couldn’t quite make it a sweep in the the hurdles events. She was second in the 300-meter race at 49.57 seconds, trailing Owen-Withee’s Kendall Weiler by 2.23 seconds.

Copenhaver claimed the triple jump title with a distance of 33 feet, 6.5 inches. She won convincingly by nearly 20 inches over Loyal’s Summer Smith. Kloss (31-0.5) and Vick (31-0.25) combined for 11 points by taking third and fourth place. For Kloss, that distance was a personal best.

Vick was one of three girls to clear 4-10 in the high jump competition, at least 4 inches better than the rest of the pack. Vick was credited with second place behind Loyal’s Addysen Wolf and ahead of Aubrey Waldhauser of Columbus Catholic. Vick, a sophomore, also led Gilman in the long jump, placing third at a season-best 15-5.75, while Drier was fourth at 15-3.25. Copenhaver added a seventh-place distance of 14-8. Neillsville’s Kaylee Lawrence and Weiler took the top two spots at 15-10.

Vick was third in the 400-meter dash at a personal-best 1:04.71. She trailed Wolf (1:01.32) and Lawrence (1:04.01). Kyra Rabuck got the eighth-place point for Gilman at 1:09.09, also a personal best. Copenhaver, a senior, added thirds in the 100- and 200meter dashes. She lowered her personal record to 27.19 seconds in the 200, putting her just behind Wolf (26.41) and Lawrence (27.07). She beat Weiler by 0.21 seconds. Kloss was ninth at 29.76 seconds. In the 100, Copenhaver set a personal-best time of 13.02 seconds and had the top time in the prelims. She was timed at 13.19 seconds in the final behind Wolf (12.63) and Lawrence (12.97), while Kloss was seventh at 13.75 seconds. She was fifth in the prelims with her best time as a Pirate at 13.62 seconds.

Aubrey Steinbach added a point on the track with an improved eighth-place time of 2:56.06 in the 800-meter run. Syryczuk gave Gilman five points with a fourth-place throw of 29-8 in the shot put competition, while Pirate Jazmyn Robinson was 11th at 24-10. Syryczuk was 15th in the discus at 61-2, while Emalee Rivera was 22nd at 50-3. Colby’s Daelyn Rieck won both throwing events with distances of 39-6.5 and 126-8.

Shae Drier gave Gilman its first points of the season in the pole vault. The freshman cleared 6 feet to score two seventh-place points.

For the first time this spring, Gilman entered teams in all four relays and came away with 23 points, 18 on three third-place finishes.

The 800-meter team of Brynn Komanec, Shae Drier, Claire Drier and Kloss finished in 1:55.85, well ahead of three teams and just behind Neillsville (1:52.45) and Loyal (1:55.13). The 1,600-meter team of Steinbach, Komanec, Ava Webster and Shae Drier was solidly in third at 4:50.45, beating three other teams. The Pirates were behind Owen-Withee (4:20.5) and Neillsville (4:33.45).

Gilman’s first 3,200-meter team of 2025, Kennedy Buske, Webster, Komanec and Steinbach was third in 12:03.41, beating Neillsville by 2.71 seconds. Colby (11:16.47) and Owen-Withee (11:24.27) had the top two times. Buske, Syryczuk, Rabuck and Shae Drier were fourth in the 400-meter relay at 57.87 seconds, ahead of three times and behind Owen-Withee (53.14), Neillsville (53.97) and Loyal (54.36).

Komanec and Webster tied for ninth in the high jump at 4 feet. Aspen Person was 16th in the 100-meter (15.36) and 200-meter (32.78) dashes with her 100 time being her best of the spring.

Loyal’s reign atop the conference ended with its 89 points. Colby was fifth with 80 points, followed by Columbus Catholic (42), Spencer (29), Greenwood (19) and Granton (3).

Boys finish 4th

Jumps, hurdles and relays were the top events for Gilman’s boys in Thursday’s meet.

Vick’s winning distance in the triple jump was 41 feet even, putting him 2.75 inches off his personal best. He won the event handily over Neillsville’s Colter Dillenbeck (39-1.75). Pirate Mitchell Moran was 10th at 31-11.25. Vick also led Gilman in the long jump competition, placing sixth at 18-4.75, while Sawyer Winger got the eighth-place point at 18-3.75 and Logan Halida was 10th at a season-best 17-4.

Winger was one of three high jumpers to clear the bar at 5-8, 2 inches behind champion Rolyn Hopperdietzel of Colby. Winger was credited with third place behind Owen-Withee’s Mason Gay and ahead of Colby’s Xander Buchanan. Vick tied for fifth, clearing 5-4, and Max Ustianowski cleared 5-2 to claim the seventh-place points.

Winger also got off a 35-10.5 in just his second shot put competition of the season. That was good for sixth place. Taydyn Angell (32-10) and Elijah Madlon (28-11.5) were 11th and 15th for Gilman. Angell got third in the discus throw at 109-3, while Wyatt Orth’s personal-best throw of 100-10 gave him sixth place. Owen-Withee’s Sullivan Poehler won it at 122-8, while Loyal’s Jaden Smith was 11 inches ahead of Angell. Madlon was 15th at 65 feet.

Ustianowski took second in the 110-meter high hurdles at 16.52 seconds, easily his best time ever and 1.75 seconds ahead of third-place finisher David Thill of Columbus Catholic. Spencer’s state qualifier from a year ago, Breckin Miller, won in 15.4 seconds. In the 300meter intermediates, Brady McAlpine lowered his time to 44.11 seconds and placed third behind Gay (43.0) and Dominic Sherwood (43.98) of Owen-Withee. Ustianowski was sixth in 45.64 seconds, also his new best time.

Winger finished off a strong all-around day with a fourth-place time of 24.3 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Owen-Withee’s Brandon Geldernick won in 22.76 seconds. Moran got two seventh-place points in the 800meter run with his personal-best time of 2:24.62. Moran was ninth in the 1,600-meter race at 5:48.41, his best time of 2025.

Gilman placed third in all three relays it entered. In a close 800-meter race, Halida, McAlpine, Kolby Keepers and Tony Syryczuk finished in 1:40.74 to fall just behind Neillsville (1:39.08) and Colby (1:39.67). Owen-Withee (1:45.56) and Greenwood (1:47.91) were well behind. The 400-meter team of James Wojcik, McAlpine, Halida and Keepers finished in 47.42 seconds to beat four other teams and trail Spencer (45.33) and Neillsville (46.01). Ustianowski, Vick, Wojcik and Halida finished the 1,600meter race in 4:03.33 to beat three teams and trail Columbus Catholic (3:52.71) and Neillsville (3:54.91).

Columbus Catholic was fifth in the team standings with 68 points, followed by Colby (44), Loyal (34), Greenwood (20) and Granton (0).