ALL-EASTERN CLOVERBELT TRACK & FIELD - Gilman had three champions, three second-place conference finishes

The Gilman Pirates had a strong showing in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference with five athletes earning awards with top-two finishes in six events during the conference track and field meet held at Gilman May 22. Three of those awards came with conference championships. Senior Claire Drier repeated as the conference champion in the girls 100meter high hurdles. She lowered her school record to 16.88 seconds and won by 0.42 seconds over Neillsville freshman Tayler Smith. Drier added a second-place award in the 300-meter low hurdles. She finished in 49.57 seconds, 2.23 seconds behind champion Kendall Weiler of Owen-Withee. Senior Jaylen Copenhaver won the girls triple jump for her first individual conference title. Copenhaver’s top jump that day carried 33 feet, 6.5 inches and comfortably passed runner-up Summer Smith of Loyal (31-10.25). Copenhaver finished the year holding the school record of 35-11, set at the WIAA Division 3 Colby sectional, and a ninth-place finish at the WIAA Division 3 state meet with a jump of 34-6.25. Senior Trevor Vick completed a Gilman sweep of the triple jump titles. He won the boys competition with a jump of 41 feet that won by nearly 2 feet over Neillsville’s Colter Dillenbeck (39-1.75). Vick got to 42-8.25 at the sectional meet and finished 14th at state with a jump of 41-4.25. Senior Max Ustianowski was a secondplace award winner. He earned that in the 110-meter high hurdles final with a time of 16.52 seconds, a personal-best at the time. Spencer’s Breckin Miller won at 15.4 seconds. Ustianowski got down to 16.0 seconds in the sectional meet and qualified for state. He finished 18th there in 16.27 seconds. Sophomore Addison Vick grabbed an All-ECC second-place award in the girls high jump. She was one of three jumpers to top the pack at a height of 4-10 and came out second in the tie-breaking process ahead of Columbus Catholic’s Aubrey Waldhauser. Loyal’s Addysen Wolf won. Vick set a school record earlier in the year at 5-3 and advanced to state, finishing 14th at 4-10. Wolf and Vick also were the top two finishers last year. Gilman’s girls posted the program’s highest finish since switching to the Eastern Cloverbelt in 2011, taking third with 116 points. They trailed Owen-Withee (159.5) and Neillsville (142.5). Gilman’s boys finished fourth in the nine-team conference meet with 79.5 points, trailing Owen-Withee (189), Neillsville (163.5) and Spencer (80). Gilman padded its point totals with several third-place finishes in both sides of the meet. For the girls, Copenhaver was third in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Vick was third in the 400-meter dash and long jump and Patricia Kloss was third in the triple jump. The Pirates were third in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays. For the boys, Sawyer Winger was third in the high jump, Taydyn Angell was third in the discus and Brady McAlpine was third in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. The Pirates took third in the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relays.