Posted on

Roster grows leading to higher expecations for the Pirates

Roster grows leading to higher expecations for the Pirates Roster grows leading to higher expecations for the Pirates

With some significant losses to graduation since they last competed in 2019 and the loss of the 2020 season, there was no telling as spring approached who would fill the 2021 track and field roster for the Gilman Pirates.

As it turned out, there was no need to worry.

While participation numbers for softball and baseball dropped at the school, the track program’s numbers were up to 23 after the initial sign-up with 14 boys and nine girls looking to find their roles on this year’s squad, which opens its season April 29 at the Medford Invitational before hosting its own meet on May 4.

The roster features a mix of veterans, freshmen, sophomores who didn’t get the chance to compete last spring and some older athletes participating in the sport for the first time.

To have options is certainly exciting for eighth-year head coach Mike Gingras and top assistant Tom Tallier.

The Pirates closed the 2019 season on a high note, sending their girls 3,200-meter and boys 1,600-meter relay teams to the WIAA Division 3 state meets, as well as shot putter Evelyn Fryza and Torgor Crick in the 800-meter run. While all of those boys qualifiers have moved on, three members of that girls 3,200-meter team remain, forming a solid foundation for that side of the program.

Sophia Drier is one of two female seniors on the squad, and juniors Aubrey Syryczuk and Ava Gunderson will be key athletes too. With the departed Lydia Syryczuk, their best time in the relay was 10:33.01 achieved at the Cameron sectional and they weren’t far off at 10:37.71 with their 15th-place state finish. Those same four girls also ran the 1,600-meter relay two years ago, getting as fast as 4:31.46 and taking ninth at the sectional.

The three returnees are again penciled in to fill middle distance roles. Syryczuk set the school record in the triple jump as a freshman at 33 feet, 8 inches at the 2019 sectional and returns to her 300-meter hurdles role. Gunderson long jumped in 2019 is looking to add high jumping.

spots. 45.95. Junior Abby Krug returns after a solid debut season two years ago in the 800-meter and 1,600-meter races.

The addition most Gilman fans are anxious to see is sophomore Gracie Tallier. A multi-talented athlete who will also help out the softball team, Tallier will make her long-awaited varsity debut in sprints, hurdles and jumps. Junior Emma Grunseth is a newcomer to the sport, but is certainly a familiar name to Gilman sports fans. She is looking to make her mark in the shot put and discus, joining senior Brooke Fryza, who got her discus distance up to 83 feet by the end of her sophomore year.

Junior Addysson Hopkins and freshman Bailey Angell also are new to the roster with both looking to throw and Hopkins has interest in pole vaulting.

The boys have more numbers, but also more inexperience. But there are athletes to build a strong foundation with.

The lone senior is a newcomer, basket- ball standout Andrew Hecker. He looks to score points in the jumps and sprints. In shot put and discus, junior Zack Marion is back, while junior newcomer Bryce Chovan and freshman Caleb Marion should add points as well in those events. Junior Dominic Franzen is Gilman’s most experienced sprinter, having posted times as low as 12.11 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 25.81 seconds in the 200-meter dash as a freshman. He also long jumped 17 feet and may try hurdling.

Donovan Konieczny is another junior addition looking to compete in the jumps and middle distances.

The sophomore and freshman classes bring depth and potential. Among sophomores, Braeden Person could be a strong sprinter and vaulter and first-year track athlete Branden Ustianowski’s athleticism could land him in sprints, jumps and even hurdles.

Damien Swensen sprints as well. Trevor Zawacki gives Gilman a distance runner and Wayne McAlpine could add another thrower to the mix.

Among freshmen, Troy Duellman is another talented athlete who could be used in a variety of ways, including sprints and pole vaulting. Adam Draeger is listed as a middle distance runner and Quintin Franzen is listed as a sprinter.

Two years ago, the Pirates did not field a boys or girls 400-meter relay team. The boys appear to have enough sprinters to fill that this Gilman has home meets scheduled for May 4, which is an eight-team meet, and May 18, which is currently a four-team meet with Colby, Prairie Farm and Spencer, during the regular season. The Pirates also will again host a WIAA Division 3 regional meet on Monday, June 14 with top finishers there advancing to the June 17 sectional at Cameron.

Details for the state meet have not been announced but the WIAA has set June 25-26 as the


Continued from page 29
LATEST NEWS