Gilman’s stars shine; relays lead Rib Lake at regional meet
WIAA DIV. 3 CADOTT TRACK & FIELD REGIONAL
The Gilman Pirates got the individual performances they were looking for and advanced two relays, while the Rib Lake Redmen found success with their relays and sprinkled in some individual advancements during Monday’s WIAA Division 3 Cadott regional.
Gilman and Rib Lake tied for fifth place on the girls side of the meet, which was originally supposed to be held in Gilman, but had to be moved due to some recent damage to the track surface. The Pirates were a solid fourth in the boys meet, while Rib Lake took 10th.
Rib Lake qualified 14 entries –– eight girls and six boys –– for the WIAA Division 3 Cameron sectional, set for today, Thursday, at 3:30 p.m. Gilman qualified 13 –– seven girls and six boys.
The top four finishers in each event at today’s meet will advance to the Division 3 state championships, set for Thursday, June 24 at UW-La Crosse.
Individually, Gilman’s Gracie Tallier, Bailey Angell, Dominic Franzen and Andrew Hecker all were among the meet’s top athletes.
Tallier, a sophomore, won the girls 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and placed second in the long jump. Angell, a freshman, swept the girls discus and shot put titles and Franzen, a junior, took the boys 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.
Tallier’s winning time in the 200-meter final was 26.63 seconds and lowered her school record yet again. She beat Cornell-Lake Holcombe’s Brooke Lechleitner by 1.76 seconds to win that race. In the 100-meter race, Tallier won in 13.01 seconds, beating Cadott’s Lexxie Rowe by 0.059 seconds. Rib Lake made some noise in that race with freshmen Amber Yanko (13.95) and Olivia Lopez (14.01) qualifying for the sectional with third- and fourth-place finishes. Yanko was actually faster in the preliminaries at 13.91 seconds.
Angell extended her personal record in the discus to 104 feet, 11 inches, which was easily enough to earn the regional title. Cadott’s Lucy Lindeman was nearly 13 feet behind at 92 feet even. Angell didn’t quite set a best in the shot put, but her best toss of 33-11.5 gave her a 15.75-inch margin over Ladysmith’s Tori Thorpe. Rib Lake junior Lauren Pelnis threw her way to Cameron with a personal-best and third-place toss of 30 feet even. Gilman’s Emma Grunseth just missed, taking fifth at 27-0.25, 11.75 inches behind Ladysmith’s Elle Nisbit. Rib Lake’s Hannah Schuh was seventh at 26-2.75 and eighth in the discus at a personal-best 76-7. Rib Lake’s Grace Artz was 17th in the shot put (19-3) and 19th in the discus (53-5).
Tallier’s second-place distance in the long jump was 15-9.75, just a quarter-inch off her season-best jump at the conference meet June 8. Ladysmith’s Allison Clark beat her at 16-4. Bruce’s Ella Luettgerodt (15-6) and Ladysmith’s Raemalee Smith (15-4.5) were clearly the top four in the field and advanced. Lopez placed sixth for Rib Lake at 13-6.
Both local teams qualified for the sectional in the 1,600-meter relay team, which only had four entries. Gilman’s team of Sophia Drier, Ava Gunderson, Aubrey Syryczuk and Tallier was clocked at 4:21.25, which was easily a season best and good for second behind Ladysmith (4:14.64). Rib Lake’s Megan Yanko, Pelnis, Kylee Goodrich and Amber Yanko took fourth in 4:50.12, which trailed Cadott’s 4:28.85.
Rib Lake added a second-place finish in the 400-meter relay with Megan Yanko, Pelnis, Lopez and Amber Yanko posting a time of 56.02 seconds that put the Lady Redmen ahead of Cadott (56.67) and Cornell-Lake Holcombe (59.0) and behind Ladysmith (53.08).
Goodrich had a nice day for Rib Lake with season-best times in her individual races. At 6:23.82, the junior placed third in the 1,600-meter run. She fell a little short of advancing in the 800-meter run, taking fifth in 2:50.52, 2.88 seconds behind fourth-place finisher Madi Kempen of Ladysmith.
Rib Lake senior Jolee Gehrke earned another meet in the high jump and 300-meter low hurdles with third-place finishes in both. At 53.81 seconds in the hurdles, Gehrke was just off her seasonbest, but well ahead of fourth-place finisher Emma Kowalczyk of Cadott (56.54). Gehrke set a new personal record in the high jump by clearing one more inch to get to 4-9. That got her ahead of Luettgerodt. Ari Brost and Emily Dean of Flambeau both cleared 4-10. Gehrke added a sixth-place finish in the triple jump at 28-6.25, while Lopez was eighth at 26-1.75.
Gilman junior Abby Krug ran the 400-meter dash for the first time this year and got the fourth sectional spot at 1:16.56, just ahead of Rib Lake’s Nadia Czahor (1:20). Krug also took eighth in the 1,600 at 7:21.56.
Girls team scores were: 1. Ladysmith, 174.5; 2. Cadott, 100; 3. Athens, 74.5; 4. Flambeau, 67; 5. Rib Lake and Gilman, 66; 7. Cornell-Lake Holcombe, 47; 8. Bruce, 24; 9. Prentice, 14; 10. Thorp, 4; 11. Owen-Withee, 2.
Boys moving on
Franzen will be among the sprint contenders in today’s sectional meet after setting a new best time of the year in the 100-meter dash and winning the 200 as well.
In the 100-meter final, he was the only sprinter that hit the finish line in less than 12 seconds, finishing in 11.77 seconds. Flambeau’s Riley Ewer was well behind in 12.25 seconds. Rib Lake’s Ethan Keiser was sixth at a personal-best 12.56 seconds and Gilman’s Troy Duellman was seventh at 13.01 seconds.
In the 200-meter final, Franzen finished in 24.06 seconds, 1.03 seconds ahead of runner-up Ryan Bergman of Prentice. Pirate Braeden Person fell short of advancing, taking fifth at 26.37 seconds, 0.55 seconds behind fourth-place runner Nick Fasbender of Cadott. Quintin Franzen was seventh at 27.16 seconds.
Rib Lake’s Damien Peterson (13.17) and Jayden Thums (14.53) were 12th and 15th in the 100-meter preliminaries, while Thums (29.84) was ninth and Xavier Johnson (30.89) was 12th in the 200.
Hecker, a senior, qualified in two field events for the Pirates. He won the long jump competition with a jump of 19-2.25 that beat runner-up Brad Irwin of Cadott by 9.75 inches. Hecker’s teammate Branden Ustianowski didn’t miss by much, taking fifth at 17-1.5, just 4 inches behind fourth-place jumper Alex Schantner of Prentice. Rib Lake’s Theo Robisch (16-9), Peterson (16-0) and Johnson (15-8) were seventh, 10th and 11th.
Hecker cleared 5-6 to take second in the high jump, which was won at 5-10 by Bruce’s Tyler Hoyt. Ustianowski got a half-point by tying for eighth at 5 feet.
Rib Lake’s Ryan Buehler and Gilman’s Bryce Chovan also were individual sectional qualifiers. Buehler lowered his time to 5:33.73, which was good for third in the 1,600-meter run behind Tad Weiss of Cadott (5:15.5) and Nathan Wolf of Athens (5:29.1). Chovan got off a personal-best throw of 96 feet to get the fourth qualifying spot in the discus. He edged Rib Lake’s Bud Schreiner by 16 inches for that spot. Schreiner’s 94-8 was his best distance of the spring.
Rib Lake entered three relays and advanced in all of them. Both schools advanced in the 800-meter race. Gilman’s Duellman, Dominic Franzen, Ustianowski and Hecker took second in 1:39.93, just behind Cornell-Lake Holcombe (1:39.42) and Rib Lake’s Keiser, Ben Petersen, Donovan Sutherland and Dominick Classen took third in 1:43.58. Owen-Withee got the fourth spot at 1:44.35.
Keiser, Sutherland, Peterson and Classen were second in the 400-meter race at 49.66 seconds, just behind Cornell-Lake Holcombe (48.07). Owen-Withee (51.1) and Bruce (52.55) also advanced. Buehler, Petersen, Sutherland and Classen nailed down the third spot in the 1,600-meter relay at 3:54.06, easily a season-best for Rib Lake. Ladysmith (3:41.8), Cadott (3:48.28) and fourth-place Cornell-Lake Holcombe (3:55.67) advanced. Gilman’s Duellman, Hecker, Ustianowksi and Person came up short at 3:57.09.
Also for Rib Lake, Schreiner (34-2.25) was seventh and Brandon Heiser (26-9.5) tied for 15th in the shot put, Heiser (791) was 13th with a personal-best throw in the discus and Robisch (34-7.75) was ninth in the triple jump and Johnson (240.25) was 12th.
For Gilman, Zack Marion (32-7.75) was ninth, Caleb Marion (29-11.25) was 10th and Chovan (29-3.25) was 11th in the shot put. Caleb Marion (82 feet) and Zack Marion (75-9) were 11th and 14th in the discus. Caleb Marion’s shot put distance was his best of the year.
Boys team scores were: 1. Cadott, 127; 2. Ladysmith, 74; 3. Athens, 70; 4. Gilman, 67.5; 5. Owen-Withee, 67; 6. Cornell-Lake Holcombe, 52.5; 7. Flambeau, 44; 8. Bruce and Prentice, 40; 10. Rib Lake, 37; 11. Thorp, 10.
Rib Lake’s Amber Yanko and Olivia Lopez complete their third-place and fourthplace finishes respectively in the girls 100-meter dash finals during Monday’s regional meet in Cadott. Yanko and Lopez qualified for Thursday’s sectional meet in Cameron.GINNA YOUNG/THE COURIER SENTINEL
