Gilman’s girls place 7th; boys led by Ustianowski’s 2nd-place finish in hurdles

CADOTT DeJUNG INVITATIONAL

Gilman’s girls track and field squad earned a seventhplace finish out of 11 teams, while the boys took 10th at Friday’s DeJung Invitational in Cadott, the Pirates’ final tune-up before the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference championships.

The girls scored 51 points, the majority of which came from two first-place finishes apiece from Bailey Angell and Gracie Tallier. Gilman outscored McDonell Central (49), Thorp (11), Spencer (8) and the Chippewa Valley Lightning Bolts (2). With 177 points, Fall Creek won handily over Loyal (107.5), Bloomer (87.5), Eau Claire Regis (71), Stanley-Boyd (67) and Cadott (53).

Angell remained unbeaten in her discus competitions for the outdoor season with a throw of 106 feet, 5 inches. That put her well ahead of runner-up Paige Smiskey of McDonell (97-9). Angell also won her ninth straight shot put competition with a toss of 35-6.5. Loyal senior Haven Peroshek was second at 31-9.5, while Bloomer’s Lillian Kuske was third at 30-9. Gilman senior Emma Grunseth was 17th in the shot (25-4) and 23rd in the discus (70-5).

Tallier won the 100-meter dash in 13.14 seconds, 0.36 seconds ahead of Bloomer’s Alexa Post, and she took the 200-meter dash in 27.12 seconds, 0.9 seconds ahead of Fall Creek’s Samantha Bann. The junior remained unbeaten in both of those races this spring.

Freshman Claire Drier got the sixth-place points in the 200 with her time of 28.49 seconds, while junior Ellie Drier was 19th in 31.97 seconds. Claire was one spot shy of scoring in the 100, placing ninth at 14.19 seconds, while Ellie was 21st in 15.29 seconds.

Claire Drier was fourth in the long jump with a solid leap of 15-3, while Tallier took sixth at 14-10. Post was the top jumper at 16-11.5.

Branden Ustianowski led Gilman’s boys team with a second-place finish in his newly-found event, the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. In his third appearance in that event, he posted a new best time of 43.0 seconds and finished just 0.01 seconds behind winner Greg Sokup of Eau Claire Regis. Quintin Franzen was 11th for Gilman in 51.84 seconds.

Ustianowski also scored in the discus. He was eighth at 101-7, 3 inches and one place behind teammate Bryce Chovan. Caleb Marion was 11th at 95-1 and Zack Marion was 14th at 89-2 in an event won by Fall Creek’s Soren Johnson with an impressive throw of 158 feet. Though they didn’t quite get into scoring position, Dominic Franzen (37-8.5) and Zack Marion (37-8.25) were 10th and 11th with their best distances of the season in the shot put. Chovan (30-7) was 26th and Caleb Marion (28-10.25) was 30th.

Braeden Person set a new best time in the 400-meter dash at 59.81 seconds, good for ninth and just 0.47 seconds away from scoring. Mitchell Moran was 15th for Gilman at 1:06.58. Person also set a new best in the 200-meter dash at 26.56 seconds, good for 18th place. Brady McAlpine was 22nd at 27.16 seconds. McAlpine led Gilman’s 100-meter dash entrants with an 18th-place time of 13.12 seconds. Person (13.15) was 20th, Quintin Franzen (13.86) was 32nd, Max Ustianowski (14.0) was 33rd and Moran (14.11) was 34th. Moran (14-9) and Max Ustianowski (14-6) were 15th and 17th in the long jump.

Boys team scores were: 1. Fall Creek, 238; 2. Stanley-Boyd, 122.5; 3. Eau Claire Regis, 78; 4. Bloomer, 70; 5. Mc-Donell Central, 60; 6. Cadott, 41.5; 7. Spencer, 22; 8. Loyal and Chippewa Valley, 16; 10. Gilman, 13; 11. Thorp, 5.