17 Raiders among GNC’s honorees

ALL-GNC TRACK & FIELD

Joe Sullivan’s repeat long-distance championships, Jaylin’s Machon’s pole vault title and near-miss in the 100-meter hurdles and some solid relay finishes highlighted Medford’s list of 17 athletes who earned 2022 All-Great Northern Conference track and field honors.

Raiders Meredith Richter, Jake Seifert and Gage Losiewicz added individual honors, while three girls relay teams and one boys team got top-three finishes to earn All-GNC honors, all of which are based on results from the 2022 conference meet, which was hosted May 17 by the Antigo Red Robins.

Medford’s girls team finished second at that meet with 109 points, well behind repeat champion Mosinee (198.5). Rhinelander won its second boys title since 2019, compiling 164 points to outscore Lakeland (146), Northland Pines (121), Medford (95) and 2021 champion Mosinee (88). The championship led to Rhinelander’s Aaron Kraemer being named the GNC Boys Coach of the Year.

Sullivan won the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs for the second straight year. He won the 1,600-meter race in 4:30.12, 2.61 seconds ahead of Lakeland sophomore Owen Clark and 3.49 seconds ahead of Sam Gremban of Northland Pines. Later, Sullivan took the 3,200-meter race in 10:19.09, easily beating Clark (10:45.29) and Kaemyn Heritage of Northland Pines (10:56.32).

Sullivan added an honorable mention award by placing third in the 400-meter dash at 52.61 seconds. He trailed eventual Division 2 state runner-up Bo Peterson of Lakeland (51.38) and Jacob Hayes of Lakeland (51.76).

That success made Sullivan a candidate for GNC Runner of the Year, but that award went to Rhinelander senior Cole Worrall, who won the 200-meter dash and 110-meter high and 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

Sullivan went on to finish his season and career with a third-place finish (4:16.62) in the 1,600-meter run and a fourth-place finish (9:24.06) in the 3,200-meter run at the WIAA Division 2 state championships June 3-4. Both times are new school records.

Seifert earned second-team All-GNC honors with his throw of 44 feet, 8.5 inches in the shot put competition, which was the best of his prep career. Mosinee’s Walker Beyerl was the only one to beat him at 47-3. Beyerl also won the discus at 144-11 and shared GNC Field Athlete of the Year with Jack Gjovick of Northland Pines, who won the long and triple jumps.

Medford’s all junior team of Zach Rudolph, Vincent Seidel, Josh Clark and Silas Wipf posted a second-team All-GNC performance in the 3,200-meter relay with its time of 8:48.57. Antigo won the race in 8:29.99. Losiewicz, a freshman, hit 10 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault at the meet, good for third place and a spot on the honorable mention list.

Girls awards

Machon and Richter, both sophomores, led Medford’s girls with two individual honors and each helped a relay team earn an All-GNC award as well.

Machon was Medford’s lone champion, taking the pole vault at a height of 9-6 that, at the time, was a personal best. She finished the year with a seventh-place height of 10 feet at the state championships. At Antigo, she beat her nearest competitors by a foot and a half.

Machon ran the 100-meter high hurdles in 17.27 seconds, which stands as her personal-best time. She was just 0.04 seconds behind repeat GNC champion Claire Selenske of Mosinee.

Richter was the league runner-up in the 800-meter run at 2:30.77 and got honorable mention in the 400-meter dash at 1:01.14. She later went to state in both events and earned a sixth-place medal in the 800 at 2:20.51. She finished 14th in the 400-meter preliminaries at state in 1:01.13.

The rest of Medford’s awards came in relays.

The 400-meter team of freshman Marlee Perrin, senior Sophie Brost, sophomore Brenley Beran and Machon get a second-team spot with its time of 52.08 seconds that was 0.26 seconds behind the winning team from Antigo. Junior Alyssa Brandner, sophomore Ella Daniels, junior Brooke Rudolph and Richter finished the 1,600-meter race in 4:23.78 to earn second-team honors just behind Lakeland (4:23.21).

The 3,200-meter team of Daniels, freshman Naomi Fleegel, freshman Ella Dassow and Rudolph started the meet with a third-place time of 10:59.35 to get honorable mention behind Tomahawk (10:33.11) and Lakeland (10:54.68).

After dominating the meet, Mosinee’s Craig Martens was presented his second straight GNC Girls Coach of the Year award. Northland Pines sophomore star Nora Gremban got her second straight Runner of the Year after winning the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs and setting new GNC records in the 800 (2:14.11) and 1,600 (5:02). Gremban won Division 2 state championships in both races on June 4. Mosinee’s Brooke Baumann won GNC shot put and discus competitions and was named the conference’s Field Athlete of the Year. She set a new GNC record in the discus at 126-2.

Jaylin Machon

Meredith Richter

Jake Seifert

Gage Losiewicz

Zach Rudolph

Vincent Seidel

Josh Clark

Silas Wipf

Alyssa Brandner

Ella Daniels

Brooke Rudolph

Sophie Brost

Marlee Perrin

Brenley Beran

Ella Dassow

Naomi Fleegel