Machon sets record in girls’ win; boys a solid 2nd at Pines

NORTHLAND PINES INDOOR INVITE

Finishing the indoor season with the most complete lineups they’ve shown so far, the Medford Raiders proved they could be contenders by winning the girls meet and taking second in the boys competition at Thursday’s Northland Pines Invitational.

The meet featured all seven Great Northern Conference schools and nearby Three Lakes. While it wasn’t necessarily a true preview of what’s to come in the GNC’s championship meet at Lakeland on May 16, it certainly provides excitement and optimism going into the outdoor season, which is set to start today, Thursday, with Medford’s annual Early Bird Invitational at Raider Field.

The girls scored 110.5 points to get by Rhinelander (97.83), Antigo (95.67) and Tomahawk (90) in a tightly-contested meet. The boys, meanwhile, were right in the middle of a three-team race for that title. The host Eagles eventually won it with 149 points, but Medford (138) and Rhinelander (135) weren’t far behind.

Medford junior Jaylin Machon won the pole vault competition and did it in style, breaking the school record of 10 feet she had shared since late last year with 2015 graduate Margaret Hamman. She cleared the bar at 10 feet, 3 inches on Thursday and was far and away the leader in that event as runner-up Alicia Voermans of Tomahawk topped out at 7-6.

That was one of four event victories the Raiders earned while claiming the girls’ championship trophy.

Individually, junior Meredith Richter got one of them, taking the 800-meter run in 2:28.89, easily beating Lakeland’s Stella Meza (2:47.03). Richter joined Ella Daniels, Ella Dassow and Lindsay Kahn in starting the track events with a win in the 3,200-meter relay. The Raiders were timed at 11:08.69 to easily beat runner- up Tomahawk (11:35.14). Medford finished the meet by sealing the team win with a victory from Aliyah Pilgrim, Lillie Gleichauf, Richter and Bryn Fronk in the 1,600-meter relay. Their time of 4:38.47 was well ahead of Tomahawk (4:57.07), Rhinelander (5:01.74) and Northland Pines (5:07.98).

Many of those same relay names added points individually on the track.

Kahn, a freshman, won the race for second place in the 3,200-meter run. Her time of 12:59.86 easily beat third-place finisher Chloe Tainter of Antigo (13:45.76). No one was going to catch Northland Pines’ star junior Nora Gremban, who won in 11:23.06.

Daniels and Dassow combined for nine points in the 1,600-meter race with Daniels taking third in 6:08.99 and Dassow taking sixth in 6:32.82. Gremban won that race in 5:06.89, while Lakeland’s Ada Ernst held off Daniels in 6:04.15.

Machon added 12 points with two thirds. One came in the 55-meter hurdles, which she ran in 10.0 second to fall 0.36 seconds behind Three Lakes’ Kallie Volk and 0.21 seconds behind Mosinee’s Malina Carattini. In her first 200-meter race of 2023, Machon finished in 30.5 seconds, while Pilgrim was right behind her at 30.74 seconds. They trailed Antigo’s Makayla Tischendorf (30.22) and Ava Carrillo of Northland Pines (30.47), while Raider Riley Clark (32.77) was 13th.

Pilgrim earned six third-place points in the 400-meter dash with her time of 1:10.43. Gleichauf got fifth in 1:12.17, while Rachel Wesle was ninth at 1:18.06. Rhinelander’s Augusta Gruett won in 1:08.99, while Antigo’s Lillian L’Esperance was 0.14 seconds ahead of Pilgrim.

Fronk sprinted to fourth place in the 55-meter dash at 8.06 seconds, while Raider Alexis Zuleger was 17th in 8.77 seconds. Antigo’s standout junior MacKenzie Wissbroecker won in 7.78 seconds. Medford’s 800-meter relay team of Zuleger, Brenley Beran, Clark and Autumn Cooley was fifth in 2:09.47, beating Mosinee (2:14.3) and Rhinelander (2:24.3). Tomahawk won in 2:01.43, beating Antigo by 1.48 seconds. Raider Adalyn Dittrich was ninth in the 200-meter hurdles at 40.72 seconds.

In the field events, Daniels long jumped for the first time this season and came away with third place at 13-10, 5 inches ahead of Kirkland Williams of Northland Pines. Wissbroecker got another win at 16-7 and Rhinelander’s Callie Hoerchler was second at 14-9. Stacy Stolp got the eighth-place point for Medford at 12-9. Stolp got five points by taking fourth in the triple jump at 28-8, a foot ahead of Mosinee’s Katelyn Kramer. Aila Bergman, a freshman from Rhinelander won at 30-4, a foot ahead of Tomahawk’s Halle Derleth.

Wesle led Medford’s shot put crew by placing sixth at 26-2, equaling her best mark of the indoor season. Rivalee Stokes was ninth at 25-1 and Lindsey Klapatauskas was an inch behind Stokes in 10th place. Mosinee’s Bekah Bouton won at 31-2, an inch ahead of Karlee Weavers of Three Lakes.

Gleichauf got two points with a height of 6 feet in the pole vault and Cooley tied for eighth in the high jump at 4-2.

Mosinee was fifth in the team standings with 66 points, followed by Northland Pines (64), Lakeland (49) and Three Lakes (34).

In JV events, Medford’s Amy Espinoza won the 400-meter dash in 1:18.7, Pilgrim won the long jump at 12-5, Clark was second in the 55-meter dash (8.64) and Ashley Hernandez was eighth (9.52) and Hernandez was sixth in the 200-meter dash (36.6).

Boys score big

The boys’ improved depth showed in their 138 points scored Thursday.

Medford won five events, including both hurdle races. Freshman Will Daniels took the 200-meter hurdles in 30.8 seconds, clipping Tomahawk senior Zach Hanse by 0.04 seconds, while sophomore Hudson Briggs got the seventhplace points at 34.23 seconds. Sophomore Paxton Rothmeier got the 55-meter hurdles in 9.66 seconds, while Daniels was third in 10.25 seconds and Cory Lindahl got sixth in 10.94 seconds. Mosinee’s Zander Deiniger just got past Daniels by 0.04 seconds to finish second.

Gage Losiewicz completed Medford’s sweep of the pole vault titles by winning the boys competition at 12 feet, a foot higher than Rhinelander’s Kaleb Winter.

Adyn Gripentrog, Dayne Jacobson, Zach Rudolph and Caleb Scoles finished the meet by winning the 1,600-meter relay in 3:56.88, a time that was comfortably ahead of Rhinelander’s 4:00.95 and the 4:03.67 turned in by Pines. Rothmeier, Evan Paul, Lindahl and Anakin Stokes nearly won the 800-meter relay with their time of 1:43.31. They were 0.33 seconds behind Pines and 3.39 seconds ahead of third-place Mosinee.

Josh Clark won the 800-meter run, an event where the Raiders scored 19 points. Clark held off Antigo’s James Meade to win in 2:13.03, while Rudolph was right behind Meade at 2:13.68. Gripentrog took sixth in 2:23.14. Clark improved by 6.1 seconds over his winning time at Wausau West on March 28.

Stokes scored 16 points with two second-place sprint finishes. He ran the 55-meter dash in 7.19 seconds to fall 0.17 seconds behind winner Jack Gjovik of Pines. Charlie Kleist was fifth in 7.3 seconds and Itsael Medina was 10th in 7.45 seconds. Stokes and Kleist took second and third in the 200-meter dash at 25.45 and 25.49 seconds. Gjovik won that in 24.57 seconds. Medina was 10th at 27.68 seconds.

Naut van Meurs (12:26.53) and Ervin Ulrich (12:28.9) were fifth and sixth in the 3,200-meter run, won easily by Rhinelander’s Greyson Gremban at 11:03.79. Silas Wipf was fifth in the 1,600-meter run at 5:07.71, while Lucas Borman was 11th at 5:42.72. Lakeland’s Owen Clark won at 4:48.83.

Scoles took fifth in the 400-meter dash in 1:01.79 and Dayne Jacobson got the eighth-place point at 1:03.42. Eli Kerner (58.89) and Jacob Beer of Pines (58.99) got 18 big points for the Eagles at the front of that race. Raider Ryker Hallam was 17th at 1:30.07. Medford’s team of Owen Stockwell, Anthony Seidel, van Meurs and Borman was fifth in the 3,200-meter relay at 9:57.25. Antigo won in 9:25.57.

In the field, Paul placed twice, taking sixth in the long jump at 18-5 and seventh in the high jump at 5-6. Lindahl got the eighth-place point in the long jump at 17-4 and was 12th in the high jump at 5-2. Jacobson got to 5 feet in the high jump to take 14th. Stockwell went to a seasonbest 35-9 to place fifth in the triple jump, while Kleist was right behind him at 35 feet. Vincent Seidel took 11th at 33-1. Will Haavisto was eighth in the shot put at a season-best 34-11, while Jonathan Bartnik was 14th at 30-5.5.

Mosinee finished fourth in the team standings with 64 points, followed by Tomahawk (59), Antigo (42), Lakeland (27) and Three Lakes (0).

In JV events, Medina, Evan Pagel, Jake Dassow and Kleist handily won the 800-meter relay in 1:48.35, Stockwell won the 800-meter run in 2:23.15, Scoles (7.55) was second and William Bartnik (7.86) was seventh in the 55-meter dash, Pagel (28.33) was fourth in the 200-meter dash, Jason Scott (1:09.22) was fourth in the 400-meter dash, and William Bartnik (288) was eighth and Jacob Reichtzigel (263.5) was 11th in the shot put.

BRETT LaBORE/THE LAKELAND TIMES

Jaylin Machon

Medford’s Evan Paul placed seventh in the high jump competition at Thursday’s Northland Pines Indoor Invitational. He cleared the bar at 5 feet, 6 inches.