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Tallier, Angell, Drier all qualify twice; Franzen goes in hurdles

WIAA DIV. 3 TRACK & FIELD

Gracie Tallier, Bailey Angell and Claire Drier advanced in individual events and the Gilman Pirates also snuck a relay into sectional competition during the girls portion of Monday’s WIAA Division 3 Flambeau track and field regional.

Quintin Franzen was the only Pirate to advance on the boys’ side, thanks to his fourth-place finish in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

The WIAA Division 3 Cameron sectional is set for today, Thursday, at 3 p.m.

Gilman’s girls scored 62 points in Monday’s meet to place fifth out of 11 teams, led by two first-place finishes from Tallier and one from Angell.

Tallier’s senior season continued with wins in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. In the 100, Tallier had no trouble earning the top-four finish necessary to advance, winning the final in 12.71 seconds, 0.42 seconds over McDonell Central’s Kali Goulet. Tallier got to the final by posting the best preliminary time as well at 13.05 seconds.

Running in the first of three preliminary heats, Gilman sophomore Jaylen Copenhaver almost made the final, finishing one spot short in ninth place at 14.4 seconds, 0.01 seconds out of eighth. Kyra Rabuck was 20th in 15.51 seconds.

In the 200-meter dash, Tallier coasted to a third-place preliminary time of 27.17 seconds and then turned it on in the final, winning it in 26.44 seconds, 0.4 seconds ahead of Ladysmith’s Marika Gago and 1.26 seconds ahead of third-place Emma Lechleitner of Cornell-Lake Holcombe.

Copenhaver again had the ninth-best preliminary time at 31.32 seconds, 0.41 seconds away from making the final. Rabuck was 10th at 31.46 seconds. Copenhaver also tied for ninth in the high jump competition by clearing 4 feet.

Angell’s march toward third straight state appearances in the shot put and discus got underway Monday. The junior won the shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 5 inches, which was 4 inches better than the best throw from Ladysmith’s Tori Thorpe. Flambeau’s Brooklyn Ludescher was a distant third at 33-11.

Cadott senior Lucy Lindeman won the discus competition at 110-2, but Angell had no problem advancing with her second- place throw of 107-4. Angell was well ahead of Ladysmith’s Elle Nisbit (101-6) and Thorpe (98-5), who also advanced by taking third and fourth places.

Drier advanced in two events. The sophomore equaled her best distance of a year ago with her best jump of 2023 at 16-2.25 in the long jump. That was good for third place behind Ladysmith’s duo of Allison Clark (16-4) and Gago (16-3.25). Tallier, who won the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference’s long jump title last week, came up a spot short of advancing on Monday, taking fifth at 15-6.75, 3.75 inches behind Ladysmith’s Emerson Clark. Rabuck was 20th for Gilman at 10-9.

Drier posted a time of 50.09 seconds to advance in the 300-meter hurdles. She got fourth place, 0.36 seconds ahead of Ladysmith’s Abby Fye. Lechleitner (48.54), Elyse Bushman of McDonell (48.86) and Jaycee Stephens of Cadott (49.6) also advanced.

Drier was one spot short in the 100-meter high hurdles, placing fifth in the final at 17.98 seconds. She was 0.62 seconds behind fourth-place hurdler Marcella Boehm of Cornell-Lake Holcombe. Iszy Sonnentag of Cadott won in 15.83 seconds. Drier had the fifth-best preliminary time at 18.14 seconds.

Drier, Copenhaver, Rabuck and Tallier finished the meet by taking fourth and qualifying for the sectional in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 4:32.75. It was the first time Gilman entered that race this spring. The Pirates easily beat McDonell (4:56.53) for fourth place. Cadott (4:18.06), Chetek-Weyerhaeuser (4:20.57) and Ladysmith (4:25.44) also qualified.

Franzen’s qualifying effort was just half of a strong day for the junior in boys hurdles races. He made it to the sectional in the 300-meter intermediates by finishing in a personal-best 47.19 seconds, which was 1.75 seconds ahead of fifth-place hurdler Andy Bormann of Mc-Donell. Cornell-Lake Holcombe’s Dylan Bowe won in 44.63 seconds, while Alex Tokarski of McDonell (44.69) and Aaron Lloyd of Bruce (45.22) also qualified. Franzen was sixth in the 110-meter high hurdles with a new personal-best time of 18.8 seconds. He was 0.49 seconds away from fourth place in a race won by Chetek-Weyerhaeuser’s Lawson Davis in 15.62 seconds. Franzen qualified for the final with his seventh-place preliminary time of 19.51 seconds.

The Pirates had some near-misses in the boys meet. Senior Braeden Person ran the 400-meter dash in a personal-record 58.07 seconds to place fifth, 0.97 seconds behind fourth-place finisher Tim Stock of Owen-Withee. The 1,600-meter relay team of Franzen, Brady McAlpine, Person and Sawyer Winger was fifth in 3:58.41, well ahead of Cornell-Lake Holcombe (4:06.48), but 2.26 seconds behind fourth-place Bruce. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser won in 3:40.13.

Winger was sixth in the high jump as one of five jumpers to clear 5-6. Davis and Ladysmith’s Elias Mikunda and Ashton Clark all led the pack by clearing 6 feet. Winger was ninth in the long jump with a season-best jump of 17 feet. Gilman’s Mitchell Moran was 19th at 12-7.25.

McAlpine made the 200-meter dash final, taking seventh in 25.48 seconds, 1.19 seconds out of fourth place. He was a bit quicker in the prelims at 25.32 seconds, which was good for eighth. Person was 13th at 26.21 seconds. McAlpine was 10th in the 100-meter dash preliminaries at 12.34 seconds, 0.23 seconds away from eighth place and a spot in the final. Winger was 18th at 12.84 seconds.

Caleb Marion got off a throw of 93-2 to place 11th in the discus and he was 18th in the shot put at 30-5.5. Moran was ninth in the 1,600-meter run at 6:04.25 and 14th in the 800-meter run at 2:40.29.

Girls team scores were: 1. Ladysmith, 160; 2. Cadott, 113; 3. McDonell Central, 100; 4. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser, 66; 5. Gilman, 62; 6. Flambeau, 50; 7. Cornell-Lake Holcombe, 44; 8. Bruce, 40; 9. Thorp, 22; 10. Owen-Withee, 18; 11. New Auburn, 11.

Boys team scores were: 1. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser, 105; 2. Owen-Withee, 98; 3. McDonell Central, 96; 4. Ladysmith, 87; 5. Cornell-Lake Holcombe, 77; 6. Bruce, 69; 7. Cadott, 68; 8. Flambeau, 36; 9. New Auburn, 22; 10. Gilman, 21; 11. Thorp, 14.

The top four finishers in each event at today’s sectional will advance to the WIAA Division 3 state championships at UW-La Crosse June 2-3. Competition there starts Friday at 9:30 a.m.

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