RIB LAKE TRACK & FIELD - Lopez jumping into record book; Redmen start well in the outdoors

RIB LAKE TRACK & FIELD

The momentum Rib Lake’s top girls track and field athletes built indoors continued Tuesday and the boys got a pair of wins as well in the six-team Stratford Outdoor Opener.

Pushed back a day to take advantage of a little better spring weather than the athletes would have experienced Monday, both Rib Lake teams placed fourth in the meet. The girls scored 87 points, while the boys scored 60.

The girls outscored Spencer (58) and Laona-Wabeno (48) while trailing Marawood Conference powers Marathon (157), Stratford (154) and Phillips (132). But the Redmen’s top individuals more than held their own.

Olivia Lopez continued to shine, finishing second three times and winning the triple jump with a distance of 33 feet, 4.5 inches that puts her at the top of Rib Lake’s record board in the event and ties her indoor best from March 28 in Merrill. Lopez, a senior, easily won Tuesday’s competition, finishing 31 inches ahead of runner- up Emily Rundle of Stratford. Lopez was second in the long jump at 159.5, a finishing mark she’s had for three of four meets this season. It’s Rib Lake’s school-record outdoor mark. Lopez went 1511 indoors at Merrill, also on March 28. On Tuesday, that distance put her 3.75 inches behind winner Brianna Sherden of Stratford. Rib Lake’s Emma Tlusty was seventh at 13-9.5.

Lopez’s other seconds came on the track. She posted a time of 13.83 seconds in her first 100-meter dash of the season, finishing 0.47 seconds behind Sherden. Rib Lake’s Isabelle Gumz was sixth in 14.85 seconds. Lopez was clocked at 29.91 seconds in the 200-meter dash, 0.64 seconds behind Sherden. Kloey Paul took 10th for Rib Lake at 31.27 seconds.

Hadassah Nelson was Rib Lake’s second winner in the girls meet. The sophomore cleared the bar at 4-4 to win the high jump by 2 inches over Laona-Wabeno’s Leja Ravaite and Kyra Beaber.

Gumz and Tlusty continued to pile up points for the Redmen in their events.

In the 300-meter hurdles, they combined for 14 points with Gumz placing second in 55.69 seconds and Tlusty taking third in 56.26 seconds. They trailed Stratford’s Dawnyel Martin (53.32). In the 100-meter high hurdles, Tlusty was second in 18.84 seconds, only trailing Marathon’s Alisha Blenker (18.23). Freshman Maddie Rademacher broke the 20-second barrier in her first varsity 100 highs race, finishing sixth in 19.98 seconds.

Gumz took third out of 21 competitors in the girls shot put with her best throw going 27-5.5, while senior Tessa Krause added a fifth-place toss of 26-6.5. Gumz was 12.5 inches behind runner-up Meadow Lambert of Marathon. Red Raider Ashley Gertschen won at 30-0.25. The first outdoor meet meant it was the first night of discus competition. Gumz placed sixth at 74-11. Gertschen won that with a throw that came up an inch shy of 100 feet.

Other top-15 finishes for Rib Lake’s girls included 13th- and 14th-place finishes for Camryn Glenzer (53-6) and Krause (52-0) in the discus and Paul’s 14th-place 100-meter dash time of 15.33 seconds.

Two wins for boys

In the boys meet, the 3,200-meter relay team and high jumper Jed Henderson carried their winning ways from the indoor season into the outdoors Tuesday.

Henderson cleared the bar at 5-10 and won the tiebreaker over Spencer’s Breckin Miller to win that event. Henderson and Miller were 4 inches ahead of the next two jumpers, Logan Rohland of Marathon and Kaden Foster of Stratford.

The long-distance relay team of Kaleb Scott, Henry Regier, Elijah Scott and Jack Regier finished in 9:19.8 and won a close race with Stratford by 2.91 seconds. Phillips (9:45.51) and Marathon (9:50.39) were well behind.

With third- and fourth-place finishes, Connor Highfill and Elijah Scott scored 11 points for the Redmen in the 3,200-meter run. Their times were 11:57.5 and 12:04.6. Maverick Hoogland of Phillips won at 11:09.68. In the 1,600-meter run, Kaleb Scott just missed breaking the five-minute barrier while finishing fourth in 5:00.33. Henry Regier got the first of his two sixthplace finishes at 5:06.05 and Highfill was ninth at 5:24.04, 2.97 seconds away from an eighth-place point. Phillips’ Gavin Esterholm (4:52.74) and James Vollendorf (4:53.91) were the fastest runners in that race.

Henry Regier’s other sixth came in the 800-meter run, where he finished in 2:21.55. Truman Smith added an eighthplace point at 2:23.22 in a race won by Esterholm in 2:11.99.

Also scoring on the track was Riley Johnson, who took seventh in the 400-meter dash at 1:07.46.

Gus Zuleger scored 10 points with fourth-place finishes in the horizontal jumps. He went 15-4.75 in the long jump, 5.5 inches ahead of teammate Seamus Highfill, who took fifth. Johnson tacked on a point by taking eighth at 14-2.25 and freshman Allan Head was 13th (8-11.5). Zuleger was fourth out of six triple jumpers with his distance of 32-9.75. John Buck of Stratford won at 38-5.5, while Jonathan Parker of Phillips took the long jump at 175.25.

Other top-15 finishes for Rib Lake’s boys included 14th- and 15th-place finishes for Clinton Peterson (63-0) and Johnson (52-9) in the discus. Isaiah Hubbard was 16th at 40 feet.

Stratford won the boys team title with 193 points, outscoring Phillips (127) and Marathon (115). Spencer was fifth with 59 points and Laona-Wabeno scored 18.

Rib Lake is back in action Tuesday at Edgar’s Doc Schultz Invitational, which is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.