WIAA DIV. 2 TRACK & FIELD - First post-season hurdle cleared

WIAA DIV. 2 TRACK & FIELD

Meredith Richter completed the distance trifecta, winning the 800-, 1,600and 3,200-meter runs, Gage Losiewicz and Jaylin Machon swept the pole vault titles and the Medford boys won three more championships during Monday’s WIAA Division 2 regional meet at Raider Field.

In all, Medford qualified 23 entries –– 12 boys and 11 girls –– for the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet, which will be held today, Thursday, at Colby with field events starting at 3 p.m. The top four finishers in each event today will qualify for the state championship meet May 31 and June 1 at UW-La Crosse.

Medford’s boys made a run at the regional team championship but came in second with 109 points, 14 behind Oconto Falls in a much different looking regional field than the Raiders are used to. Marinette edged Peshtigo 99.5-97.5 for third, while Mosinee clipped Antigo 90-89 for fifth. Menominee Indian (41), Colby (34) and Wittenberg-Birnamwood (2) filled out the nine-team field.

The Raider girls held second for much of the meet, butWittenberg-Birnamwood caught them at the end by a 127-116 margin. Oconto Falls completed the team title sweep with 140 points. Peshtigo was a distant fourth with 79 points, followed by Colby (65), Antigo (50), Mosinee (42), Marinette (39) and Menominee Indian (19).

Raider girls results

The final home meet in Richter’s magnificent prep career featured three convincing wins in the meets longest individual races.

First, Richter took the 1,600-meter run in 5:16.61, beating Peshtigo’s Rachel Nelson to the finish line by 12.91 seconds. Raider sophomore Lindsay Kahn, who also had a busy night by competing in all three distance races, took fifth in a season-best 5:53.91 and missed the fourth and final sectional berth by 12.24 seconds. Sophomore Felicity Ziehlke added two seventh-place points at 5:59.83.

Next was the 800-meter run, where Richter, the defending Division 2 state champion, won in 2:22.52, 2.51 seconds ahead of challenger Kylee Beversdorf of Wittenberg-Birnamwood. Kahn again was one spot short of advancing, finishing fifth in 2:37.18, 0.54 seconds behind Hannah Ludemann of Oconto Falls. Raider senior Ella Daniels was eighth in a season-best 2:42.63.

Finally, Richter won the 3,200-meter run in 11:35.31 well ahead of Wittenberg-Birnamwood freshman Nora Bushman (12:06.27). Carly Koski was ninth for Medford in 14:37.52.

Based on regional times, Richter enters today’s sectional as the third seed in all three races. Nora Gremban of Northland Pines is the top seed in all of them.

Machon, a senior, and freshman Avery Losiewicz were the top two finishers in the girls pole vault and advanced to today’s sectional. Machon, looking to return to state after missing last year, won Monday at a height of 10 feet, while Losiewicz hit 8 feet, 6 inches. Peshtigo’s Riley Sabel took third at 7-6 and three other vaulters no-heighted to miss their shot at moving on. Machon is one of five sectional vaulters who went at least 10 feet in Monday’s regionals.

Machon added a second-place time of 16.97 seconds to advance in the 100-meter high hurdles, while Losiewicz advanced in the 300-meter hurdles with her personal-best time of 49.8 seconds. Machon was 0.33 seconds behind Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Faith Resch in her race. Losiewicz trailed Resch (47.32) and Peshtigo’s Alaina Archambault (49.51) in her hurdles event. Medford’s Adalyn Dittrich was seventh in the 300-meter race at 57.47 seconds.

Midway through Monday’s meet, Medford advanced in both sprint relays. First, the 800-meter team of Aliyah Pilgrim, Toryn Rau, Rivalee Stokes and Brenley Beran took third in 1:52.93, easily beating fourth-place Antigo (1:57.82). The Raiders trailed Oconto Falls (1:50.29) and Wittenberg-Birnamwood (1:51.66).

Then, the 400-meter team of Pilgrim, Stokes, Losiewicz and Machon took second in 52.95 seconds, just behind Oconto Falls (51.33). Peshtigo (53.66) and Marinette (54.64) were third and fourth.

Stokes advanced with a fourth-place finish in the discus with a throw of 99-3. Morgan Liske got a sectional spot in the 400-meter dash, taking fourth at 1:07.57, her best time of the spring.

Medford just missed advancing in the other two relays. The 1,600-meter team of Pilgrim, Rau, Alexis Zuleger and Losiewicz fell 0.39 seconds short as Oconto Falls got thefourthspotrightattheend.Wittenberg-Birnamwood (4:06.11), Mosinee (4:08.94) and Peshtigo (4:21.71) also advanced. The 3,200-meter team of Daniels, Liske, Ella Dassow and Ziehlke finished in 10:42.55, which was 2.37 seconds behind fourthplace Marinette. Wittenberg-Birnamwood (10:07.96), Oconto Falls (10:20.58) and Colby (10:30.69) were the top three teams.

Daniels long jumped a personal-best 14-11.25 to take fifth, 1.5 inches away from advancing. Senior Rachel Wesle scored two points by taking seventh in the shot put at 29-6.25, while Bridget Wesle was 13th at 26-1.25. Addison Juedes cleared 4-2 to place seventh in the high jump. Zuleger added a point by taking eighth in the 200-meter dash at 29.81 seconds, while Rau was 10th at 30.62 seconds.

Also for Medford, senior Lindsey Klapatauskas was ninth in the triple jump at 30-9.25 and 11th in the 100-meter dash at 14.26 seconds, both season bests.

Raider boys results

Four firsts and a second-place finish accounted for nearly half of Medford’s point total in Monday’s boys meet.

Gage Losiewicz got a big week for himself started with a successful vault of 13-6 that won the pole vault competition by 6 inches over Colby’s Seth Hopperdietzel. It was his best vault ever and was a momentum builder going into a sectional meet where he’s one of two vaulters who went 13-6 in regional competition. Ashland’s Gage Mika is the other. Losiewicz hit 13-3 at state last June.

Senior Adam Kowalski will join Losiewicz in Colby today. He placed fourth in Monday’s competition at 10-9.

Medford got two of the top three spots in a 400-meter dash that went right down to the last 10 meters. Senior Logan Gubser got the win in 51.69 seconds, while senior Isaac Kautzer was third in 52.12 seconds with Menominee Indian’s Barron Waupoose (51.76) being between them. Those three got sectional spots along with fourth-place freshman Cody Nesberg of Peshtigo (53.37). Raider Peyton Ried added a 12th-place time of 1:00.38 in that race.

Six days after winning the GNC’s 110-meter high hurdles title, sophomore Will Daniels got the other hurdles race, the 300-meter intermediates, on Monday with a personal-best time of 41.76 seconds. He was 0.25 seconds ahead of Peshtigo’s Nathen Kleikamp in a tight race. Raider Hudson Briggs took fifth in a personalbest 45.28 seconds and was 0.41 seconds away from advancing.

Daniels did advance in the high hurdles as well, taking fourth in the final at 17.35 seconds. Medford’s Paxton Rothmeier was third in a personal-best 17.12 seconds to punch his ticket to the sectional. They trailed Alex Haines of Oconto Falls (16.34) and Kleikamp (16.73).

Medford ended the meet with an impressive showing from the 1,600-meter relay team of Losiewicz, Caleb Scoles, Gubser and Kautzer who led most of the way and won in 3:34.89, 1.97 seconds ahead of Marinette and 2.2 seconds better than their time from the May 14 Great Northern Conference meet. Medford is the eighth seed in today’s meet.

The 800-meter relay team is also running today, thanks to a third-place time of 1:33.9 Monday from Rothmeier, Scoles, Losiewicz and Evan Paul. Antigo was fourth in 1:34.42. Oconto Falls (1:32.31) and Marinette (1:33.7) were the top two teams. The 3,200-meter team of Evan Pagel, Ried, Anthony Seidel and Adyn Gripentrog was fifth in 9:07.93, trailing fourth-place Marinette by just 0.23 seconds. The 400-meter team was disqualified due to a dropped baton.

Paul advanced in two events, taking third in the 200-meter dash with an improved time of 23.43 seconds, just behind Waupoose (23.2) and Marinette’s Mason Hofherr (23.23), and third in the triple jump at 40-2.5, just behind Mosinee’s Spencer Lemke (40-8.5) and Menominee Indian’s Kenew Awonohopay (40-3.25).

Gripentrog was the runner-up in the 800-meter run thanks to a personal-best time of 2:05.09 that put him just 0.04 seconds behind Marinette’s Jackson Draheim. Medford senior Owen Stockwell was sixth (2:10.42) and Seidel was eighth (2:14.45), which also were new best times for those two.

Senior Cory Lindahl scored twice. He set a new best time of 11.78 seconds in the 100-meter dash preliminaries and then took sixth in the final at 11.86 seconds. Then he took seventh in the long jump at 19-3.25.

Pagel lowered his time by about 20 seconds in the 1,600-meter run and took seventh at 5:23.05. Brandon Curtis was seventh in the 3,200-meter run at 11:36.31.

Logan Langdon was 14th in shot put at 32-7, his best throw of the year, and 17th in the discus. William Bartnik (29-7) placed 16th in the shot put.

Medford senior Ella Daniels stretches as far as she can on a personal-best effort of 14 feet, 11.25 inches during WIAA Division 2 long jump competition Monday. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Left: Medford’s Logan Gubser takes the lead early in the 400-meter dash during Monday’s WIAA Div. 2 regional meet at Medford. Gubser won the regional title in 51.69 seconds. Right: Raider Isaac Kautzer brings the baton to the finish line, capping off Medford’s win in Monday’s boys 1,600-meter relay. Gage Losiewicz, Caleb Scoles, Gubser and Kautzer won the race in 3:34.89, 1.97 seconds ahead of secondplace Marinette. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS