Hornets track sends two to La Crosse


The Colby track and field team will be sending two of its members to compete in the D2 State Championships held at UW-La Crosse’s Veterans Memorial Stadium this coming Friday and Saturday. The pair of Hornets earned their spots after finishing in the top-four at their sectional meet held last Thursday in Arcadia.
For Caden Healy, the trip to La Crosse will be a familiar one. The senior competed at the state meet in 2021 and 2022 and after qualifying for the championships last week, he will be making a third straight appearance at Veterans Memorial Stadium. He placed third in the long jump in Arcadia to secure his spot in the event, putting in a leap of 20 feet, seven-and-a-half inches. His prior two trips to state also saw him competing in the long jump, where he placed ninth as a sophomore and fifth as a junior.
For the Hornets’ second qualifier, Daelyn Rieck, the state meet will be an entirely new experience. The freshman qualified in two events, taking third in both the shot put and the discus. Her throw of 37 feet, three-and-ahalf inches was a new personal best in the shot put and her longest toss in the discus measured 117 feet, eight inches.
Seth Hopperdietzel found himself one height increment short of reaching state in the pole vault. He finished the day with a height of 12 feet, six inches to take sixth in the competition while the athletes finishing third, fourth, and fifth reached 13 feet even.
Ivan Haemer also competed in the field events for the boys’ team. He took 13th place in the long jump, recording a jump of 18 feet, eight-and-a-quarter inches. He then placed 14th in the shot put, his longest throw measuring 40 feet, three-quarters of an inch.
On the track, the boys had Healy and Nathaniel Robida take part in the 100-meter dash. Healy recorded a time of 11.69 seconds, earning himself 10th place and Robida finished with a time of 12.04 seconds, taking 15th.
Max Adams represented the team in the long distance events, taking 13th in the 3200-meter run. He posted a time of 10:19.35.
The 4x100-meter relay team of Healy, Robida, Haemer and Caden Kleparski rounded out the boys’ events, placing 15th with a time of 45.61 seconds.
Hayden Willner and Willow Oehmichen grabbed a trio of eighth place finishes for the girls team in Arcadia. Willner competed in the two hurdles events for the Hornets, posting times of 17.14 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and 48.51 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles. Meanwhile, Oehmichen’s eighth place finish came in the pole vault, where she finished with a final height of nine feet, six inches.
Willner also competed in a field event for Colby. She placed 13th in the long jump, recording a leap of 14 feet, six-and-a-half inches.
Veronica Mateer rounded out the girls’ field events with a 14th place finish in the triple jump. The sophomore’s best jump measured 29 feet, four-and-a-half inches.
Jazmyn Heeg represented her team in two sprinting events in Arcadia. She placed 11th in the 200-meter dash after recording a time of 27.77 seconds and earned herself 12th place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.58 seconds.
Pearl Feiten took 15th place in the 800-meter run as the Hornets’ sole individual long distance runner at the sectional meet. She posted a time of 2:35.32.
Finally, the 4x800-meter relay of Feiten, MaKenna Herrmann, Casey Reynolds and Annamarie Schmitt took 11th in their event. They finished with a time of 10:45.12.
Both Healy and Rieck will compete on the first day of the state championships, Friday, June 2. Field events are to start at 9:30 a.m., beginning with the D3 competitions and then moving to the D2 events when those have concluded. Rieck will also compete on Saturday, June 3 in the shot put. The competition begins at 10 a.m., but D2 girls throwers will have to wait until after the D1 boys and the D3 girls have completed their circuit before being able to enter the pit.

LONG LEAPS -Veronica Mateer set a new personal best in the triple jump at regionals to move on to Arcadia.