Colby athletes compete at UW-Stout Elite Meet

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Colby track and field team was back in Menomonie for the UW-Stout Elite Meet this past Thursday. Of the 30 schools with athletes at the event, the Hornet girls team took 17th while the boys squad placed 18th overall.

Daelyn Rieck scored all eight points for the girls team at the event with her performance in the shot put. The sophomore thrower continued her successful start to 2024 by taking second place in the shot put event. On her third throw of the evening, Rieck launched a toss of 38 feet, 10.25 inches, which put her only behind Holmen’s Jadyn Roden, who reached 39 feet, six inches with her second throw of the day. No other competitors truly challenged the two top athletes in the event, with third place Carly Huelskamp’s furthest throw measuring a distant two-anda-half feet behind Rieck’s. While the girls did not manage to score in any other events, they still put forth some solid finishes in their other events.

Seniors Jazmyn Heeg and Casey Reynolds both notched 10th place finishes for the Hornets on Thursday. Heeg narrowly missed out on the finals for the 55-meter dash, where her time of 7.96 seconds was just three-hundredths of a second short of the time she would have needed to qualify. Meanwhile, Reynolds finished the 1600-meter run in under six minutes for the first time in 2024, finishing with a final time of 5:57.06.

Annamarie Schmitt almost had another top-10 performance for the Hornets, finishing 11th in the 3200-meter run with a time of 13.49.55. The sophomore also took 22nd in the 1600-meter run with a time of 6:20.30.

Other individual top-25 finishes included Heeg in the 200-meter dash, where she placed 20th with a time of 29.29 seconds, Pearl Feiten with a 20th place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:43.21, Reynolds in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:45.41 for 23rd place and Edynn Hinker in the shot put, where she took 23rd with a throw of 27 feet, nine inches.

On the boys’ side, eight of their nine points came in the field events. Seth Hopperdietzel had the highest finish for the Hornets, taking fourth in the high jump. The new school record holder in the event cleared a height of 13 feet at the elite meet.

See COLBY TRACK/ Page 16

THE HORNETS ARE LOCKED IN - Caden Kleparski followed by teammate Tucker Hayes, left, Xander Buchanan, above, and Casey Reynolds, right, all represented Colby at the UW-Stout Elite Meet held last Thursday.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Colby track

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A fault at the 12 foot mark was the difference between Hopperdietzel and Chippewa Falls’ Collin Clary, who also finished with a height of 13 feet.

Rolyn Hopperdietzel came up with a fifth place finish in the triple jump. The freshman posted a distance of 39 feet, five-and-a-half inches, which put him in the midsts of a highly contested top seven. While winner Logan Gitzen of Turtle Lake/Clayton soared past the rest of the pack, second through seventh place was decided by mere inches. Teammate Xander Buchanan found himself just outside the scoring range in the event on Thursday, taking ninth place with a distance of 38 feet, one inch.

Buchanan also took 20th in the high jump with a height of five feet, three inches and Rolyn Hopperdieztel claimed 13th place in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, nine inches. Senior Caden Kleparski took 15th in the high jump by clearing the bar at five feet, six inches. Moises Fuentes also had a top-25 field event finish for the Hornets, posting a throw of 35 feet, 11.25 inches, earning himself 25th place.

Max Adams scored the only point on the track for Colby. The senior distance runner took eighth in the 3200-meter run, posting a time of 10:53.05. He also took 14th in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:55.74.

The Colby girls will have one more indoor meet this season, traveling to Wausau West on Thursday, April 4. The start time for the meet is scheduled for 4 p.m.

PASSING UP THE COMPETITION - Annamarie Schmitt makes a move around Spooner’s Brooke Asleson in the 1600-meter run.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD