Hornets qualify for sectionals in eight events

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Colby track and field team traveled to Medford for their Division 2 sectional track meet on Monday. The team had athletes move on to sectionals in eight different events, with the girls team taking fifth overall with 65 points and the boys squad placing eighth with 34 points. Oconto Falls won the regional title in both team competitions, with their girls accumulating 140 points and the boys finishing with 123 points.

Daelyn Rieck continued her streak of throwing competition wins on Monday, picking up victories in both the shot put and the discus. The sophomore was one inch short of her personal best in the discus, her longest throw measuring 129 feet, nine inches, a full 15 feet more than her next closest competitor in the event.

Rieck also claimed the top spot in the shot put, where she had the top throw of 38 feet, four inches. Christina Powers of Peshtigo offered a bit more resistance than opponents have had for Rieck in the past few meets, posting a throw of 37 feet, two inches, but the Hornet athlete still enjoyed a one foot advantage when all was said and done.

Pearl Feiten and Seth Hopperdietzel moved on to the next round of the WIAA postseason by picking up a pair of second place finishes for Colby. Feiten earned her spot in the 400-meter dash, where she came in only behind Oconto Falls’ Brook Hodkiewicz with a time of 1:04.25 in the event.

Meanwhile, Hopperdietzel continued his strong season in the pole vault. Only a personal best of 13 feet, six inches from Medford’s Gage Losciewicz was able to top the Hornet senior’s performance on Monday, where he cleared a height of 13 feet. It was down to Hopperdietzel and Losciewicz at the end, with the next closest competitor, Marinette’s Jackson Draheim, bowing out at 12 feet.

Max Adams qualified for sectionals in two events, claiming a pair of third place finishes in the distance events. He posted a time of 4:57.00 in the 1600-meter run, putting him just behind Antigo’s James Meade and Rutger Busse. The pair of Red Robin runners were the only ones to place ahead

STAFF PHOTOS/MATT FREY

of Adams in the 3200-meter run as well, after he completed the race in 10:51.32.

The girls 4x800-meter relay team of Feiten, Casey Reynolds, Ali Adams and Annamarie Schmitt also grabbed a third for the Hornets. The quartet finished with a time of 10:30.69 to move on to the sectional meet.

Xander Buchanan was the final Colby athlete to claim a spot at the sectional meet. The freshman took fourth in the high jump by clearing a height of five feet, eight inches. While he lost the tiebreaker to Omar Ingram of Mosinee, he won out over Oconto Falls’Alex Haines, who also ended his day at the same height, for that important fourth place spot.

A number of Hornet athletes just missed out on moving on to the next round, with Colby taking fifth in four different events.

Reynolds had a fifth place finish for Colby in the 3200-meter run, where she took fifth with a time of 12:35.01. Veronica Mateer added another fifth by posting a time of 19.02 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and Rolyn Hopperdietzel picked up four points for the Hornets by taking the fifth spot in the triple jump with an attempt of 38 feet, three-and-a-half inches.

The girls 4x200-meter relay was the final event in which the Hornets earned a fifth place finish. The team of Alexis Vanderhoof, Tori Underwood, Zeline Lintrup and Olivia Krause posted a time of 2:02.10 in the event.

There were also four sixth place finishes, with Feiten in the 800-meter run, Schmitt in the 1600-meter run, Makenna Hermmann in the 300-meter hurdles and Kaitlyn Weiland in the high jump all earning the placement in Medford.

Weiland picked up two more points in the 400-meter dash with a seventh place finish and there were five individual eighths, with Buchanan taking one in the triple jump, Tucker Hayes doing so in the 300-meter hurdles, Rolyn Hopperdietzel picking it up in the long jump, Underwood in the 100-meter dash and Adams in the 3200-meter run.

The Hornets will be in familiar territory for the May 23 sectional meet, as Colby is set to host Thursday’s event. The competition is to begin at 3 p.m.

MAKING WAVES IN MEDFORD - Pearl Feiten, left pushes around the corner during the 800-meter run while Rolyn Hopperdietzel, right, extends during his long jump event at the regional meet.