MEDFORD TRACK & FIELD - Losiewicz, Stokes lead girls at Spencer; boys win team title too

MEDFORD TRACK & FIELD

Medford’s athletes brought some heat on another cold, dreary evening, earning team victories Friday on both sides of the Loyal Invitational, held at Spencer’s track and field facility.

Avery Losiewicz led the Raider girls with three event victories and a fifth-place finish in another, and Rivalee Stokes had a strong outing with a win in the discus competition, seconds in the shot put and 100-meter dash and she was part of the winning 1,600-meter relay team.

In all, the girls scored 145 points to hold off challenges from Phillips (121), Edgar (111) and Loyal (103). Athens (79), Spencer (52.5), Thorp (19.5) and Greenwood (0) rounded out the eightschool field.

Losiewicz had no trouble in the hurdles. The sophomore first took the 100-meter high hurdles in 17.57 seconds, 3.52 seconds ahead of Jaycee Pomeroy of Phillips. Cora Semrau got three sixthplace points for Medford at 21.44 seconds. Later, Losiewicz won the 300-meter hurdles in 52.5 seconds, 4.55 seconds ahead of Pomeroy.

In field events, Losiewicz won the pole vault by clearing 8 feet, 6 inches, which was 6 inches better than runner-up Grace Schreiner of Athens. Raiders Adalyn Dittrich (6-6) and Emily Kiselicka (6 feet) were fourth and fifth. Kiselicka’s height was a new best for the first-year senior.

Stokes was one of two girls to throw the discus more than 100 feet. Her distance of 103-9 was a little more than 3 feet better than the best effort from Athens’ Delaney Beasley (100-7). Stokes added a personalbest toss of 30-11.5 in the shot put that beat Beasley by 1.25 inches, while Losiewicz’s throw of 28-2 took fifth. Sy’Rih Hartwig of Athens won at 37-3.5. Medford’s Naomi Thomas (22-3) was 13th.

Stokes lowered her time to 13.77 seconds in the 100-meter dash, which put her behind only one of 17 entrants, Loyal’s Addysen Wolf (13.26). Stokes, Alexis Zuleger, Willow Dassow and Aliyah Pilgrim won the 1,600-meter relay in 4:37.03, a time that beat second-place Phillips by 7.88 seconds.

Pilgrim took second in the 400-meter dash at a season-best 1:04.36, 3.43 seconds behind Sarah Knaack of Phillips, while Raider Autumn Cooley was fifth at 1:11.85. Jordyn Grant was fourth in the 200-meter dash at 29.79 seconds.

In the distance events, Raider Lindsay Kahn was second in the 1,600-meter run at 5:46.36, just 0.78 seconds behind Tana Henderson of Phillips, and she was fourth in the 800-meter run at 2:35.85, 3.22 seconds behind winner Leah Harper of Phillips. Medford’s Ella Dassow was ninth at 2:52, her best time of the spring. Carly Koski was third in the 3,200-meter run at 14:23.4. Harper won that in 12:57.04.

In the sprint relays, Grant, Semrau, Kiselicka and Zuleger took third in the 400-meter relay at 58.33 seconds, trailing Edgar (53.94) and Loyal (54.76), while the same four took fourth in the 800-meter relay at 2:03.47 behind Loyal (1:52.57), Edgar (1:53.2) and Spencer (2:00.54). Ella Dassow, Dittrich, Willow Dassow and Cooley finished third in the 3,200-meter relay at 11:32.65, an improvement of about 10 seconds from their last race together. Phillips (10:51.93) and Athens (11:10.7) were ahead of them.

Grant placed fifth in the triple jump at 31-9 and Cooley added three points by taking sixth in the high jump at 4-2. Toryn Rau was sixth in the long jump at 12-6 and Maria Valverde Bautista was 11th at 105.75.

Boys highlights

The boys cruised past the small-school competition with eight wins and 177 points in Friday’s meet. Edgar was a distant second with 124 points, followed by Phillips (98), Athens (61), Spencer (52), Thorp (36), Greenwood (24) and Loyal (10).

The Raiders had the top two finishers in three races.

Evan Paul took the 100-meter dash in 11.56 seconds, just ahead of Paxton Rothmeier (11.83), while Colton Long added two seventh-place points in 12.45 seconds. Freshman Sawyer Hoops won the 200-meter dash in 23.99 seconds, barely beating senior Hayden Koester (24.0). In the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, Will Daniels won in a season-best 42.76 seconds, while Luke Klapatauskas got second in 45.64 seconds, 0.24 seconds ahead of Brock Beaty from Athens. Daniels was second in the 110-meter high hurdles in 17.33 seconds, while Klapatauskas was fourth in 19.06 seconds. Spencer’s standout Breckin Miller won in 15.75 seconds.

Senior Brandon Curtis was a double winner. First, he took the 1,600-meter run in a personal-best 4:58.54, 7.75 seconds ahead of Phillips Logger Nick Pesko. Evan Pagel was sixth for Medford in 5:29.71. Late in the meet, Curtis finished the 3,200-meter run in 10:58.4 to beat Logger Evan Johnson by 13.23 seconds.

Also on the track, Hayden Spangler lowered his time to 55.84 seconds and won the 400-meter dash by 2.01 seconds over Christian Benson of Phillips. Anthony Seidel took second in the 800-meter run at 2:16.82, 5.57 seconds behind Josh Edwards of Phillips.

Hoops, Paul, Koester and Rothmeier ran away with the 1,600-meter relay title in 3:40.42, finishing well ahead of runnerup Phillips (3:49.25). The 3,200-meter team of Ayden Tyznik, Angus Hamland, Judah Wipf and Seidel was second in 9:28.64, just 0.93 seconds behind Phillips and well ahead of Edgar (10:09.68). Daniels, Levi Zuleger, Rothmeier and Damien Dums took second in the 800meter race at 1:39.59, just 0.39 seconds behind Edgar. Ryker Hallam, Zuleger, Austin Crabb and Klapatauskas took fifth in the 400-meter relay at 53.88 seconds. Spencer won in 47.61 seconds.

In the field, Erich Moretz won his third straight shot put competition with his best toss going 45-5.5, well ahead of Edgar’s Corey Koeppl (39-7.25). Logan Langdon’s throw of 115-5 was a personal-best and was good for fourth in the discus competition. Moretz was seventh at 103-5.

Paul was third in the long jump at 189.5, 4 inches behind winner Ty Schnelle of Edgar. Crabb was 12th at 14-5.5. Koester cleared 5-2 to place fourth in the high jump. Dums (37-3) and Klapatauskas (372.75) were fourth and fifth in the triple jump, won by Edgar’s Dom Contreras at 38 feet.