Hornets take fifth, sixth at conference

By Nathaniel Underwood

Buoyed by seven all-conference performances, the Hornets track and field teams put together a solid outing at the Eastern Cloverbelt conference meet last Thursday. The girls went on to take fifth place overall, ending the day with 80 points, while the boys team took sixth with a score of 44 points.

Owen-Withee dominated the day, taking the conference title in both the boys and girls team competition. The boys team edged out second place Neillsville 189 points to 163.50 while the girls team overcame the runner-up Warriors by collecting 159.50 points to Neillsville’s 142.50.

High jumper Rolyn Hopperdietzel had the boys team’s best result of the day, earning himself a first team all conference honor by grabbing the top spot in the event. The sophomore was the only athlete to clear a height of five feet, 10 inches on Thursday, allowing him to stand alone at the top of the standings. Teammate Xander Buchanan also racked up some points for the Hornets in the event, coming in just behind Hopperdietzel with a height of five feet, eight inches. However, both Owen-Withee’s Mason Gay and Gilman’s Sawyer Winger also cleared the five foot, eight inch mark and held tiebreakers over Buchanan, who went on to finish in fourth.

Thrower Daelyn Rieck concluded her regular season campaign with two more wins under her belt, notching first team all-conference honors in both the discus and the shot put. The junior cruised to victory in both events, holding a thirty-foot advantage in the discus, which she won with a throw of 126 feet, eight inches, and a six and a half foot lead in the shot put with a throw of 39 feet, 6.5 inches. Edynn Hinker also scored for Colby in both events, taking fourth in the discus with a throw of 86 feet and fifth in the shot put with a toss of 27 feet, 9.5 inches.

Annamarie Schmitt had the final individual first place finish for the Hornets at the conference meet. The long distance runner grabbed the top spot in the 3200-meter run, posting a time of 12:46.05 to come in ahead of Owen-Withee’s Adelynn Peterson. Ali Adams also picked up some points for Colby in the event, earning a fourth place spot with a time of 14:23.28.

Both Adams and Schmitt were part of the 4x800-meter relay team that registered another first place finish for the Hornets. Veronica Mateer and Isabelle Kloth joined them to register a meet-best time of 11:16.47 in the event, giving them an eight second advantage of the second-place Owen-Withee quartet.

The long distance events were where the Colby girls continued to pick up points. Schmitt earned another all-conference honor, this time a second team, by finishing as the runner- up in the 1600-meter run. She battled right down to the wire with Neillsville’s Braelyn Anding, coming in just five tenths of a second behind with a time of 5:44.99. Adams came in fifth in the event with a time of 6:30.68 and Jenelle Ertl added to the Hornets tally with a sixth place spot after finishing the race in 6:39.64. Kloth also notched some long distance points by taking sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:54.25.

Meanwhile, the boys 4x200-meter relay team of Buchanan, Hopperdietzel, Dany Nunez, and Adrian Weix, secured their own all-conference honors by taking second in their event. They came in just six tenths of a second behind the winner of the event, posting a final time of 1:39.67. The Hornet boys' other sprint relay, the 4x100-meter team of Nunez, Hopperdietzel, Oliver Steen and Carsen Thomsen also scored for Colby, collecting a fourth place finish with a time of 48.44 seconds.

Hopperdietzel notched another fourth place finish when he registered a leap of 19 feet, three inches in the long jump. He was just three inches behind winner Brody Bergemann of Neillsville and within an inch and a half of the second and third place competitors in the event.

Thomsen and Buchanan added two more scoring performances for the boys in the field events. The former took fifth in the discus, his best throw reaching a distance of 105 feet, six inches, while the latter grabbed seventh place in the triple jump, registering an attempt of 34 feet, nine inches.

Jacob Raatz picked up a pair of top-eight finishes in the distance events for the boys team, taking seventh in the 3200meter run with a time of 12:33.76 and eighth in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:34.95. Nunez had the best individual sprint finish for the Colby boys, taking seventh with a time of 12.21 in the 100-meter dash.

On the girls side, both Kloth and Mateer had sixth place finishes. Kloth picked up hers in the 400-meter dash, registering a time of 1:07.27 while Mateer’s came in the 100-meter hurdles, where she posted a time of 20.03 seconds. Mateer also nabbed seventh in the triple jump, her best attempt of the day measuring 29 feet, 1.25 inches.

MAKING HER MOVE - Annamarie Schmitt tries to push past Neillsville’s Braelyn Anding during the 1600meter run at the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference meet in Gilman. The two battled for the entire race, and while Anding was able to hold off Schmitt for the top spot, the Colby junior won the 3200-meter run.

BRENDA LAVENGOOD/THE TRIBUNE RECORD GLEANER

FULL SPEED AHEAD - Veronica Mateer starts on her second lap of her leg of the 4x800-meter relay. Mateer and her team took first place in the event.

ROSS PATTERMANN/THE THORP COURIER

DOWN THE HOME STRETCH - Jacob Raatz pushes forward to the finish during his 3200-meter run at the Hornets conference meet in Gilman.

ROSS PATTERMANN/THE THORP COURIER