SPRING COLLEGE ATHLETES, PART 1 - Richter, Lopez end freshman seasons; Krause part of Montevallo’s first season

After putting her name all over Medford Area Senior High’s record board last spring and defending a WIAA state title in the 800-meter run, Meredith Richter ended this spring competing as Nebraska-Omaha’s top entrant in the same event at the Summit League’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted May 15-17 by the University of South Dakota.

Richter ended her first year of NCAA Division I competition by finishing 12th in the conference in the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.74, 4.71 seconds behind freshman champion Berkeley Engelland of South Dakota. In fact, six of the top 12 finishers were freshmen. Calia Chaney of South Dakota (2:12.57), Jaelyn Miller of North Dakota State (2:13.11), Lindsey Rotz of South Dakota State (2:13.26) and Morgan Hartze of North Dakota (2:13.7) all placed fourth through seventh as freshmen.

The Mavericks finished their season in seventh place in the eight-team conference meet, scoring eight points. Oral Roberts was eighth with three. North Dakota State won with 222.

Omaha fielded one of the youngest squads in the conference with 12 freshmen and 11 sophomores on its 37-woman roster.

About a week before the conference meet, in the May 9 Iowa State Cyclone Twilight meet, Richter posted her best outdoor 800-meter time of the spring, 2:14.05, which was good for sixth out of 14 finishers. She won her heat by 2.87 seconds over teammate Maya Bergstrom.

Richter was consistent with her 800 times during the outdoor season. She came in at 2:14.76 at the prestigious Bryan Clay Invitational in California in mid-April, placing 81st out of 167 entrants. At Drake University’s Jim Duncan Invitational April 11, Richter was sixth out of 34 finishers in 2:14.71, 2.21 seconds behind winner Jaiden Itson of Iowa.

At the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebel Invitational April 4-5, Richter took sixth out of 39 runners in 2:15.73. Utah Tech’s Whitney Christiansen won in 2:09.94. Also in that meet, Richter was part of Omaha’s 4x400-meter relay team that placed fifth out of 10 teams in 3:57.97. Montana State won in 3:35.15.

Richter got a chance to run another 4x400 at the Bryan Clay Invite. The Mavericks lowered their time of 3:54.93 in that race and placed 17th out of 18 teams. Richter ran three 1,500-meter races during the outdoor season. Her first time was 5:05.11 at the season-opening Central Nebraska Challenge on March 29, good for 10th place out of 36 runners. She impressively dropped down to 4:42.3 and took eighth out of 90 runners at Simpson College’s Kip Janvrin Open April 24-25. She was 10.05 seconds behind unattached winner Alyna Thibault.

Richter shaved time again during the University of South Dakota Tuneup May 2-3, taking 18th out of 53 entrants in 4:41.63.

Her best of two 400-meter dash times came at the Kip Janvrin Open, where she took seventh out of 30 entrants in 1:00.02.

Richter’s best 800-meter time of her freshman year was 2:13.36 at the Summit League’s Indoor Championships.

Olivia Lopez, a 2024 Rib Lake graduate, long jumped for the UWStevens Point women’s team this spring. She competed in the WIAC Championships and took 20th out of 24 entrants with her best leap covering 4.96 meters, or 16 feet, 3.25 inches. The Pointers finished eighth in the meet with 22 points.

Lopez’s best jump came a week earlier at the April 26 Dick and Mary Johnson Invitational hosted by UW-Eau Claire. She was in the upper third in the standings at that meet, placing eighth out of 26 jumpers with a leap of 5.19 meters, or 17 feet, 0.5 inches. She was 14 inches behind the winner, Emma Gruen of UW-EC.

Lopez was 17th at 4.95 meters (16-3) at the UW-Platteville Invitational, held April 11-12, seventh at 4.77 meters (15-7.75) at the Rex Foster Twilight meet hosted by UW-Whitewater on April 4 and sixth among 17 jumpers with a distance of 5.16 meters (16-11.25) for a strong start to the outdoor season at the St. Norbert College Early Bird meet March 27. She also ran the 100-meter dash in that meet, taking 10th in 13.62 seconds.

Kyla Krause, a 2024 Medford graduate, was part of the the University of Montevallo’s first-ever acrobatics and tumbling team, which finished 3-5 during the season, which starts in February and goes through mid-April.

The Falcons finished the year April 10 by hosting a triangular with Saint Leo and Talladega. They compiled 244.95 points to outscore Talladega. Saint Leo outscored both teams with 249.165 points.

As was the case throughout the season, Krause was part of the four-athlete quad pass event in the synchronized tumbling portion of the meet. They earned a score of 7.3 in their routine, which had a start value of 8.0. Saint Leo’s quad pass got a 7.55 and Talladega’s earned a 4.55.

In the meet ending team event, which included all 22 Falcons, Montevallo scored 80.5 points to place between Saint Leo’s (97.04) and Talladega (52.33). In the team event, teams perform synchronized choreographed skills in a routine set to music. The routines are created with the intent to showcase all skill sets that have been competed in the previous five events.

Montevallo scored a season-high 246.79 points on March 27, but that wasn’t quite enough in loss at Presbyterian (S.C.), who scored 252.45. The quad pass group set a season-high score of 7.75 during the meet and the team score was 79.09.

In the team’s first-ever meet at Talladega College, Krause was part of the quad pass group that earned a 7.35. The Falcons also outscored Talladega 94.23-86.86 in the team event while winning the meet 245.48-189.55. The Falcons got a 7.1 quad pass score and were edged 86.27-85.44 in the team event at Saint Leo on Feb. 22, a meet won by the Lions 258.245-241.34.

Montevallo lost its first-ever home meet 243.47-238.25 to Mars Hill on March 7. The quad pass group got a 6.55 then and bumped up to a 6.7 in a 235.975161.62 home win over East Texas Baptist on March 11. The Falcons fell short in a home meet with Wingate University on March 18 by a score of 245.63-236.73. Krause and the quad pass group outscored Wingate’s team 6.75-6.35. Wingate outscored the Falcons in the team event 84.43-79.53.

Krause was one of 11 Falcons named to the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association’s 2025 Academic Honor Roll thanks to a first-year gradepoint average of 3.66 as she majors in elementary education.