Relay experience a strength; girls add some more depth

Experienced relay teams give the Rib Lake track and field squads a foundation to build from as the 2022 season gets underway.

Where the pieces fall after that will be one of the key stories to watch as the next two months unfold.

More than two weeks now into the program’s first normal spring since 2019, the Redmen feature a roster of 32 student- athletes –– slightly more girls than boys. Competition started this week with the annual indoor meets in Marshfield and continues next week in Merrill. Boys meets are Tuesdays on each week while the girls compete on Thursdays.

The outdoor season is tentatively set to start April 14 at Marathon, the site of the Marawood Conference championships a month later on May 16.

Fourth-year head coach Jonah Campbell said Friday things have gotten off to a productive start.

“As much as it wasn’t nice having only three seniors last year, now you get pretty much everybody coming back with experience this year,” he said. “You don’t have to go through the work of re-explaining relays and why you do certain things. They’ve all kind of been through it. It makes it pretty simple and direct. You can jump into things right away. Last Tuesday when we got past that awkward first day of practice, we pretty much picked up right where we left off at the end of last year.”

Rib Lake’s super young teams of last year ended the season with the girls placing 10th and the boys finishing 11th at the 12-team Marawood Conference meet. Then the girls tied for fifth in a solid regional outing at Cadott, while the boys placed 10th.

No one from Rib Lake advanced from the sectional meet held last June 17 in Cameron and got to state. This year, Campbell said, the hope is to get more representation at this year’s sectional, set for May 26 in Colfax, and see what happens.

The lone Rib Lake entry to score at the sectional last spring was the girls 400-meter relay team and all four of those runners are back. They are seniors Megan Yanko and Lauren Pelnis and sophomores Olivia Lopez and Amber Yanko. They finished seventh at the meet in 55.48 seconds, three places and 0.61 seconds away from going to state.

The Yanko sisters, Pelnis and returning senior Kylee Goodrich made up the 1,600-meter relay team that placed 13th at the sectional. Those five names will be among the girls Rib Lake will lean on most to score points this year.

Goodrich is in her fourth season as a distance runner with the squad. She placed 14th in the sectional 1,600-meter run last June. Pelnis brings a lot of relay and open sprint experience. She ran in 200- and 400-meter dashes at times a year ago. Plus, she was a sectional qualifi er in the shot put, finishing ninth with a personal-best throw of 30 feet, 7 inches.

Amber Yanko (13.67 seconds) and Lopez (13.78) both qualified for the sectional in the 100-meter dash, placing 13th and 14th. Lopez was one of last year’s top surprises as a freshman, not only emerging as one of the team’s top sprinters but also one of its top jumpers with then-senior Jolee Gehrke. Lopez’s best long jumps last year was 13 feet, 11.25 inches, which put her in eighth place in the Marawood meet.

“One of the goals this year is to not only get her (to the sectional) in a relay but in a field event as well,” Campbell said. “She was right there with Jolee last year as a freshman. So we’re hoping to build off that in the long jump. Hopefully we can add some distance on her jump and get her on to sectionals, eventually with the goal in mind for her before graduation to get her on to state in an individual event. She’s certainly capable of that.”

Senior shot put and discus throwers Hannah Schuh and Emma Winter are back on the roster, though Winter is still recovering from a knee injury suffered in the volleyball season. Senior Tia Bube is back after last competing as a freshman. She adds another potential scorer in the throws and she did some solid work in both the 100-meter high and 300-meter low hurdles in 2019. Ryanna Schrader is another experienced senior who filled a sprint and relay role a year ago, junior Grace Artz threw the shot put and discus, while sophomore Nadia Czahor got some distance work. The opening roster also features senior Sofia Fraschi, sophomore Erin Bohmbach and freshmen Amy Espinoza, Madison Grzanna, Abigail Hebda, Leah Hoffland and Ziarra Schrader.

“We have a big senior class but all across the board there’s a lot of underclassmen,” Campbell said. “Most of the people have their fit, but we’ve encouraged some of them, even if we know they’re running on a relay, to venture out and try something. I think we’ll have some different names in the hurdles. Hopefully some of the freshmen will have enough confidence to try to high jump.”

The boys basically bring everyone back but sprinter and jumper Ashton Keiser, who they lost at mid-season, and thrower Bud Schreiner.

Those returnees include each member of Rib Lake’s three sectional relay combinations of a year ago. Sophomores Ethan Keiser and Donovan Sutherland and juniors Ben Petersen and Dominick Classen were 10th in the 800-meter relay at 1:42.39, six places and 5.42 seconds away from advancing to state. Keiser, Sutherland, Classen and senior Damien Peterson were 11th in last year’s 400-meter sectional race at 50.22 seconds, seven spots and 4.65 seconds away.

Junior Ryan Buehler was part of the 13th-place 1,600-meter team that included Petersen, Classen and Sutherland. Buehler also qualified individually in the 1,600-meter run, taking 15th.

“Returning pretty much everybody that was starting in relays is going to be big for this year,” Campbell said. “Not too many schools have both the boys and girls sprint relays coming back with all four runners. Usually you lose at least one and have to fill a spot.”

Campbell said that group of six runners could find themselves filling a variety of roles from 100 to 1,600 meters. Junior Noah Wiitala is another returnee who will fill track spots, junior Jayden Thums sprinted last year as well and senior Will Hartke is a newcomer who has cross country experience, but could find

2022

RIB LAKE TRACK & FIELD

March 22 Boys @ Marshfield, 7th March 24 Girls @ Marshfield, 4:30 p.m. March 29 Boys @ Merrill, 4 p.m. March 31 Girls @ Merrill, 4 p.m. April 14 @ Marathon, 4:30 p.m. April 19 @ Chequamegon, 4:30 p.m. April 22 @ Spencer, 4:30 p.m. May 2 @ Stratford, 4:30 p.m. May 6 RIB LAKE QUAD, 4:30 p.m. May 9 @ Edgar, 4:30 p.m. May 16 Marawood meet @ Marathon, 4 p.m. May 23 Flambeau regional May 26 Colfax sectional June 3-4 State meet @ UW-La Crosse himself at a variety of distances depending on how the lineup eventually shakes out.

“He has the speed that we can put him on a sprint relay if needed,” Campbell said. “He could run distance since he has that background. He could be middistance.”

With just 14 athletes on the opening roster, Rib Lake is going to be thin in some areas. Senior Brandon Heiser is the most experienced thrower. Peterson, junior Theo Robisch and sophomore Xavier Johnson are among the more experienced long and triple jumpers, though Keiser, Sutherland and Classen have long jumped too. The boys did not have a high jumper last year.

Freshman Elijah Scott and junior Peter Walters round out the opening roster. “Hopefully there’s a couple of meets where we’re in the mix for the boys to get them into some type of points competition as a team,” Campbell said. “For the most part, we’re just kind of looking toward what we can build and where our best spot is at the end of the season for each guy.”