Six event wins for the girls in Pirates’ outdoor opener

GILMAN TRACK & FIELD

Competing with their full squads for the first time since March 17, the Gilman Pirates won six events in Thursday’s girls meet and scored in six events in the boys meet during their 2023 home and outdoor track and field opener.

Held in beautifully warm conditions for mid-April, the meet featured 11 teams with all but one coming from the Cloverbelt Conference. Gilman tied Stanley-Boyd for fourth place in the girls meet by scoring 79.2 points, while the boys got 16.5 to take eighth, just ahead of Columbus Catholic (16) and Thorp (15).

Cadott clipped Cameron 124-122 to win the girls championship, while Stanley-Boyd ran away with Thursday’s boys championship by scoring 179.5 points in the first meet held in Gilman since late in the 2021 season.

As usual, the trio of Gracie Tallier, Bailey Angell and Claire Drier did most of the damage for Gilman’s girls, but sophomore Jaylen Copenhaver and freshman Kyra Rabuck found ways to contribute as well.

Tallier won all three of her individual events and joined Drier, Copenhaver and Rabuck on an 800-meter relay team that placed second in a time of 1:58.94. Only Cameron’s team was faster at 1:54.89. The Pirates were 1.61 seconds ahead of third-place Mc-Donell Central.

Tallier sprinted to a time of 12.89 seconds that won the 100-meter dash by 0.61 seconds over Cameron freshman Jordyn Lundequam. Drier added four points by taking fifth in 13.87 seconds, just behind McDonell Central’s Kali Goulet (13.65) and Neillsville’s Kaylee Lawrence (13.82). Copenhaver was 12th in 14.55 seconds and Rabuck was 23rd in 16.18 seconds.

Tallier added a winning time of 26.92 seconds in the 200-meter dash. She won by 0.88 seconds over Cameron’s Lexi Kuffel, while Goulet was third at 28.22 seconds. Rabuck placed 15th for Gilman in 33.32 seconds. Tallier’s trifecta was completed with a seasonbest leap of 16 feet, 5.5 inches in the long jump competition. Drier wasn’t far behind, taking third at 15-6.5, also a season-best and an inch behind runner-up Adrianna Goodman of Cadott. Rabuck was 22nd with a season-best jump of 12-7. Angell again dominated the girls throwing events. No one was close to her in the discus, where she opened the year with a throw of 113-6. Cadott’s Lucy Lindeman was the distant runner-up at 91-3. Angell comfortably won the shot put as well with her best toss going 33-7.25. Lindeman again placed second with a toss of 30-5.25.

Drier picked up a victory in the 300-meter low hurdles race, finishing in 52.59 seconds. She won by 0.09 seconds over Stanley-Boyd freshman Lula Chwala, while Oriole sophomore Addison Mahr was third at 54.6 seconds.

Copenhaver added 1.2 points when she landed in a five-way tie for sixth place in the high jump competition by clearing the bar at 4-2. Columbus Catholic’s Aubrey Wald- hauser won it at 5 feet.

McDonell Central compiled 99.2 points to place third, 20 points ahead of the Pirates and Orioles. Owen-Withee was sixth with 62.2 points, finishing ahead of Neillsville (56), Thorp (17.2), Columbus Catholic (14) and Spencer and Granton (10 each).

Quintin Franzen led Gilman individually in the boys meet by placing in both hurdles races. First, he got the eighthplace point in the 110-meter highs with his time of 19.61 seconds. Later on, he got four more points with a fifth-place time of 48.07 seconds in the 300-meter intermediates. Landon Kummer of Neillsville won that race in 43.6 seconds, while Neillsville’s Ashten Schultz won the 110s in 17.14 seconds.

Gilman’s 1,600-meter relay team of Braeden Person, Sawyer Winger, Brady McAlpine and Mitchell Moran finished the meet by earning four points with a fifth-place time of 4:10.22. The Pirates were comfortably ahead of Cameron (4:15.39) and trailed Cadott (3:53.39), Stanley- Boyd (3:54.5), Spencer (3:59.18) and McDonell Central (4:00.48).

McAlpine took sixth to earn three points in the 800-meter run. He finished in 2:26.63 and was 1.15 seconds behind fifth-place finisher Candin Yeager of Stanley-Boyd. Moran placed 15th for Gilman in 2:53.25. Owen-Withee’s Mason Gay won in 2:10.29.

Caleb Marion was Gilman’s high scorer in field events, placing sixth in the discus with a throw of 97-11. He added a 13th-place toss of 31-8.25 in the shot put. Owen-Withee’s Nathan Zarins won both events, hitting 43-10.25 in the shot put and 119-7 in the discus.

Winger got Gilman’s last 1.5 points by getting into a fourth-way tie for sixth place in the high jump competition. He cleared 5-2. Schultz won at 5-8. Winger also took 14th in the long jump at 16-5.5 and Moran was 30th at 10 feet.

Person was 10th in the 400-meter dash at 1:01.16 and 12th in the 200-meter dash at 25.58 seconds. Moran was 14th in the 1,600-meter run at 6:26.59. McAlpine was 21st in the 100-meter dash at 12.89 seconds, while Winger was 24th at 13.05 seconds.

Neillsville was the meet runner-up with 104.5 points. Owen-Withee was third with 90 points and followed by McDonell Central (88.5), Cameron (60.5), Spencer (57), Cadott (50.5), Gilman (16.5), Columbus Catholic (16), Thorp (15) and Granton (5).

Tuesday’s Eleva-Strum Invitational was canceled following Sunday night’s snowstorm. The Pirates are scheduled to compete at Stanley-Boyd Friday, at Medford on Tuesday and at Bloomer on April 27.