Five Falcons set school records at conference

By Nathaniel Underwood

Not one but two Abbotsford track school records were broken on Monday evening when the Falcons hosted the Marawood conference track meet. Iris Cruz, Celia Schindler, Ana Flores and Azul Diaz set a new time to beat in the 4x800-meter relay while Oriah Harris had the fastest time in school history in the 200-meter dash.

The 4x800-meter relay team started the track events on Monday out with a bang. In a highly competitive field in which the Falcons were slated to take fifth based on seed times, Cruz started out the race with a quick split of 2:34, allowing the Falcons to take an early lead. Celia Schindler and Ana Flores posted times of 2:41 and 2:48 respectively to keep the Falcons in the top third, but Auburndale and Phillips’s relays were having equally good days. Diaz closed out the race with an approximate split of 2:34 as well and in all the team shaved nearly 20 seconds from their seed time to finish with a time of 10:38.37.

While the strong Phillips and Auburndale relays finished ahead of them, the quartet still bested the old Abbotsford record by over four seconds. The prior top time of 10:42.5 had belonged to Krista Melvin, Michelle Christensen, Robyn Bollech and Anne Melvin.

It would not be until the meet was nearing its end before Harris would break the second record of the evening. In yet another cutthroat race, Harris shaved seven- tenths of a second from her seed time to place in the top-five, coming in fourth with a time of 26.50 seconds. She finished just behind Newman Catholic’s Mel Severson, who also took off a large chunk off her previous personal best to finish just two hundredths of a second.

Harris’s race was still nearly two-tenths of a second faster than the previous fastest time in Falcons history. Melanie Kunze had held the Abbotsford record for the last five years after posting a time of 26.69 in the event in 2019.

With the help of a number of other solid performances, the Falcons girls team placed third overall at the meet, finishing with 88 points. In what became a threeway race for first, Stratford came out on top, accumulating 95 points, while Marathon came in second with a final score of 93. On the boys’ side, Abbotsford took 11th with 19 points, while the Tigers paced the field with 173 points.

While the Falcons did not win any events on Monday, they came up with a number of top finishes. Sydney Falteisek had an individual second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 17.41 seconds and two third place finishes, posting a time of 51.73 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and reaching a height of four feet, 11 inches in the high jump. She and teammates Harris, Sommer Brodhagen and Chloe Cihlar also took off almost two seconds from the prior best time in the 4x200-meter relay to finish in second with a time of 1:51.29.

Margo Pogodzinski put together a third place performance in the shot put with a throw of 33 feet, 11 inches and followed it with a fourth place finish in the discus with a throw of 102 feet, eight inches. Brodhagen was right behind in the discus, her best throw of 100 feet, eight inches earning her fifth place.

Harris had two more fourth place finishes for Abbotsford posting a time of 13.16

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PUTTING THEIR NAMES IN THE RECORD BOOKS - Iris Cruz, Celia Schindler, Ana Flores and Azul Diaz combined to set a new Falcons record in the 4x800-meter run, where they posted a time of 10:38.37 at the Marawood Conference meet.

STAFF PHOTOS/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD AND CASEY KRAUTKRAMER New records

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seconds in the 100-meter dash and coming within inches of another school record in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, eightand- a-half inches. Schindler also added another fourth place, posting a time of 1:05.98 in the 400-meter dash. She picked up a fifth in the triple jump as well, her longest attempt measuring 32 feet.

Diaz picked up a pair of sixths for the girls team, taking the spot in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:40.43 and in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12:40.18. Cruz had another sixth place in the distance events for the Falcons, earning her spot in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:36.41.

Jack Schindler’s fifth place finishes in two long distance races were the top results for the boys team on Monday. The senior put up a time of 4:55.16 in the 1600-meter run and completed the 3200-meter run in 11:07.12.

Chase Boller and Marcus VanLuven had two sixth place finishes in the field events for Abbotsford. Boller earned his in the high jump by clearing a height of five feet, eight inches while VanLuven grabbed the spot in the discus with a throw of 119 feet, seven inches. He also had an eighth place finish in the shot put with a throw of 39 feet, six-and-a-half inches.

Colby Invitational

The Falcons concluded their 2024 regular season meets with a trip to Colby last Tuesday evening. The girls team placed sixth overall with a final score of 45 points while the boys finished with 26 points to finish in 10th. The Stratford Tigers took first in the girls’ events, accumulating 120 points while Rice Lake edged out Hayward for the boys’ top spot, beating them 139 to 136.

Sydney Falteisek’s second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles was the top result for Abbotsford. The Falcons’ senior

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MAKING THE HANDOFF - Chloe Cihlar takes the baton from Oriah Harris in the 4x200-meter relay. The team took second in the event and Harris broke the school record in the individual 200-meter dash later in the evening.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD New records

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defeated Elk Mound’s Allie Robel by four-hundredths of a second to claim the runner-up spot behind Rice Lake’s Adaline Sheplee in the event. Falteisek’s final time was 17.27 seconds.

Chase Boller and Azul Diaz had a pair of third place finishes on Tuesday. Boller earned his third in the high jump, where he has consistently finished near the top all season. He reached a height of five feet, eight inches in Colby, putting him behind only Mosinee’s Omar Ingram and Grandt Mueller of Elk Mound. Boller also won out a tiebreaker between five other athletes who also reached the same height to claim sole possession of third place.

Meanwhile, Diaz continued her solid season for the Falcons’ distance team with a third place finish in the 3200-meter run, posting a time of 12:45.01 in the event. The junior also scored for Abbotsford by picking up a sixth place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:50.77.

Falteisek and Hazel Flink registered a pair of individual fourth place finishes. Falteisek did so in the high jump by clearing a height of four feet, 10 inches while Flink had the fourth best result in the pole vault, reaching a height of seven feet, six inches.

Carter Cihlar picked up another scoring performance in the pole vault for the Falcons, taking fifth in the boys’ competition by completing a height of 10 feet, six inches. Marcus VanLuven had another field event fifth for the boys in the discus where his longest attempt measured 121 feet, four inches and Sommer Brodhagen grabbed fifth in the girls’ discus with a throw of 86 feet, nine inches.

Jack Schindler rounded out the Falcons’ top-eight finishes on Tuesday with an eighth place in the 3200-meter run, posting a time of 11:27.38 in the event.

FEELING RIGHT AT HOME - Marcus VanLuven was in familiar territory as the Falcons hosted the Marawood conference meet on Monday. Shown here in the discus, VanLuven scored for the Falcons in both throwing events.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD