Loyal, Greenwood athletes qualify for state track tournament
Two local high schools will again be represented on the state stage, as several track and field athletes from Loyal and Greenwood placed in the top four at sectionals to qualify for state. Individuals from Loyal, Greenwood, Spencer and Granton traveled down to Rosholt to compete in the WIAA Division 3 Sectional on May 23. Only a handful of those athletes will be moving on to the WIAA State Track and Field Championship to be held at the Veterans Memorial Stadium Complex at UW-La Crosse this Friday and Saturday.
Greenwood will have one athlete represent it in three separate events. Renaya Horvath took first place in three events, winning the mixed 400m dash wheelchair (1:49.50), the mixed shot put wheelchair (13’4.25”) and the mixed 100m dash wheelchair (24.22) to qualify for state. This will be her second trip to state competition.
The Loyal track and field team will also have several athletes competing at state after qualifying at sectionals. These athletes are: — Addysen Wolf, who qualified in the 100m dash and the 200m dash. She took third place in the preliminary round of the 100m dash (12.98) to make it to the finals where she placed third again, this time running a 12.74. She also took third in the 200m dash, running a 26.77.
— Sheila Tellock, who took first place in the pole vault with a vault of 10’6”.
— Oliva Nikolai, who will also compete in the pole vault after placing fourth with a vault of 9’3”. She had also qualified to compete in the 100m hurdles at sectionals, but scratched out of the event.
— Connor Genteman, who took third place in the 800m run with a time of 2:00.51.
— Bryce Deegan, who placed fourth in the 400m dash (52.18) to qualify. Deegan also competed in the 200m dash at sectionals, but didn’t qualify for state in that event, finishing in eighth place with a time of 23.85.
— The girls 4x100m relay team of Summer Smith, Sheila Tellock, Noelle Teschner and Addysen Wolf, with Hope Peroshek and Molly Zvolena as alternates. The team took second with a time of 51.32 to move on to state.
The Loyal Greyhounds also had one other relay team compete at Sectionals which didn’t qualify for state. The 4x200m relay team of Zvolena, Peroshek, Teschner and Smith, with Tellock as alternate, took ninth place, running a 1:53.25.
The Spencer track and field team also had two relay teams and one individual qualify for sectionals, but none placed high enough to move on to the next level of competition. The girls 4x200m relay team of Autumn Davis, Alina Jackson, Rachel Nieman and Caitlin Clark (with alternates Brooklyn Baumgarten and Tahneya Anderson) took 10th place, running a 1:53.97. Also placing 10th was the boys 4x100m relay team of Efrain Olguin-Cano, Alexander Baumgarten, Teddy Meyer and Logan Ehlert (with Sam Helgestad as alternate). They ran a 47.07 for their placing. Davis took 16th in the 400m dash with a time of 1:09.57. She also qualified to participate in the 200m dash at Rosholt, but scratched out of the event.
The Granton track and field team had one athlete qualify and compete at Sectionals. Anna Kayhart ran in the preliminary round of the 100m hurdles, finishing in 10th place with a time of 17.89.
The Loyal track and field team was the only team to earn points at sectionals. The girls took seventh place out of 34 teams with 35 points and the boys team finished in 18th place out of 33 teams with 12 points.
Above: members of the Spencer 4x200m relay team race around a curve of the track during an exchange in the race. The team finished in 10th place at sectionals. At right, Loyal High School junior Olivia Nikolai clears the bar in the pole vault. She, along with senior Sheila Tellock, will compete at state in the pole vault for Loyal. Nikolai finished in fourth place while Tellock took first. At far left, Tellock hands the baton off to Noelle Teschner during the 4x100m relay event. The team took second place to qualify for state competition. At immediate left, Granton senior Anna Kayhart clears a hurdle in the preliminaries for the 100m hurdles. She took 10th place in the preliminary round.
VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTOS
For more photos of track sectionals, please see page 15.
At above left, Loyal’s Addysen Wolf goes around the curve to complete the 200m dash. She will be competing at state in both the 200m dash and 100m dash after her performance at sectionals. In the center photo, Connor Genteman paces himself as he completes the 800m run, for which he earned a trip to state for. In the photo on the right, Bryce Deegan sprints in the 200m dash. He did not qualify for state in this event, but will compete at the state level in the 400m run.
VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTOS