WIAA DIV. 3 TRACK & FIELD - Konsella, Henderson jump to state; tough competition for Pirates, Redmen at sectional

WIAA DIV. 3 TRACK & FIELD

Unfortunately seniors from both schools fell short in their quests to return and finish their careers at the state championships, but on the positive side, both Gilman and Rib Lake are sending one new athlete apiece to state after their clutch performances at Thursday’s WIAA Division 3 Cameron track and field sectional.

Junior Chad Konsella of Gilman and sophomore Jed Henderson of Rib Lake are headed to the Division 3 state championships at UW-La Crosse. Both will compete starting at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Stadium complex with Konsella taking part in the boys long jump and Henderson participating in the boys high jump.

Top-four finishes at the Cameron sectional were needed to qualify. Konsella finished third in his event and Henderson was fourth. Both did it with key jumps late in their competitions.

“I’m really excited,” Henderson said. “I’m super grateful that I’m even able to compete this year. Last year I was coming off a knee injury and was still learning. I’m just grateful this year I’m able to jump and be healthy. It’s been fun.”

“It’s really exciting,” Konsella said. “I was pretty surprised. I was real nervous and then pretty ecstatic when I heard I was qualified.”

For Konsella, the big jump came on his final attempt. In the long jump preliminaries, he had jumps of 19 feet, 2 inches and 19 feet, 1 inch, plus a scratch.

“That wasn’t great and I was thinking there was no way I was making it to the finals,” Konsella said. “When I heard I was called to the finals, I was surprised.”

Konsella was still right in the 19-foot range after his first two finals jumps.

“Then it was just give it all you got, this is it,” he said. “That very last jump, that’s where the 20-foot, 2-inch jump came out. It was pretty freaky that it happened like that.”

That jump bumped Konsella up to third place over fourth-place state qualifier Brody Tarman, a freshman from Turtle Lake (19-11.75) and three more jumpers who were in the upper 19-foot range. Boyceville senior Caden Wold won the event at 21-1.75 and Webster senior Nathan Jackson also advanced at 20-8.

Gilman sophomore Sawyer Winger also competed in the event and placed 13th at 18-5.25.

While 20-2 isn’t quite his personalbest jump, Konsella certainly took a big leap forward in the event in the month of May. In his first season with the Pirates, Konsella started the season at 17-5.5 in his lone indoor meet of the year at UW-Stout and was in the 18s through most of April. He hit 19-10 and finished second behind Stanley-Boyd standout Madden Mahr at the May 3 Stanley-Boyd Invitational and he said that was the turning point to his season.

“I knew my goal was going to be to qualify for state,” Konsella said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be this year or next year. It was the Stanley meet where I hit one for second place and then I started getting into the mid 20s. I’ve been trying to keep close to Madden Mahr and I started getting firsts and seconds. Then I started thinking maybe I have a chance to qualify for state.”

Konsella’s best jump so far is 20-7, which gave him the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference title on May 14.

Seeded 15th out of 16 state jumpers, Konsella knows he’ll need an extraordinary jump to get to the finals. His main goal is just to hit a new number, 21 feet, and where it falls, it falls.

“Me and (coach) Tom (Tallier) have definitely been working on my landing,”Konsella said, noting that coordinating his jump height and his reach have been the focus of the work in practice. “I’m sometimes not getting my feet far enough out in front. That’s what we’re working toward this week for sure.”

Henderson finished last year with a then personal-best jump of 5-6 at the Stratford regional and then started this year with a bang, hitting 6 feet in the opening indoor meet at Marshfield March 19. After getting stuck at 5-10 for a stretch, Henderson hit 6 feet again April 29 at Abbotsford and has been at 6 feet or 6-1 ever since.

His 6-foot jump at the May 20 Gilman regional gave him the second seed going into the sectional.

“The sectional was really tight,” Henderson said. “There were a couple of guys I knew that had jumped well going into it. I knew that I had a chance to make it. I had the second-highest height coming out of regionals, but when I looked back at people’s PRs I was probably like fifth. I knew it was going to be tight and competitive.”

As the competition progressed, Ladysmith’s Elias Mikunda and Drummond’s Clayton Bjork emerged as the top two jumpers. They both finished at 6-4, tying for the sectional title. When sixth-place finisher Nathan Jackson of Webster was eliminated at 6 feet, Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran senior Titus Radichel, Ladysmith’s Ashton Clark and Henderson knew they were probably competing for the last two spots.

At 6-1, Henderson knew he had a tiebreaker edge on Clark with fewer misses. Both missed their first two attempts, but then Clark hit his third, meaning Henderson had to hit his as well.

“I ended up just barely clearing my last attempt and was able to move on,” Henderson said. “Both of us missed all of our jumps at 6-2, but since I had the tiebreak I was able to move on. It was quite an adrenaline rush. (Clark) is a sophomore too and he’s really talented so I’m expecting to see him in a couple more sectionals and hopefully that will be fun.”

Radichel hit 6-2 for a personal-best and a third-place finish. Winger was in the competition as well and took seventh with a jump of 5-10.

Henderson pointed to a few reasons for his improvement this year.

“Finding my mark was a big thing this year,” he said. “I was doing an eight-step approach last year and this year I moved back to a 10-step. That definitely helped, getting that down. Also my footwork. Before I was jumping really close to the middle of the bar, then I would go over and not always jump at the best spot. Then I worked on just driving my knees and hips. Those were big things, especially driving my knees. That helped me get a couple more inches off the ground.”

His goal is to hit 6-3 at state, which he thinks could give him a shot at a top-six spot on the awards podium. He is seeded 11th out of 16 jumpers based on sectional heights, but it’s close as 12 of those jumpers ranged between 6 feet and 6-3.

“I’m just going to go out and do my best and whatever happens, happens,” Henderson said.

Seasons end for several

Thursday’s meet brought the end of strong seasons for several Pirates and Redmen.

The quest to return to state fell short for Rib Lake’s standout senior Olivia Lopez, who competed in three events Thursday.

In her state event of a year ago, the 200-meter dash, Lopez placed 12th in 28.18 seconds, falling well short of the required fourth-place finish to advance. Grantsburg’s Jordan Java got the fourth spot at 26.22 seconds in a race won by Audrey Arndt of Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran in 25.63 seconds. Gilman’s Jaylen Copenhaver was right behind Lopez in 13th place at 28.49 seconds, which was her best time of the season.

In the triple jump, Lopez was much closer to advancing, taking sixth for Rib Lake’s only points of the girls meet. Her best jump went 33-9.5, leaving her 3.5 inches shy of fourth place jumper Mariah Thill of Turtle Lake. Fall Creek’s Alena Sanfelippo won at 36-5.75. Lopez leaves as Rib Lake’s school record holder in both of these events (26.9 in the 200 and 34-3.5 in the triple jump) as well as the long jump (16-10.5).

In the 400-meter relay, Lopez joined sophomores Isabelle Gumz, Emma Tlusty and freshman Kloey Paul for a 10th-place finish with a time of 54.08 seconds, just off their regional time of 53.8 seconds. Ladysmith got the fourth state spot at 51.58 seconds and Frederic-Luck won it at 51.11 seconds.

Another athlete falling short of a state return was Gilman senior Bailey Angell, who had been to state in her first three seasons with the Pirates. Her stellar career ended with an 11th-place throw of 100-9 in the discus and a 12th-place toss of 30-11.5 in the shot put. Drummond’s Nora Skoraczewski won both events with throws of 128-6 and 40-4. The qualifying distances needed to advance were earned by fourthplace finishers Brooklyn Ludescher of Flambeau (37-3.75) and Avery Hetfeld, a freshman from Webster (115-5).

Gilman junior Claire Drier took sixth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48.63 seconds, which was a personal best, 0.2 seconds better than her regional time. Drier was 1.59 seconds away from qualifying. Alexis Buhr of Clear Lake got the fourth state berth. Elyse Bushman of McDonell Central won at 45.41 seconds. Drier, fresh off her school-record 17.15 seconds at the regional, took 10th in the 100-meter high hurdles in 17.55. A topnine preliminary finish was required to reach the final. Drier was 0.04 seconds behind ninth-place hurdler Anna Dougherty of Fall Creek. Cadott’s Iszy Sonnentag won the final in 15.07 seconds.

Drier did make the finals in the long jump competition and finished ninth with a best jump of 15-9.75, a three-quarter inch improvement from the regional meet. Sonnentag was fourth at 16-8.25, while Andie Otto of Cumberland won at 17-8.

Gilman freshman Addison Vick ended a strong first season by tying Chetek-Weyerhaeuser’s Zoe Nelson for sixth place in the high jump. She tied her best mark of the year by clearing 4-10. She was one of four girls who topped out at that height. Vick and Nelson were credited with sixth, Jaana Aukee and Kayla Gillett of Prentice tied for eighth at 4-10. Cameron’s Cyleigh Cherney got the fourth state spot by clearing 5-1 and Fall Creek’s Mariah Sloop got third, also at 5-1. Lauren Pearson of Cameron and Evelyn Bergeron of Fall Creek were the top two jumpers at 5-2.

Gilman’s Copenhaver, Drier, Patricia Kloss and Vick took 10th in the 800-meter relay in a time of 1:52.21 that was the group’s best of the season. The Pirates were well off of state contention as Cameron was fourth at 1:46.92 and Eau Claire Regis won at 1:45.41. Copenhaver added a 14thplace time of 13.93 seconds in the 100-meter dash, beating Kiana Zierer (14.28) and Keileigh Doll (14.75) of Phillips.

Gilman’s 5.5 team points put the Pirates in a 26th-place tie with Hurley and Prentice in the girls team standings, while Rib Lake tied Boyceville and Unity for 33rd with its three points. Fall Creek snuck by Cameron 72-69 for the team championship. McDonell was a distant third with 41 points.

In the boys meet, there was one more local scoring effort and that came from Rib Lake’s 3,200-meter relay team of Jack Regier, Henry Regier, Elijah Scott and Kaleb Scott. They took eighth out of 16 teams by smashing their previous best time of the season by finishing in 8:50.92, almost 10 seconds better than what they’d done earlier in the spring. Grantsburg won in 8:20.1, followed by Chetek-Weyerhaeuser (8:27.15), Phillips (8:27.18) and Glenwood City (8:28.37).

Gilman’s Logan Halida, Konsella, Brady McAlpine and Winger were 11th in the 800-meter relay at 1:38.07, their best time of the season. Eau Claire Regis won in 1:30.98 with Cameron getting the last state spot at 1:33.62. Those same four Pirates took 13th in the 1,600-meter relay at 4:12.2, beating Chequamegon (4:19.3).

In field events, Gilman junior Trevor Vick placed 11th in the triple jump. His best jump of the day covered 37-4. Two freshmen made it to state, third-place jumper Koen Tumm of Fall Creek (41-11) and Tarman (40-10). Wold (43-4.5) and Bjork (42-0.75) were the top two jumpers. Gilman freshman Taydyn Angell took 12th in the shot put competition in his first sectional. His best throw of the day was 407.25. The top two shot putters, Andrew Gotham of New Auburn and Thor Sather of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser, had impressive tosses of 48-3.5 and 48-2.5.

Konsella added a 14th-place finish in the 100-meter dash in 11.87 seconds. Max Ustianowski took 13th in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a personal-best time of 46.16 seconds and senior Quintin Franzen was 15th at 48.22 seconds. Franzen added a 13th-place time of 20.39 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles.

Gilman tied Hurley and Shell Lake for 25th in the team standings with eight points, while Rib Lake tied Cumberland for 29th place with six points. Grantsburg (53), Solon Springs-Northwood (45), Webster (43) and Eau Claire Regis (41) were the top four teams.

WIAA Div. 3 boys high jump state qualifiers

1. Peyton Mueller, Jr., Ozaukee, 5-11; 2. Reid Rydzewski, Sr., Random Lake, 6-0; 3. Dane Britain, Jr., Abundant Life, 6-0; 4. Nathan Gorman, Sr., Manawa, 6-0; 5. Bryce Hughes, Sr., Albany, 6-1; 6. Jed Henderson, So., Rib Lake, 6-1; 7. Alex Richter, So., Markesan, 6-1; 8. Toby Volkmann, Sr., Three Lakes, 6-2; 9. Titus Radichel, Sr., Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, 6-2; 10. Wyatt Maurhoff, Sr., Brookwood, 6-2; 11. Bennett Schmidt, Sr., Shiocton, 6-2; 12. Zander Thomson, So., Lena-St.

Thomas, 6-2; 13. Lucius Cooley, Sr., Wauzeka-Steuben, 6-3; 14. Clayton Bjork, Sr., Drummond, 6-4; 15. Jack Schlesner, Sr., Cashton, 6-4; 16. Elias Mikunda, Jr., Ladysmith, 6-4.

WIAA Div. 3 boys long jump state qualifiers

Flight 1 1. Brody Tarman, Fr., Turtle Lake, 19-11.75;

2. Chad Konsella, Jr., Gilman, 20-2; 3. Karson Redman, Sr., Parkview, 20-7; 4. Nathan Jackson, Sr., Webster, 20-8; 5. Coltan Breit, So., Stratford, 20-9.5; 6. Bennett Cornwell, Jr., Kohler, 20-10.25; 7. Gavin Meacham, Jr., Bangor, 20-10.25; 8. Joey Hess, Sr., Shiocton, 21-1.

Flight 2 1. Caden Wold, Sr., Boyceville, 21-1.75; 2. Lucius Cooley, Sr., Wauzeka-Steuben, 21-3; 3. Jeremiah Dye, Sr., Nekoosa, 4. Isaac Howard, Sr., Horicon, 21-3; 5. Tyler Janikowski, Sr., Three Lakes, 21-3.5; 6. Toby Volkmann, Sr., Three Lakes, 21-4.5; 7.

Bryce Hughes, Sr., Albany, 21-7.5; 8. Ayden Price, Sr., Fall River, 22-3.