Raiders show their track speed in Marathon relay invitational

MEDFORD TRACK & FIELD

The Medford Raiders teamed up to win five races on the girls side and one on the boys side of Monday’s Raether Relays, hosted by Marathon High School.

While the girls had plenty of success on the track, Marathon’s strength in the field propelled the Red Raiders to the team title in Monday’s seven-school meet. The host team scored to edge Edgar 111-98 to win it. Medford’s 59 points beat Auburndale (47), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (46), Stratford (37) and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (12).

Medford’s first relay win came in the 4x200-meter race, where Marissa Fronk, Karli Higgins, Sophie Brost and Bryn Fronk sprinted to a winning time of 1:51.39 that beat Edgar’s team by 1.72 seconds. Win number two was posted by the 4x800-meter team of Alicia Kawa, Alexis Fleegel, Jennifer Kahn and Meredith Richter. In a battle between two teams filled with strong cross country runners, Medford finished 9.87 seconds ahead of Auburndale in a time of 10:25.95.

From there, the Raiders took both sprint medley relays and the distance medley.

The first sprint race, which featured legs of 100, 100, 200 and 400 meters, was won by the team of Marissa Fronk, Brost, Jaylin Machon and Bryn Fronk in 1:56.31. They were 0.64 seconds ahead of Wittenberg-Birnamwood. The second one featured legs of 200, 200, 400 and 800 meters. Medford’s Higgins, Richter, Alyssa Brandner and Kawa won that in 4:41.27, beating Marathon by 9.6 seconds.

Finally, Ella Daniels, Brooke Rudolph, Alexis Fleegel and Kahn took the distance medley, which included legs of 1,200, 400, 800 and 1,600 meters, in a time of 14:32.24. The Raiders won by a convincing margin over Assumption (15:28.81).

Richter, Kawa, Brandner and Bryn Fronk took second in the 4x400-meter relay in 4:23.62. Edgar won that race in 4:16.85. Marissa Fronk, Brost, Lindsey Klapatauskas and Machon took third in the 4x100-meter relay at 52.94 seconds. They trailed Edgar (51.67) and Auburndale (52.86).

Also on the track, Brenley Beran (20.27), Klapatauskas (20.3) and Rudolph (20.37) were sixth, seventh and eighth individually in the 100-meter high hurdles, an event owned by Edgar with first, third and fourth earned by Rachel Brewster (16.94), Malia Hoesly (18.4) and Amber Skrzypcak (19.89).

Medford scored well in the pole vault. Machon was fourth individually by clearing 7 feet, 6 inches, while Rudolph and Daniels were next as both hit 7 feet. Brost was third among 11 triple jumpers at 29-8.75, while Hannah Fleegel (25-8) and Beran (25-6) were 10th and 11th.

Higgins was ninth out of 19 long jumpers at 14-3.5, Hannah Fleegel and Beran tied for 15th at 12-10. Klapatauskas led the Raiders with an eighth-place throw of 26-3.5 in the shot put. Higgins was 12th at 23-3.5 and Lacey Brandner was 15th at 1611. Beran was 14th in the discus, Brandner was 16th and Klapatauskas was 18th.

The Medford boys scored 61 points to place fourth ahead of Stratford (33.5), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (22) and Assumption (16.5). Edgar’s 125 points easily outscored Marathon (79) and Auburndale (69).

The Raiders’ win came in the longer of the sprint medleys as Cole Dassow, Tyler Kapitz, Carson Church and Joey Sullivan won it with a time of 3:52.39, 3.68 seconds ahead of Marathon. The Raiders came close in the 4x800-meter relay. Sullivan, Vincent Seidel, Jack Tlusty and Owen Wipf finished second in 9:04.49, 2.37 seconds behind Wittenberg-Birnamwood.

Kapitz, Wipf, Church and Sullivan ran the 4x400-meter relay in 3:46.4, good for third behind Edgar (3:35.03) and Au- burndale (3:40.25). Dassow, Cory Lindahl, Church and Kapitz took fourth in the 4x200-meter race behind Edgar (1:30.63), Auburndale (1:35.99) and Stratford (1:38.17). Dassow, Jude Stark, Logan Kawa and Lindahl took fourth in the shorter sprint relay. Their time of 1:51.06 beat Assumption by 0.54 seconds and trailed Marathon (1:39.71), Edgar (1:44.98) and Stratford (1:45.2).

Lindahl (21.55), Lucas Borman (21.9) and Kawa (28.4) were fourth, fifth and sixth in the 110-meter high hurdles, trailing Edgar’s Konnor Wolf (15.92), Nate Drabek (17.65) and Teegan Streit (19.79). Borman won the JV 100-meter dash in 13.05 seconds, while Adam Kowalski was third in 13.93 seconds and Stark was fifth in 14.17 seconds.

In the field, Raider junior Jake Seifert set a personal-best while placing second out of 18 entrants in the shot put competition. He hit 40-8 with his best toss. Colton Surek (29-11.25) and Kawa (24-1) were 15th and 17th. Seifert also was seventh out of 17 entrants in the discus with his Medford’s Alyssa Brandner gets out the exchange area quickly after taking the baton from Karli Higgins during Monday’s 1,600-meter sprint medley relay, which the Raiders won.

throw of 99-7. Sullivan was 14th and Seidel was 16th.

Ty Baker went 40-4 to place second among 14 triple jumpers. He was 7.5 inches behind Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Simon Schairer. Church was 10th at 349. Baker was ninth in the long jump at 17-9.5, while Wipf (16-2.5) and Lindahl (16-2.25) were 14th and 15th. Kawa hit a season-best 9 feet to take fourth in the pole vault behind Marathon’s Dalton Lang, Jacob Smith and Matt Annis, who all cleared 9-6. Stark and Kowalski both cleared 7 feet.

Medford is next scheduled to compete May 27 at the Dale Peterson Invitational in Antigo.

DONALD WATSON/THE STAR NEWS