Keiser wins twice, Gehrke takes high jump before the storm hits

RIB LAKE TRACK & FIELD

Rib Lake’s Ashton Keiser won the boys long jump and 100-meter dashes before stormy weather suspended the Newman Catholic track and field quadrangular on Tuesday, May 25.

Keiser, a senior, set personal bests in both of his winning performances. He crushed it in the long jump with his leap of 21 feet, 0.25 inches, almost a foot better than any mark he’s posted in his prep career. He won the event by 15.5 inches over Marathon’s Matt Vandeboom. Rib Lake’s Damien Peterson was 10th at a personalbest 15-7.75 and Theo Robisch was 11th at 15-7. Ethan Keiser (15-3.75) and Xavier Johnson (12-3.5) also had season-best jumps.

Robisch added a seventh-place distance of 35-0.75, a new personal best, in the triple jump, while Johnson (27-1) was ninth.

In the 100, Keiser’s winning time was 11.58 seconds, 0.28 seconds ahead of Newman Catholic’s Thomas Bates. Ethan Keiser was just 0.03 seconds off his season best with a fifth-place time of 12.82 seconds, and Peterson was sixth in a season-best 13.09 seconds. Noah Wiitala (13.36) and Jayden Thums (14.36) were eighth and 12th.

Ashton and Ethan Keiser, Wiitala and Dominick Classen scored four points by taking second in the 400-meter relay at a season-best 49.0 seconds. Marathon won handily in 45.65 seconds, while Newman (53.08) and Edgar (54.04) were third and fourth.

Ben Petersen was seventh in the 400-meter dash at 1:00.73 and Ryan Buehler was eighth in the 1,600-meter run at 5:46.28.

Senior Jolee Gehrke was a winner for Rib Lake in girls high jump by clearing the bar at 4-6, two inches higher than Marathon’s Ashley Seliger.

Olivia Lopez and Kylee Goodrich added second-place finishes in the 100-meter and 1,600-meter races. Lopez sprinted to a personal-best time of 13.93 seconds in the 100, 0.23 seconds behind Edgar’s Ella Morse and 0.01 seconds ahead of Wildcat Brooke Imhoff. Ryanna Schrader was 11th in 15.25 seconds and Julia Dananay was 20th in 18.76 seconds. Goodrich finished the 1,600-meter run in 6:36.82 behind Marathon’s McKinnley Marks (6:18.73).

The 400-meter relay team of Megan Yanko, Lauren Pelnis, Lopez and Amber Yanko placed third in 57.46 seconds, a season-best time for Rib Lake. Edgar won in 52.6 seconds and Marathon (54.21) was second. Rib Lake beat Newman (1:00.63) and Marathon’s B team (1:02.08).

Pelnis placed twice, taking fourth in the 400-meter dash (1:13.33) and fifth in the shot put (28-10.25). Emma Winter (27-6) and Hannah Schuh (25-3.5) were seventh and eighth in the shot. Grace Artz was 16th. Nadia Czahor (1:19.62) was eighth in the 400, while Dananay was 10th.

Lopez (13-5.5) and Gehrke (13-3) set season- best marks while placing sixth and eighth in the long jump. Lopez lowered her time to 20.52 seconds in the 100-meter high hurdles, 0.65 seconds away from scoring.

In the nine events scored, Rib Lake was third in the girls meet with 20 points. Edgar had 54, Marathon had 39 and Newman had 16. Marathon led the boys meet after 10 events with 56 points. Newman had 41 and Edgar had 28.

Rib Lake was scheduled to compete in Edgar on Wednesday. Marathon hosts the full Marawood Conference meet on Monday. Field events get things underway at 3:30 p.m.