New teammates, same big finish for Sullivan and UW-L 4×400

SPRING COLLEGE ATHLETES

Rinaldi also at NCAAs

A second trip to the NCAA Division III Men’s Track and Field Outdoor Championships ended with former Medford Raider Jake Sullivan earning his third All-American award as a member of UW-La Crosse’s 4x400-meter relay team.

Sullivan was one of two former Raiders to compete in the national championships. UW-Whitewater’s Victor Rinaldi was part of the Warhawks’ 4x100-meter team that placed 11th.

The meet was held May 27-29 and hosted by North Carolina A& T State University in Greensboro, N.C.

Sullivan, a 2017 Medford graduate, also qualified individually for the first time, running in the 400-meter dash. He did not make the finals with his preliminary time of 48.07 seconds. His time was 10th, 0.08 seconds shy of being one of the eight finalists.

The relay team, however, had no trouble finding its place among the nation’s best.

The all-northern Wisconsin squad, which consisted of freshman Payton Flood of River Falls, sophomore Caden Pearce of Marshfield, freshman Addison Hill of Marshfield and Sullivan solidified its spot in the big meet by setting a season-best and winning time of 3:12.26 in UW-L’s NCAA Final Qualifier on May 20, 1.35 seconds ahead of UW-Eau Claire.

In Greensboro, the team finished fourth in the preliminaries at 3:12.96 to easily qualify for one of the eight spots in the final. The top-eight finish also secured the All-American award. Mount Union had the top preliminary time of 3:11.12, followed by Washington University (3:11.28) and Rowan (3:11.4). Loras (3:12.11), UW-Eau Claire (3:13.52), Wartburg (3:12.72) and Wheaton (3:14.09) also advanced.

In the May 29 final, the Eagles lowered their time slightly to 3:12.79 to solidify their fourth-place final standing. Rowan came away with the event championship in 3:11.81, followed by Loras (3:12.4) and Wartburg (3:12.47). La Crosse’s group beat Eau Claire (3:13.01), Mount Union (3:13.82), Washington (3:13.92) and Wheaton (3:16.38).

Sullivan, who is listed as a junior, was part of All-American 4x400 teams for UW-L that placed fourth indoors and fifth outdoors in 2019. He spent his freshman year in 2018 at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Rinaldi, a 2018 Medford graduate who held sophomore standing this year, joined junior Thomas Kelly of Brown Deer, junior Dwayne Ford of Racine Case and freshman Shelvin Garrett II of Beloit Memorial on Whitewater’s 4x100 team that posted a time of 40.97 seconds at the UW-L NCAA Final Qualifier to stamp its spot in the national field. That time entered the NCAAs as one of the top five posted in the country during the regular season. UW-La Crosse won the race at the qualifier in 40.5 seconds.

Ford and Rinaldi were part of Whitewater’s team that placed third and earned All-American honors at the 2019 NCAA Championships in Geneva, Ohio.

This time, the Warhawks came up a little short of their goal of reaching the final, posting a preliminary time of 41.65 seconds. They were 0.45 seconds behind eighth-place Benedictine of Illinois. La Crosse’s team wound up winning the national championship with a time of 40.21 seconds in the final.

Both Sullivan and Rinaldi earned post-season All-Midwest Region accolades from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for their performances during the 2021 outdoor season. To earn All-Region standing, student-athletes must rank among the top five in their region in individual events and/or be a part of a top-three ranked relay team.

Sullivan won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in the 400-meter dash during the league meet at UW-River Falls May 7-8. His winning and season-best time was 48.0 seconds, 0.39 seconds ahead of Sam Welch from UW-Stevens Point and 0.46 seconds ahead of Pearce. He had a preliminary time of 48.68 seconds, which ranked second behind UW-Stout’s Cody Lohrenz, who was fourth in the final (48.69).

Whitewater’s 4x100 team came within 0.08 seconds of knocking off La Crosse at the WIAC meet, finishing second in 41.27 seconds, 0.68 seconds ahead of thirdplace Eau Claire. Rinaldi also competed in the 100-meter dash at the WIAC meet and placed 16th in the preliminaries at 11.05 seconds. He was 0.21 seconds shy of the top-nine finish needed to advance.

La Crosse handily won the WIAC championship 185-130 over runner-up Whitewater. La Crosse placed fifth at the NCAA championships with 39 points, while Whitewater tied for 55th place with four points. Wartburg won its firstever national championship with 54 points, five more than UW-Eau Claire and six more than UW-Oshkosh. Rowan was fourth with 41 points.

Sullivan’s season included a win in the 400-meter dash at 48.33 seconds at the April 10 UW-Platteville Invitational, a second-place time of 48.77 seconds at La Crosse’s Ashton May-Phil Esten Meet on April 16 and a third-place time of 22.42 seconds in La Crosse’s season-opening Great River Rust Buster March 27.

Rinaldi’s season also included a season-best time of 22.28 seconds in the 200-meter dash, good for sixth place, at the UW-Whitewater Drake Alternative Meet April 23-24, a second-place finish at 22.64 seconds in the 200-meter dash at the Spartan Invitational hosted by the University of Dubuque April 19-20 and a victory in the 100-meter dash at 10.87 seconds during the May 15 John Kruchoski Open at UW-W. His best 100-meter time was 10.76 seconds, which was good for third at the Warhawk Invitational April 16-17.

Also in track

Jake wasn’t the only Sullivan competing for UW-La Crosse this spring. His freshman brother, 2020 Medford graduate Justin Sullivan, got some outdoor time as well for the Eagles in 200- and 400-meter races.

Sullivan filled a spot on the 4x400-meter team, which included junior Justin Kotarak of Muskego, Hill and Flood and placed fourth in the WIAC meet at 3:19.06. The team trailed UW-Oshkosh (3:14.28), UW-Eau Claire (3:15.33) and UW-Stevens Point (3:17.81). UW-Whitewater was fifth in 3:20.08.

Sullivan added a 22nd-place time of 52.3 seconds in the 400-meter dash at the WIAC Championships. His best time of the outdoor season in that event was 51.92 seconds, which was good for eighth place out of 11 sprinters at the Wartburg Friday Night Lights meet on April 30. He was second out of five runners with a time of 52.22 seconds at the River City Rumble hosted by Winona State on April 24. The fifth-place runner was Peyton Enders, a former Prentice-Rib Lake cross country standout and 2020 Prentice grad who competed this spring for Concordia- St. Paul.

Sullivan was 19th in the 200-meter dash at 24.4 seconds in La Crosse’s Tribute Triangular April 2 and 20th in 24.38 seconds in the River Rust Buster.

As for Enders, he competed primarily in the 400-meter dash and high jump for Concordia-St. Paul. His best 400 time was 54.87 seconds, which put him in eighth place at the April 2 Maverick Spring Invite hosted by Minnesota State-Mankato. He cleared 5 feet, 8.75 inches in the high jump competition and tied for 12th place at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and Friends Outdoor Challenge on May 1. He competed in three events that day, adding a 12th-place time of 55.3 seconds in the 400-meter dash. He was part of a 4x400-meter relay team that placed fourth out of five teams with a time of 3:30.83.

Osy Ekwueme, a 2017 Medford graduate, continued to see some action in the Division I level at Notre Dame in his final season. He was credited with a win as the only entrant in the 400-meter dash at the April 2-3 Louisville Invitational in 58.2 seconds. He was sixth in 1:00.99, again at Louisville, in the April 23-24 Clark Wood Invitational. Ekwueme had a much better time at the May 1 Bob Harris Open, hosted by the Fighting Irish, placing sixth in 51.56 seconds.

Also at Louisville, Ekwueme was part of a 4x400-meter relay team that placed third in 3:29.23 behind DePaul (3:25) and Notre Dame’s A team (3:25.09).

Notre Dame placed fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference meet May 13-15 at North Carolina State.

Franny Seidel, a 2020 Medford graduate, got a taste of competition in a variety of distance events for the University of Minnesota-Duluth women’s track team during the outdoor season.

Seidel placed eighth in the 5,000-meter run in 19:24.94 at the April 9 Battle for the Paddle hosted by Winona State. She competed in that race again in Duluth’s home meet April 29 and took fifth in 19:43.96.

Seidel finished fifth in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 5:01.1 at the April 17 Concordia-St. Paul Holst Invitational, just under 20 seconds behind winner Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State. Seidel was 15th out of 24 entrants in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 11:34.37 at the Maverick Spring Invite.

UMD finished sixth in the NSIC Outdoor Championships, which the school hosted May 13-15.

In baseball

John McMurry, a 2020 Medford graduate, pitched in seven games for the Viterbo University baseball team this spring. The V-Hawks went 17-25 overall and 12-16 in the North Star Atheltic Association, falling just shy of qualifying for the conference’s post-season tournament. The top six teams made the tournament. Viterbo finished seventh in the league standings, one game behind sixthplace Dakota State.

McMurry totaled 12 innings in his seven appearances and collected seven strikeouts. He allowed 11 hits, four walks and 11 runs, nine of which were earned, for an earned run average of 6.75. Opponents had just a .229 batting average against him.

His final outing was a solid one as he pitched 2.1 innings of one-hit relief in a 9-3 home loss to Valley City State on April 18. He struck out two and walked one after started Eddie Del Real got hit for six earned runs in 3.2 innings. He pitched a scoreless inning in a 6-3 loss at Dickinson State on April 10.

McMurry made his debut in the team’s second game, a 10-0 loss at Oklahoma City University on Feb. 27. He pitched the fifth and sixth innings on the seveninning game and allowed three hits and three runs, two of which were earned. He struck out one and walked one. A tworun double did the damage against him in the fifth, but he avoided further damage by inducing an inning-ending double play. He worked a 1-2-3 sixth.

McMurry pitched a scoreless last two innings in a 6-1 win St. Francis, Ill. on March 6. He struck out one and allowed nothing, retiring all six batters he faced. He pitched a scoreless inning March 14 in a 10-1 home win over Lakeland College.

Former Rib Lake-Prentice quarterback Trace Brayton, a 2019 Prentice graduate, pitched four innings over five appearances for the University of Minnesota- Crookston baseball team, which had one of the best seasons in its program history. The Golden Eagles finished 2612 overall and 18-10 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. They started the year 17-2 and got into the top-20 national NCAA Division II rankings for the first time ever during the year. Crookston finished fifth in the conference and went 3-2 in the season-ending league tournament hosted by the University of Sioux Falls.

The left-handed Brayton allowed six hits and six runs, five of which were earned for an 11.25 earned run average. He struck out three hitters. He pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts while allowing one hit in a March 25 15-3 win at Sioux Falls. He threw another scoreless inning with a strikeout and a walk in a 9-4 loss to Concordia-St. Paul on April 11.

Brothers Justin (l.) and Jake Sullivanearned medals at the WIAC Championships at UW-River Falls May 8. Justin was on the fourth-place 4x400-meter relay team, while Jake won the 400-meter dash.SUBMITTED PHOTO

Victor Rinaldi, a 2018 Medford graduate, sprints with the baton during UWWhitewater’s 11th-place finish in the NCAA Division III 4x100-meter prelims.UW-WATHLETICS/D3PHOTOGRAPHY.COM