Sullivan, Machon win titles; several advance to Rice Lake

WIAA DIV. 2 TRACK & FIELD

While Monday’s WIAA Division 2 Tomahawk regional marked the end of the 2022 road for some athletes, the meet may have been the overall peak of the spring for the Medford Raiders, who placed third out of eight teams in the girls standings and fourth among boys teams.

The Raiders qualified 11 entries on the girls’ side for the WIAA Division 2 Rice Lake sectional, set for today, Thursday, starting at 4 p.m., and 10 boys entries. The top four finishers in each event today, punch their tickets to the June 3-4 WIAA Division 2 state championships at UW-La Crosse.

Head coach Shawn Sullivan termed Monday’s outing “a great meet” with several personal-best times and distances being set. During the meet, she said the thing she liked most was how the young squads have developed into competitors who are starting to understand when and how to be at their best.

When it comes to competitors, no one on this year’s team will top Joe Sullivan for the boys and Jaylin Machon for the girls.

Machon was part of top-four sectional- qualifying finishes in all four of her events, including the lone first-place result for the girls. That came in the pole vault, where the sophomore tied her personal- best height of the season at 9 feet, 6 inches, came close to hitting 10 feet and won the competition by a foot over runner- up Iris Nordine of Northland Pines. Machon enters today’s competition as a contender, if the results from the four area Division 2 regionals are any indication. Just two of today’s scheduled vaulters went higher than 9-6 in their meets Monday and both come from the Arcadia regional, Arcadia’s Casidi Pehler (11 feet) and Gabbi Pardoe of Black River Falls (9-9).

Machon had the second-fastest preliminary time in the 100-meter high hurdles at 17.57 seconds and shaved that to 17.54 in the final, where she finished fourth in the highly-competitive race. She beat Mosinee’s Malina Carattini by 0.11 seconds for the last sectional spot. Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Jalynn Horacek (17.31), Mosinee’s Claire Selenske (17.4) and Antigo’s Jaiden Radtke (17.53) also moved on.

The 800-meter relay team of Marlee Perrin, Sophie Brost, Brenley Beran and Machon easily posted the best time of the spring by a Medford team at 1:50.31, good for second place behind Mosinee (1:47.83). Antigo (1:51.48) and Northland Pines (1:57.07) also advanced.

Those same four sprinters took third in the 400-meter relay at 52.6 seconds to advance. Mosinee won it in 51.11 seconds, 1.13 seconds ahead of Antigo. Lakeland (54.74) got the fourth spot.

Sullivan entered just two events in the boys meet, but the senior got the job done in both.

Sullivan first held off challenges from Sam Gremban of Northland Pines and Owen Clark of Lakeland –– just as he did at the May 17 Great Northern Conference meet –– to win the 1,600-meter run in 4:41.52. He beat Clark by just 0.47 seconds, while Gremban faded at the very end to take third in 4:45.83, a second ahead of Mosinee’s Cooper Szekeress. Raider Silas Wipf shattered his previous personal-best with a sixth-place time of 4:51.97.

Sullivan later fended off Clark again in the 3,200-meter run, winning by a margin of 1.74 seconds in a time of 10:05.12. Freshmen Cree DeFoe of Stratford (10:42.9) and Kaemyn Heritage of Northland Pines (10:51.76) also advanced.

Competition in both races should be fierce at today’s meet. Based on regional times, Sullivan is the third seed in the 1,600 and the sixth seed in the 3,200.

Girls take third

Medford scored 93.5 points in the girls meet to trail Mosinee (147) and Wittenberg- Birnamwood (102) in the team standings. Stratford was fourth with 81.5 points, followed by Lakeland (73), Antigo (72), Tomahawk (62) and Northland Pines (48).

Sophomore Meredith Richter played a role in three sectional-qualifying finishes, two individually and as a part of the 1,600-meter relay team. Alyssa Brandner, Ella Daniels, Brooke Rudolph and Richter finished the meet with a second-place time of 4:31.89 that was well ahead of Tomahawk (4:39.72) and Mosinee (4:40.87) and trailed Lakeland (4:24.97). With just four teams, the relay squads just had to successfully finish the race to advance.

Not long before that relay, Richter dropped to a personal-best time of 2:27.79 to place second in the 800-meter run. She wasn’t going to catch Nora Gremban of Northland Pines (2:20.47), but she impressively pulled away from Stratford’s Ella Heidmann (2:30.45) and Tomahawk’s Morgan Hansmann (2:32.96) in the second lap. Raider freshman Naomi Fleegel was 10th at 2:54.53.

Richter sliced 0.14 seconds off her time in the 400-meter dash, placing third in an even 1:01. She trailed Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Reese Rogowski (58.25) and Lakeland’s Grace Kern (59.8) and beat Mosinee’s Britt Fitzgerald (1:02.69). Brandner fell one place and 3.67 seconds shy of advancing with a fifth-place time of 1:06.36.

Perrin, a freshman, added an individual advancement to her sprint relay qualifi cations. She placed fourth in the 100-meter dash final at 13.3 seconds, improving by one spot and 0.12 seconds from the preliminaries. She beat Mosinee’s Makayla Weisner by 0.34 seconds for the last spot. Raider Lindsey Klapatauskas was 12th in the prelims at 14.25 seconds. Antigo’s MacKenzie Wissbroecker won the final in 12.82 seconds. Perrin also got sixthplace points in the high jump by equaling her season-best height of 4-8.

The 3,200-meter relay team finished fourth in its meet-opening race to earn a sectional spot. Daniels, Fleegel, Ella Dassow and Rudolph finished in 11:00.02 to beat Antigo by 15 seconds. Lakeland (10:18.21), Tomahawk (10:29.62) and Stratford (10:44.92) are also headed to the sectional.

From that team, Daniels added an individual qualification by taking third in the 1,600-meter run with a personalbest time of 5:54.43. The top foursome of Gremban (5:13.99), Lakeland’s Sylvia Meza (5:51), Daniels and Antigo’s Lillian L’Esperance (5:54.84) separated itself from the rest of the pack. Dassow, however, set a personal-best time of 6:17.69 while placing ninth, 5.24 seconds away from scoring.

Rudolph is moving on in the 300-meter low hurdles, thanks to her fourth-place time of 53.9 seconds. She beat Tomahawk’s Emily Maki by 0.89 seconds for the last spot. Selenske (49.45), Carattini (49.54) and Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Allison Linke (51.63) are the other qualifi ers. Brost, a senior, closed her career individually on a high note with two sixthplace finishes. She set a personal-best distance of 31-2.5 in the triple, just ahead of Klapatauskas, who also set a personal best at 31-1.5. Brost set a personal-best time of 28.38 seconds in the 200-meter dash preliminaries, where she placed fifth. In the final, she took sixth in 28.99 seconds, 0.51 seconds away from advancing.

Klapatauskas, a sophomore, took fifth in the shot put competition with a throw of 28-6, but she was well behind fourthplace finisher Bekah Bouton of Mosinee (30-10.75).

Beran, a sophomore, placed seventh with a new best distance of 15-0.5 in the long jump, while Rudolph split the eighth-place point with Stratford’s Billie Hoffman at 14-5.

Also competing for Medford were Stacy Stolp who was 11th in the triple jump at 28-6.75; Riley Clark, who was 14th in the 200-meter dash in a personal-best 30.76 seconds, and Hannah Fleegel, who was 14th in the long jump at 11-10.

Boys place fourth

Northland Pines edged past Lakeland 128.5-123 to win the boys team championship Monday, while Stratford scored 102 points to get past Medford’s total of 90.5 for third. Mosinee (88.5), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (68), Antigo (49) and Tomahawk (38.5) rounded out the final standings.

Joining Sullivan as the team’s only seniors, Jake Seifert had a solid day in the throws to earn another meet. First, Seifert placed second in the discus at 118-10, beating Mosinee’s Wyatt Cherek (115-9) and Isaiah Samuelson of Northland Pines (114-4) for that spot. Later, Seifert got off a throw of 42-7 to place third in the shot put behind Mosinee’s Walker Beyerl (47-6.25) and Stratford’s Koehler Kilty (43-5.25). Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Jacob Tomlinson (42-1.25) also advanced. Beyerl added the discus title to his day with a throw of 135-2.

Raider sophomore Logan Kawa got off a personal-best throw of 40-2.5 to earn the seventh-place points in the shot put, while Will Haavisto tied for 12th at 34-1, also a new best distance. Kawa was 12th at 90-9 in the discus, while Jude Stark was 15th with a season-best throw of 88-1.

Freshman Gage Losiewicz had a big day in the pole vault, exceeding his previous best height by a foot and placing second at 11-6. Lakeland’s Jacob Hayes won the tiebreaker to win the event at the same height. Raider Adam Kowalski added two points with a personal-best vault of 9 feet. The toughest competition in that event today could come from the Osceola regional qualifiers, all of whom went 12-6 or higher Monday, led by Osceola’s Luke Haase at 14-3.

Three Raiders earned fourth-place finishes to advance to Rice Lake individually.

Junior Anakin Stokes turned a thirdplace time of 24.52 seconds in the 200-meter dash preliminaries into a time of 24.56 seconds in the final. He advances along with Lakeland’s Bo Peterson (23.49), Antigo’s Wes Ebel (23.89) and Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Alex Centeno (24.45). Raider Cory Lindahl was sixth in the prelims at 25.14 seconds and seventh in the final at 25.89 seconds.

Junior Jose Herrera got off a personalbest leap of 18-8.25 to place fourth in the long jump and advance along with Wittenberg- Birnamwood’s Simon Schairer (20-8.5), Jack Gjovick of Northland Pines (20-0.5) and Lakeland’s Brayden Wiczek (19-6.5). Raider freshman Evan Paul wasn’t far behind, tying Mosinee’s Evan Utphall for fifth at 18-1.25 and Lindahl was seventh at 18-1.

Paul, a freshman, qualified for the sectional in the high jump by clearing 5-8. He moves on with Lakeland’s Maverick Metzger (5-10), Tomahawk’s Micah Arnott (5-9) and Emmett Smith of Northland Pines (5-8).

The Raiders will send two relay teams to Rice Lake. The 3,200-meter team of Zach Rudolph, Vincent Seidel, Josh Clark and Wipf lowered its time by about 12 seconds and placed third in 8:35.09, easily beating Northland Pines (9.57.64) and trailing Antigo (8:30.31) and Stratford (8:32.51). The 800-meter team of Itsael Medina, Lindahl, Herrera and Stokes took third in 1:38.09. They beat Stratford by 1.07 seconds and trailed Northland Pines (1:33.91) and Lakeland (1:35.1). Medford is seeded seventh in the 3,200 relay today and 10th in the 800.

The Raiders fell one spot short in the 400-meter relay, taking fifth in 47.63 seconds. Medina, Isaac Kautzer, Herrera and Stokes were 1.95 seconds behind fourth-place Lakeland. The 1,600-meter team of Lindahl, Rudolph, Herrera and Losiewicz was seventh in 3:55.41.

Clark got a point by taking eighth place in the 800-meter run at 2:11.75, right at his personal-best pace. Vincent Seidel was ninth at 2:16.63 and Anthony Seidel was 12th at a season-best 2:25.97.

Also for Medford, Lucas Borman was 10th in the 400-meter dash at 1:01.2, while Gatlin Piller was 13th in 1:03.3, Paxton Rothmeier was 11th in the triple jump at 30-11, Kautzer was 13th in the 100-meter dash prelims at 12.74 seconds.

Medford’s Gage Losiewicz easily clears an early height in the pole vault competition, where he eventually placed second during Monday’s WIAA Division 2 Tomahawk regional. Losiewicz reached a personal-best height of 11 feet, 6 inches.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Medford’s Joe Sullivan gets in front and stays in front of Lakeland’s Owen Clark while winning Monday’s boys 3,200-meter run.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Medford’s Meredith Richter settles into second place, where she stays for the rest of the race, during Monday’s girls 800-meter run.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS