OUT OF THE STARTING BLOCKS

MARSHFIELD BOYS INDOOR INVITATIONAL

Rib Lake wins 3 events, Medford 4th overall

The Medford Raiders and Rib Lake Redmen both came away with some positive results to build from Tuesday in their season-opening efforts at the Marshfield Tigers Indoor Boys Track and Field Invitational.

Medford edged out Rib Lake 58-57 for fourth place in the 13-team meet, getting scoring contributions from several sources. Rib Lake got 30 of its points by getting first-place finishes from freshman Kaleb Scott in the 440-yard dash and its two long relays.

With both the Raiders and Redmen stuck indoors in their limited facilities through two weeks of practice, Tuesday’s meet truly was, in many cases, the first chance for the coaching staffs to see their athletes on a track or jumping into pits.

Rib Lake enters the season with high hopes for its distance relays and Tuesday’s results increased that optimism. The two-mile relay team of Ryan Buehler, Dominick Classen, Jack Regier and Scott won the day’s first race on the track in 10:06.24, beating Marshfield by 2.67 seconds and Pittsville by 7.61 seconds. Medford’s team of Naut van Meurs, Lucas Borman, Ervin Ulrich and Anthony Seidel placed fourth in 10:41.99 to earn the Raiders’ first points of 2023.

Rib Lake’s team of Classen, Ben Petersen, Regier and Scott ended the meet by winning the mile relay in 4:15.21, which put the Redmen just 0.66 seconds ahead of Medford’s second-place team of Anakin Stokes, Adyn Gripentrog, Hudson Briggs and Gage Losiewicz. Marshfield was right behind Medford in third place at 4:16.52.

Scott’s individual win in the 440yard dash came in a time of 1:01.36 that put him 0.44 seconds ahead of Abbotsford’s AJ Brodhagen. Medford got two seventh-place points from freshman Will Daniels, who finished in 1:04.44, while Seidel just missed scoring by taking ninth at 1:04.63.

Buehler added 10 points to Rib Lake’s total individually with fourth-place finishes in the 880-yard and mile runs. In the 880, Buehler was timed at 2:26.51, just ahead of Medford’s Owen Stockwell (2:29.88), while Regier was sixth at 2:30.39 and Gripentrog was ninth at 2:36.28. Marshfield’s Thomas Cashmer won in 2:15.95. Buehler’s mile time was 5:20.64. Columbus Catholic’s Isaac Scheer won in 4:53.01. Rib Lake’s Elijah Scott came in ninth at 5:26.25, van Meurs was 11th at 5:43.04 and Borman was 13th in 6:02.22.

Medford’s Cory Lindahl scored in three individual events, while Evan Paul did well in the long and high jumps and Paxton Rothmeier placed twice.

Paul’s best effort in the long jump carried 18 feet, 1 inch to give him second place behind Abbotsford freshman Christian Fuentes, who went 19-2. Paul was 4.5 inches ahead of third-place jumper Trevor Foemmel of Marshfield. Lindahl was seventh for the Raiders at 17-0.5, just behind Rib Lake’s sixthplace jumper Theo Robisch (17-6.25). Gus Zuleger was 15th for Rib Lake at 14-5.25. Paul cleared the bar at 5-6 in the high jump competition to place fifth, just two 2 inches behind winner Caden Healy of Colby. Lindahl was one of four jumpers to top out at 5-2 and placed seventh. Robisch and Classen finished just out of the scoring mix for Rib Lake at 5-2, and 5 feet, respectively.

Losiewicz cleared 10 feet to start his year for Medford in pole vault with a third-place finish behind Colby’s Seth Hopperdeitzel (11-6) and Marshfield’s Vaughn Kolbeck (11 feet). Robisch was fifth for Rib Lake in the triple jump at 34-7.5, while Stockwell (30-4) and Daniels (26-4.5) were ninth and 10th for Medford.

Rothmeier and Lindahl combined for nine points by taking fourth and fifth in the 60-yard hurdles, with Rothmeier finishing in 9.9 seconds and Lindahl coming in at 10.53 seconds. Stokes was sixth in the 220-yard dash at 26.66 seconds and Rothmeier got the eighth-place point at 27.45 seconds. Zuleger was 16th for Rib Lake at 30.81 seconds. Keiser got the eighth-place point for Rib Lake in the 60yard dash at 7.12 seconds, while Stokes was 12th at 7.2 seconds. Petersen (7.54) was 18th for Rib Lake and Jake Dassow (7.65) was 20th for Medford.

Both local teams did well in the fourlap relay. Keiser, Petersen, Robisch and Classen gave Rib Lake third place in 1:17.5, just ahead of Medford’s fourthplace team of Rothmeier, Dassow, Lindahl and Paul (1:17.66). Marshfield won the event in 1:14.93, while Abbotsford (1:16.18) was second.

Medford’s Will Haavisto led local shot putters, taking 13th at 32-6, while Jacob Rechtzigel was 19th at 28 feet. Rib Lake’s Kaedyn Kopelke was 17th at 30-9 and Logan Schmidtfranz was 20th at 27-8.

Marshfield won the team championship with 126 points, well ahead of Abbotsford (70) and Owen-Withee (68). Colby was one point behind Rib Lake in sixth place and was followed by Pittsville (26), Necedah (25), Stratford (20), Columbus Catholic (13), Greenwood (7), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (5) and Granton (2). Medford placed fourth in the JV standings with 35 points, while Rib Lake was seventh with 13.5.

For Medford, Daniels (10.5) and Briggs (11.44) were second and third in the 60yard hurdles, Ulrich was second in the mile at 6:04.57 and Dayne Jacobsen was fifth in the 440-yard dash (1:09.76) and fifth in the 880-yard run (2:48.34). The four-lap relay team of William Bartnick, Alex Kraegenbrink, Evan Pagel and Rechtzigel was fourth in 1:25.25.

For Rib Lake, Elijah Scott was fourth in the 880 at 2:39.44, Connor Highfill was fifth in the mile at 6:20.76 and Noah Wiitala tied for third in the high jump by clearing 5-2.

Medford and Rib Lake’s girls teams will be in Marshfield today, Thursday. Medford heads to UW-Stout’s Northern Badger Large Schools Invitational Friday, while Rib Lake will be at Merrill next with the boys going on Tuesday and the girls competing on March 30.

Medford’s Cory Lindahl gets the height he needs and clears the bar at 5 feet, 2 inches during high jump competition Tuesday in Marshfield. He placed seventh among varsity jumpers.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Rib Lake’s Ryan Buehler rounds a curve early in Tuesday’s mile run and pulls ahead of Pittsville runners Ezra Fiala and Landen Losievski on his way to fifth place.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS