Abby girls track takes third in Marathon
The Abbotsford track and field team took advantage of some nice weather in their first outdoor track meet of the season last Friday. The Falcons recorded a number of top finishes in their first foray outside in 2023, leading to a third place finish for the girls’ team and a sixth place finish for the boys.
Last season’s Marawood girls’ conference champs Marathon hosted Friday’s competition and put forth an impressive effort on their home turf. Both the Red Raiders’ teams came out on top, with the girls scoring 135 points and the boys putting up 184 points. The next closest team in the boys’ division was Athens with 98 points and Edgar took third with 96. The Falcon boys finished with 72 points. Tomahawk took second in the girls’ division with 123.6 points and Abbotsford ended the evening with 92.2 points to take third.
Sommer Brodhagen and Christian Fuentes both picked up first place finishes for their teams. Fuentes showed off his acceleration and speed in the 100-meter dash, just edging out Parker Mathwich of Marathon in the event. The Falcons’ freshman put up a time of 11.81 seconds, which was three-hundredths of a second faster than Mathwich.
While Fuentes continued to cultivate the success he had found in the indoor season in the short distance events, Brodhagen won an event that she had not yet had the opportunity to compete in this season.
Because indoor facilities don’t typically have space for discus competitions, the event usually doesn’t see play until the outdoor season begins. As such, it was many of the athletes first opportunity to throw in a competitive setting this year. Brodhagen was one of two throwers to reach triple digits, putting up a final distance of 104 feet. She just beat out Tomahawk’s Ayla McCormick for the top spot, with just five inches separating the two’s best throws.
Brodhagen’s win in the discus wasn’t the only topfive performance in the event for the Falcons. Margo Pogodzinksi came in fourth place in the girls’ divi- sion, recording a distance of 93 feet, 10 inches.
Marcus Bohl, who has gone to state in the discus the past two seasons, took second to only Aiden Janke in the boys’ competition, putting up a distance of 146 feet, 11 inches. This was several feet further than his state performance last season and an inch more than the throw that got him to La Crosse at the Mondovi sectional.
Those weren’t the only top finishes for Falcons in the field events, turning in sixteen performances that earned points between the two teams. Pogodzinski also took third in the shot put with a distance of 30 feet, one inch and teammate Isabella Aguilera placed fifth with a distance of 28 feet, 11.5 inches. Bohl took third in the shot put as well, his furthest throw measuring 41 feet.
Calley Ruesch took fourth in the long jump with a leap measuring at 14 feet, one-and-a-half inches. Chase Boller and Sydney Falteisek both placed in the top five in the high jump event. Boller took third place by reaching a height of five feet, six inches and Falteisek placed fifth with a height of four feet, six inches.
Falteisek and Boller also notched top-five finishes in their respective hurdle events. Falteisek took second in the 100-meter hurdles, posting a time of 17.86 seconds and Boller took fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 21.48 seconds. Tamika Heck also scored for the Falcon girls in the event, taking fifth with a time of 21.92 seconds.
The Abbotsford girls’ team also had five scoring performances in sprinting events. Leading the way in the individual events was Chloe Cihlar, who took fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.64 seconds. She was also part of the two sprint relay teams that earned points for the Falcons. The 4x100-meter team of Cihlar, Falteisek, Brodhagen and Ruesch took third with a time of 54.34 seconds and the 4x200-meter team of Cihlar, Falteisek, Brodhagen and Celia Schindler placed second with a time of 1:53.80.
The boys’ sprint relay teams also produced results, with the 4x100-meter team of Fuentes, Boller, AJ Brodhagen and Irvin Aguilera taking second with a time of 48.12 seconds. The same team also took second in the 4x200-meter relay, putting up a time of 1:40.94.
AJ Brodhagen’s day in the sprint events didn’t end with the relays. The sophomore also took fourth in the individual 200-meter dash, recording a time of 25.23 seconds.
Azul Diaz had two fourth-place finishes in the two longest races of the day. She posted a time of 6:27.67 in the 1600-meter run and a time of 13:50.67 in the 3200-meter run. Jack Schindler had a top-five finish for the boys’ team, taking fifth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:58.58.
With their first outdoor meet of the season under their belts, the Falcons will be traveling to Stanley-Boyd for their next competition. The meet is to be held on Friday, April 21 and will start at 4:15 p.m.
