Can they win another Marawood title?

Marathon girls look to win their third straight

By Casey Krautkramer

Marathon’s girls track and field squad returns 12 varsity letter winners this season as the Red Raiders attempt to win their third straight Marawood Conference championship.

Curt Miller is now in his fifth season as the Marathon girls head coach. He is excited to see what the girls team can accomplish this season.

“Time will tell if we can win the conference championship again but it certainly helps to have a roster of 36 girls and a large coaching staff that can make sure our athletes get a lot of individual attention,” Miller said. “I have a lot of respect for the other programs in our conference and I think it will be another competitive year in the Marawood Conference. Our team this year has some fun potential but everything will depend on making progress while staying healthy throughout the season. We lost some outstanding seniors from last year but we have a lot of girls ready to fill those voids both as competitors and leaders.”

Marathon’s top returning girl track and field athletes this season are senior Ava Buchberger, distance runner and conference alternate; senior Grace Kahon, sprinter and state qualifi er in the 100-meter dash and 4x100meter relay; senior Chloe LaValley, hurdler, jumper who was a four event conference place winner; senior Jersey Lobner, sprinter, jumper and state qualifier in the 4x100-meter relay; senior Ashley Seliger, high jumper and conference place winner; junior Alisha Blenker, hurdler, pole vaulter and a conference place winner in three events; junior Ashley Gertschen, thrower and conference place winner; junior Ava Krueger, sprinter and thrower who placed in two events at conference; junior Leah Putnam, sprinter and conference place winner; sophomore Shilo Blake, distance runner and a state qualifier in the 4x800meter relay; sophomore Caly Fieri, distance runner and state alternate in the 4x800-meter relay and sophomore Jayden Henrichs, hurdler and conference place winner.

The Red Raiders have several young-er girls track and field athletes who are ready to make their mark on the varsity squad this season.

“We have a lot of new athletes in the program, along with a number of returning athletes that are now ready to contribute at the varsity level,” Miller said. “We have seen some early varsity competition from returners Katie Annis, junior jumper; Madison Heise, junior thrower and Alyssa Sessions, sophomore sprinter along with newcomers Addie Molepske, sophomore sprinter; Izzy Vardon, sophomore high jumper; Leah Dodson, freshman sprinter; Anika Kolka, freshman jumper; Halle Laabs, freshman sprinter; Lindsay Putnam, Mya Yach, freshman long distance runner; and Maddie Volkman and Lindsay Putnam, freshman sprinters.

Miller’s girls track and field coaching staff this season includes assistants Brad Bernarde, Jeff Schneider, Preston Wirkus, Ted Knoeck, Nicole Myszka, Rhianna Sweno for middle/ high school, Doug Miller for middle/ high school along with Lena Mohr and Mark Meyering for middle school.

“We lost two quality assistant coaches in Eddie Ikert and Emily Wise, but we were able to add to our staff Nicole Myszka (member of the Marathon Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2022), Doug Miller (my father and a member of the Wisconsin Track Coaches Hall of Fame Class of 2022) and Rhianna Sweno (former Marathon athlete who is currently a Marathon Elementary School teacher that will be the middle school track and field coach),” Curt Miller said.

“Our athletes have a huge advantage here, not only for the number of the key staff members in our track and field program but the quality and experience our staff brings. Joel Mroczenski, our program’s strength and conditioning coach, is another key staff member who has done an excep- tional job creating a unified strength training program for our entire athletic department.”

Both the Marathon boys and girls varsity track and field squads are off to a great start this season, after winning their home meet championships on Friday.

Marathon boys track and field

EJ Otto, Marathon boys track and field head coach, has been a part of the school’s track program for 28 years.

He led the Marathon boys to seven consecutive Marawood Conference South championships from 2013 until 2019. The Red Raiders haven’t been able to return to their conference title winning ways since COVID-19 cancelled the 2020 season. Following 2020, the Marawood format switched from having two division champions to having only one boys champion amongst all 12 teams. The Edgar boys won the Marawood Conference title in 2021 and Stratford won it last season. Otto is hoping his Marathon boys can return to their conference title winning ways this season.

“It will take each individual on the team to work as hard as they can in each practice to compete at a level that is competitive with all the outstanding teams in the conference,” Otto said. “Stratford has a great bunch of athletes and coaches, as does everyone else in the conference so we must stay healthy as all teams need some luck. The Marawood Conference is arguably the best small school conference in the state so we take nothing for granted.”

Marathon’s top returning boys track and field athletes this season are seniors Parker Mathwich and Mathew Annis, sprinters and jumpers; senior Griffin Treankler, sprinter and jumper; seniors Jaron Gage and Ian Blake, distance runners; senior Michael Thomsen and Brandon Jorgenson, throwers; senior Drake Carlson, wheelchair; junior Jacob Smith, distance runner and pole vaulter; junior Andy Glennon, middle distance runner; junior Brandon Gitzlaff, distance runner; sophomore Levi Krautkramer, middle distance runner; sophomore Wilson Marks, sprinter and sophomore Logan Witberler, hurdler and pole vaulter.

The Red Raiders have several top newcomers to the varsity squad this season including sophomores River Stanecki and Logan Rohland, middle distance runners and jumpers; sophomore Aiden Lang, sprinter and thrower; freshman Chris Marcell, sprinter and jumper; freshmen Mitchell Zemke and Blake Sternberg, throwers; freshman Javier Pintor, sprinter and pole vaulter; freshmen Nathan and Luke Hoenish, Alex Kaiser, John Kahon and Marin Gruetzmacher, sprinters; freshman Briggs Bauman, hurdler and sprinter and freshmen Gavin Matthaie and Brayden Pintor, distance runners.