Falcons grab first wins of 2023
The Abbotsford Falcons track and field team appears to be peaking at the right time, with the girls’ team picking up two wins over their final four meets of the regular season and the boys’ team placing second in their most recent meet in Spencer.
Spencer Invitational
In their final warm-up before the Marawood conference meet, the Falcons looked dominant at Tuesday evening’s competition in Spencer. The girls’ team racked up 166.5 points to take first overall while the boys’ team collected 132 points to take second in their division.
The girls team benefited from 10 scoring performances in their long distance events. Falcons teammates Iris Cruz, Reese Molitor and Ana Flores finished first, second and third in the 800-meter run and Azul Diaz, Cruz and Molitor also claimed the top three spots for the Falcons in the 1600-meter run. Diaz added a second victory in the 3200-meter run, posting a time of 13:40.47.
They also had all seven of their throwing event entries score in Spencer, with Margo Pogozinski leading the way by taking second in both the discus and the shot put. Sommer Brodhagen, Isabella Aguilera and Madison Bloch took third, fourth and fifth respectively in the discus and Aguilera added a third place finish in the shot put.
Other top-three finishes in the field events included a second place finish from Calley Ruesch in the triple jump, where she recorded a leap of 30 feet, one inch, a third place finish from Sydney Falteisek in the high jump, where she reached a height of four feet, four inches, and a third place finish for Sophie Kulesa in the pole vault, where she cleared a height of seven feet.
Falteisek and Tamika Heck took second and third in the 100-meter hurdles, posting times of 19.22 and 20.99 seconds. Heck also placed second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.77.
Chloe Cihlar added a third place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.70 seconds in the finals.
The girls’ 4x100 and 4x200-meter relays both took second as well.
Christian Fuentes picked up the boys’ solo individual win of evening, taking first in the 100-meter dash, where he posted a time of 11.84 seconds.
The 4x200-meter relay of Emmanuel Manzanarez, AJ Brodhagen, Emilio Escalera and Chase Boller also took first in their event, putting in a time of 1:56.00.
Jack Schindler added a pair of long distance second place finishes in the 1600 and 3200-meter runs, recording times of 5:01.12 and 11:27.77 in the two events.
Irvin Aguilera rounded out the topthree finishes on the track for the Falcons with a third place finish in the 300-meter hurdles, which he ran in 51.52 seconds.
The Falcons had twelve scoring entries in the field events, led by two second place finishes from Marcus Bohl. The senior’s throw of 123 feet, seven inches put him just ahead of teammate Fernando Perez, who took third in the event with a throw of 115 feet, 11 inches. Bohl’s other second place finish came in the shot put, where his furthest throw measured 39 feet, 10.75 inches.
Boller also added a second place finish for the Falcons in the triple jump, where the freshman’s longest jump was measured out to 37 feet, one inch. Warren Flink cleared 10 feet in the pole vault, netting himself a third place finish in the event.
Doc Shulz Invitational
The Falcons competed at the 2023 Doc Shulz Invitational on Monday, combating the cool and sometimes rainy conditions in Edgar. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed fourth overall in their respective divisions.
Jumping field events seemed to be Abbotsford’s strong suit in Edgar. Chase Boller took first place in the high jump, clearing a height of five feet, six inches to capture the top spot. Chloe Cihlar placed first in the triple jump by recording a leap of 31 feet, nine-and-a-half inches. The Falcons also won both pole vault events, with Warren Flink’s cleared height of nine feet, six inches topping the boys’ competition and Tamika Heck’s height of seven feet, six inches leading the girls’ division.
On top of the first place finishes, Abbotsford also had several others put forth top-five efforts in the field events. Grayson Totzke and Emilio Escalera took third and fourth respectively in the high jump, AJ Brodhagen placed fourth and fifth in the triple jump and the long jump and Celia Schindler and Calley Ruesch took fourth and fifth in the triple jump. Sydney Falteisek also added a fourth place finish for the Falcons in the long jump.
Fernando Perez had two top-five finishes in the throwing events, taking third in the discus with a distance of 113 feet, eight inches and placing fourth in the shot put with a throw of 34 feet, three inches. Teammate Daniel Davila took fourth in the discus with a throw of 97 feet.
The Falcons fifth win of the evening took place on the track, where the 4x800meter relay team grabbed the top spot. The relay of Iris Cruz, Ana Flores, Reese Molitor and Azul Diaz posted a time of 11:17.57 to win the competition by four seconds.
Also of note on the track was Falteisek’s fifth place finish in the 100-meter dash, where she recorded a time of 14.08 seconds.
The Abbotsford teams also had a meet hosted by Stanley-Boyd last Friday, May 5. The girls team placed second overall in the competition while the boys took fifth out of the 11 participating schools.
The girls’ 4x100-meter relay came away with the Falcons’ only event victory of the evening. The team of Sommer Brodhagen, Chloe Cihlar, Faith Sperl and Sydney Falteisek put up a time of 54.69 seconds, defeating Osseo-Fairchild’s relay for the top spot.
Abbotsford’s other three relays also put forth solid performances, with the 4x800- meter relay of Iris Cruz, Ana Flores, Reese Molitor and Azul Diaz taking second, the 4x200-meter relay of Brodhagen, Sperl, Calley Ruesch and Hazel Flink taking third and the 4x400 meter relay of Brodhagen, Cruz, Falteisek and Celia Schindler taking fourth.
Diaz, Cihlar, Falteisek and Schindler all had individual top-five finishes on the track for the girls team. Diaz placed second in the 1600-meter run with a time of 6:11.54, Cihlar took third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.39 seconds, Falteisek had a fourth place finish in the 300-meter hurdles after putting up a time of 53.74 seconds and Schindler took fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:10.64.
The team also continued its success in the discus, taking second through fourth places. Margo Pogodzinski led the way for the Falcons with a new personal best throw of 107 feet, six-and-a-half inches. Brodhagen took third with her throw of 94 feet, seven-and-a-half inches and Isabella Aguilera placed fourth after recording a throw of 88 feet, nine-and-a-half inches.
Pogodzinski also took fifth in the shot put and Ruesch added a fifth place finish in the long jump.
Christian Fuentes and Marcus Bohl grabbed a trio of second place finishes for the boys’ team. Fuentes placed behind only Bloomer’s Connor Fossum in the triple jump, where he posted a leap of 37 feet, six-and-a-quarter inches. Bohl, meanwhile, put up solid performances in the two throwing events, recording distances of 131 feet, eight inches in the discus and 41 feet, one inch in the shot put.
Fuentes added a fourth place finish in the 100-meter dash, posting a time of 12.07 seconds. AJ Brodhagen contributed two individual top-five finishes himself by taking fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.29 seconds and fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.14 seconds. Daniel Davila also earned himself an individual fifth place spot by recording a throw of 36 feet, nine-and-ahalf inches in the shot put.
The boys’ 4x400-meter relay of Fuentes, Brodhagen, Chase Boller and Jack Schindler took third with a time of 3:56.61.
Invite
The Falcon girls put forth a dominant performance at the Lien/Anderson Invite hosted by Blair-Taylor last Tuesday, May 2. The team racked up 144 points over the 18 scored events to capture their first victory of the 2023 season. Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau’s 105 points put them as the next closest squad, the nearly 40 point gap an indication of the Falcons’ impressive effort.
The field events were once again a strong suit for Abbotsford, which scored 61 points across just three events: the triple-jump, the discus and the shot put.
Sommer Brodhagen, Chloe Cihlar and Celia Schindler grabbed the top three spots in the triple jump. Brodhagen led the way, winning the event with a final distance of 32 feet, one-half inch. Cihlar followed up with a leap of 30 feet, five inches and Schindler snatched third with a jump of 29 feet, nine-and-a-half inches.
Brodhagen also took first in the discus competition, her furthest throw measuring 107 feet, eight inches. Teammate Margo Pogodzinski claimed second and was the only other athlete to reach triple digits, recording a throw of exactly 100 feet. Madison Bloch’s throw of 74 feet, 10 inches netted her a fifth place finish in the event.
Pogodzinski picked up another win for Abbotsford in the shot put, beating out Jaden Bautch of Eleva-Strum with a throw of 31 feet, 10.25 inches. Isabella Aguilera added a fourth place finish for the Falcons in the event, recording a throw of 29 feet, three inches.
A second place finish from Calley Ruesch in the long jump, a third place finish from Sydney Falteisek in the high jump and a fourth place finish from Tamika Heck in the pole vault gave Abbotsford additional value in the field events.
The Falcons’ 4x800-meter relay team of Iris Cruz, Ana Flores, Reese Molitor and Azul Diaz provided a boost on the track side of things by taking first place in their event, putting up a time of 12:11.42. The 4x100-meter relay also found themselves on the podium at the end of the day. The team consisting of Brodhagen, Cihlar, Ruesch and Falteisek took second with a time of 54.01 seconds.
Azul Diaz also captured a second place finish on the track, doing so in the 3200-meter run by putting up a time of 13:31.98.
Brodhagen and Cihlar finished neck and neck in the 100-meter dash, collecting third and fourth respectively with times of 13.85 second and 13.89 seconds.
Other top-five finishes for the girls included two fourth place finishes for Falteisek in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash and a fourth place finish for Cruz in the 800-meter run. The 4x200meter relay of Schindler, Ruesch, Faith Sperl and Hazel Flink also took fourth.
The Abbotsford boys team also had a solid day in Blair, taking fourth out of ten teams with a score of 91.5 points.
Two sprint relays took the top spot, with the 4x100-meter relay of Marcus Bohl, AJ Brodhagen, Chase Boller and Christian Fuentes edging out Blair-Taylor’s relay by just three-hundredths of a second. Their time of 47.70 seconds earned them the victory. The 4x200-meter relay team similarly found themselves with the top time in their event. The relay of Brodhagen, Irvin Aguilera, Emilio Escalera and Marco Garcia came across the finish line at the 1:45.17 mark, a full two seconds before their next closest opponent.
In addition to helping the 4x100-meter relay take first, Bohl added a win in the discus. A few days after setting a new school record in the event in Auburndale, the senior cruised past the competition, posting a distance of 143 feet, four inches. Teammate Fernando Perez also had a top-five throw, with his toss of 107 feet, eight inches earning him fourth place.
Warren Flink took second for the Falcons in the pole vault, reaching a height of nine feet, six inches. Boller and Brodhagen added third place finishes in the high jump and triple jump respectively.
Fuentes picked up two thirds in the individual short distance events, recording times of 11.57 seconds and 23.91 seconds in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Jack Schindler also took third for Abbotsford, posting a time of 5:08.55 in the 1600-meter run.
Other top five finishes included Aguilera placing fourth in the 300-meter hurdles, Schindler taking fifth in the 800-meter run and Bohl placing fifth in the shot put.
The Falcons will wrap up their regular season with their conference meet next Monday, May 15. The Marawood championships will be hosted by Stratford this year and the competition is set to start at 3:30 p.m.
