Loyal girls earn elusive first-place finish

Deegan, Genteman among top male finishers

After four second-place finishes in a row, the Loyal girls track and field team finally made it back to the top of the podium with a first-place finish at the Marathon meet May 9. Prior to that, the last time they had won a meet was April 21 in Rosholt. At Marathon, the Loyal girls scored 123.5 points, followed by the host team with 111.5, Stratford with 95, Athens with 69 and Prentice with 11.

To earn points for Loyal, an athlete had to finish within the top five for any given event. Loyal racked up the points in the 100m dash, with three young ladies all scoring points. Addysen Wolf came in first at 13.31, Aubre Robida was third at 13.57 and Alyssia Zvolena took fourth at 13.99. In the 200m dash, the Greyhounds also picked up points. Leah Scherer took first at 27.35 and Molly Zvolena took fifth at 29.31.

The Loyal girls had many other notable finishes that day, with the long jump being the only event in which they didn’t score points. Point scorers were as follows. Sheila Tellock and Olivia Nikolai locked down the top two spots in the 300m hurdles, finishing in 54.16 and 55.21, respectively. Gwen LaMarr took fifth in that event at 59.20.

The Greyhounds also had a strong showing in the high jump. Alyssia Zvolena claimed the high jump title, clearing the bar at 5’2”. Her sister Autumn snagged second place, with a height of 4’10”, and Addysen Wolf tied for fourth with a 4’6” jump.

Noelle Teschner placed second in the 400m dash at 1:08.01. Summer Smith placed third in the 3200m run at 14:08.77 and fifth in the triple jump at 28’5”. Nikolai took third in the 100m hurdles at 19.41 and fourth in the pole vault at 8’.

Tellock took third in the pole vault at 8’6”. Molly Zvolena claimed third place in the triple jump at 30’2.5” and Summer Smith took fifth in that event at 28’5”. Shalisha Buchanan placed fourth in the shot put at 30’2”. Autumn Zvolena took fifth in the 800m run at 2:47.70 as well as in the 1600m run at 6:17.47. Hannah Smith took fifth in the discus throw at 84’.

Loyal teams also won three of the four girls relays — the 4x100m, 4x200m and 4x800m. The 4x100m team consisted of Scherer, Tellock, Wolf and Robida and had a time of 51.53. The same four athletes competed in the 4x200m and finished with a time of 1:50.21. The 4x800m team included Autumn Zvolena, Teschner, Alexis Meyer and Summer Smith. That team had a time of 11:28.50.

Placing fifth was Loyal’s 4x400m relay team, which included Meyer, Teschner, Summer Smith and Maci Bogdonovich. Their time was 4:57.70.

Boys’ results The Loyal boys team, with not nearly as many athletes out for the sport as the girls, still saw success with a handful of athletes making the top five. Connor Genteman claimed second place in the 800m run at 2:07.26 and in the 1600m run at 4:41.29. Roby Beranek took second in the shot put at 45’2.5”. Bryce Deegan took third in the 400m dash at 55.25 and fourth in the triple jump at 36’8.5”. Ridge Ashbeck finished fourth in the 110m hurdles at 22.23. Jaden Smith took fifth in the discus throw at 112’7”.

The Loyal boys 4x400m relay team came in third at 3:57.73. Team members were Genteman, Rory Hanson, Parker Smith and Deegan.

After the Marathon meet, the Greyhounds were scheduled to compete at Cadott on Friday and at Gilman for the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference Meet Tuesday. Coverage of the conference meet will appear in next week’s paper.