Colby track looks to build on success

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Colby Hornets track and field teams are prepped and ready for the start of the 2024 season. With many athletes returning from a successful 2023 campaign, the Hornets will once again be eyeing the top spots in the conference and beyond.

This year’s Colby squad is led by a number of athletes who will be looking to build on their postseason results from last season. The girls team won seven events at the Cloverbelt-East conference meet and took second place overall and will be returning eight of their 10 athletes who competed at the sectional meet in Arcadia last season. The boys team, which took fourth at last season’s conference meet, will also have a fair number of members coming back to improve upon their results from 2023.

While one of their state participants, Caden Healy, graduated last year, the Hornets will have sophomore Daelyn Rieck return after taking fourth place in the shot put and 10th place in the discus in La Crosse at the end of her freshman campaign. The new school record holder in the discus will continue to anchor the Colby girls’ squad in the throwing events heading into the season.

Seniors Jazmyn Heeg, Casey Reynolds, juniors Makenna Herrmann, Pearl Feiten, and Veronica Mateer and sophomore Annamarie Schmitt are all back after competing in the sectional meet last year.

The Hornets’ strength once again looks to be in the long distance events, where Reynolds, Herrmann, Feiten and Schmitt all posted solid results. Heeg was Colby’s best sprinter last season and Mateer made strides in the triple jump while also backing up in the hurdles.

See COLBY TRACK AND FIELD PREVIEW/ Page 16

2024 COLBY BOYS TRACK AND FIELD - The 2024 boys track and field team, pictured above starting in the back row left to right, are Rolyn Hopperdietzel, Xander Buchanan, Jacob Raatz, Caine Maldonis, Nolt Dommer and Tucker Hayes. In the middle row, left to right are Griffin Penry, Bryan Carmago, Oliver Steen, Max Adams and Seth Hopperdietzel. In the front row, left to right are Matthew Sprotte, Carter Roth, Moises Fuentes, Erik Martinez and Caden Kleparski. The Hornets are coached by Chrisie Wright. Colby track and field preview

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Sophomore Ali Adams is also poised to be an important part of what should be a vaunted distance team and junior Tori Underwood was often the Hornets second best runner in the short distance events last season.

Outside of Rieck and a few others in the throwing events and Mateer in the triple jump, the Hornets will likely have to find some additional help in the field events, as two of their primary leaders in that category from 2023’s varsity squad, Hayden Willner and Willow Oemichen, have graduated.

“We’ve got the distance crew back strong, we’ve got Jazmyn and Tori sprinting,” head coach Chrisie Wright said. “But we just don’t have a lot of the field events covered on the girls’ side. We have a strong throwing team, but we just don’t have a lot of those other things.”

Overcoming those depth issues to continue to compete at the top of the conference will be one of the biggest challenges that both the Hornet squads will face this year.

“Right now, we just aren’t sure how we are going to fill up everything,” Wright said. “To have multiple relays and to try and fit all of their individual events is going to be tough.”

On the boys side, seniors Max Adams and Seth Hopperdietzel are back coming off sectional performances during 2023.

Adams headlines Colby’s distance team with fellow senior Carter Roth also returning and Matthew Sprotte joining the squad. Senior Caden Kleparski is the only returner that was consistently part of the team’s sprinting events last season, so Colby will have to look to some new faces for depth in that category.

The boys will be bringing back plenty of experience in the field events. Hopperdietzel once again appears primed to make a deep run in the pole vault and seniors Erik Martinez and Moises Fuentes are also back and will help anchor the Hornets in the throwing events. Kleparski, meanwhile, would be the Hornets only returner with significant high jump experience in 2023 and senior Caine Maldonis similarly the sole member to compete in the hurdles for last year’s varsity squad.

The core group of seniors will be looking to mesh with a host of underclassmen who will be looking to fill in the gaps and contribute to the varsity team’s success. It is a process that is already underway in practice and something that Wright has been impressed with thus far. “They are a great leadership group,” Wright said of the seniors. “They’re good with helping the younger group; we have senior guys and we have freshmen guys and there’s not a whole lot inbetween.”

“In our first workouts, it’s been fun,” she added. “The team is laughing and having a good time and that helps a lot. When you add that little family-like network, it helps.”

The Colby squads will begin their season with a handful of indoor meets, starting with a trip to Marshfield. The boys team competed in their half of the event on Tuesday night while the girls are set to take on their first challenge in the Tigers’ house on Thursday, March 21, with the meet beginning at 4:30 p.m. The boys, meanwhile, will be at Wausau West on Thursday, with their meet to start at 4:00 p.m.

2024 COLBY GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD - The 2024 girls track and field team, pictured above starting in the back row left to right, are Tori Underwood, Kaitlyn Weiland, Daelyn Rieck, Dana Mejia and Casey Reynolds. In the second row from the top, left to right, are Zeline Lintrup, Ali Adams, Edynn Hinker, Anay Espino and Halle Bender. In the third row are Annamarie Schmitt, Viola Dommer, Thalia Campa-Mata, Jennelle Ertl and Olivia Krause. In the front row are Veronica Mateer, Makenna Herrmann, Pearl Feiten and Alexis Vanderhoof. Not pictured is Jazmyn Heeg.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD