RIB LAKE TRACK & FIELD PREVIEW - Lopez aims for big finish; boys could be strong in distance

RIB LAKE TRACK & FIELD PREVIEW

Rib Lake’s track and field program returns a senior state qualifier in Olivia Lopez but trends quite young after that as it opens the 2024 spring season.

As competition starts this week with the Redmen making their annual visits to the Marshfield Indoor Invitationals –– the boys placed fifth on Tuesday and the girls are there today, Thursday –– Rib Lake has 26 athletes out, 16 boys and 10 girls, according to sixth-year head coach Jonah Campbell.

For the boys, the numbers stayed about the same as last year, due to an influx of freshmen. The girls, you could say, got a touch older with two seniors and five of last year’s freshmen returning as sophomores. But they are only 10 athletes deep to start the year.

Scoring as a team won’t be easy against some of the Marawood Conference powers Rib Lake will see throughout the spring, but there are areas of strength that should be fun to watch as the season progresses.

“We’ll see what we can put together,” Campbell said Monday. “It should be fun. Even though we don’t have the numbers, I think everybody is pretty driven.”

Like all other area teams, the Redmen took advantage of unseasonably warm weather for early March to get much more outdoor practice time than in recent years. Rib Lake was on spring break March 4-8, which slowed its start somewhat, but temperatures in the 60s and 50s in week two of practice, when everyone was back, was certainly welcomed.

“This last week actually being outside helped immensely for things like shot put and jumping and some sprint workouts,” Campbell said. “It feels like we got caught up on some stuff we normally can’t do.”

Last year ended on a high note with Lopez getting the 16th and last spot in the field for WIAA Division 3 200-meter dash competition. With a school-record time of 26.92 seconds in the preliminaries, she moved up to 12th place. Also one of the top triple and long jumpers in girls program history, Lopez looks to finish her career with a big season.

“Hopefully we can keep that momentum she had at the end of last season and start strong,” Campbell said. “She was able to squeak in last year as the fourth qualifier (from the sectional). Anything can happen with those times from year to year. Hopefully early we find a little of comfort in her 200 or sprints. I think she would like to push in one of her jumps to see if we can or cannot beat what we did last year with those. With jumps, we’re just trying to be able to reach her capability more consistently, getting her steps down a little more consistently.”

Tessa Krause is the girls other senior, returning in the shot put and discus.

The core of the roster sits with the five sophomores, all of whom contributed fairly significantly last year.

Isabelle Gumz, Emma Tlusty and Hadassah Nelson join Lopez in Rib Lake’s sprint crew. Camryn and Cora Glenzer are looking to focus more on throws this year but also have sprinting experience. All of those girls high jumped last year, but Campbell said some may not do as much of that this time around. Nelson is one that is still working hard at that craft.

Junior Anna Martin is back after she spent her sophomore season as Rib Lake’s lone longer distance runner. She picked up most of her points in the 800-meter run, but also competed at times in the 400.

Tlusty and Gumz are giving hurdles a try with Tlusty looking at the 100-meter highs and Gumz going with the 300-meter lows. Gumz also is Rib Lake’s top shot put candidate. She got as far as 29 feet, 7 inches last year and getting over that 30-foot mark is certainly the next goal in that event. “I think they’re trying to focus on sprinting and hopefully getting some sort of sprint relay started for this year and the future since they have two more seasons left,” Campbell said of the sophomore group. The sprint present and future also could be helped by the addition of freshmen Maddie Rademacher and Kloey Paul. “I think Maddie’s strength is in the 100 and Kloey’s strength is the 200 coming from eighth grade,” Campbell said. “We’ll see if they can help us in either of those relays, the 4x1 and the 4x2.”

The opposite of the girls, the boys’ track strength figures to be in distance events with many members of Prentice-Rib Lake’s strong cross country team running for the Redmen.

Junior Jack Regier, who went to state in cross country, is back along with sophomore Kaleb Scott, who is putting his effort into being a 400-meter force. Juniors Elijah Scott and Connor Highfill are two more of the team’s elder statesmen in the distance department.

Freshman Henry Regier is a youngster to watch on the track in longer races with sophomore Truman Smith and freshman Seamus Highfill maybe falling into that 800- or 400-meter category.

Campbell said those athletes should give Rib Lake solid options toward putting together a good 3,200-meter relay team.

The Redmen are curious to see what potential sprinters like exchange student, Demetrio Garelli, sophomore Gus Zuleger and freshmen Riley Johnson, Ryley Schatz, Isaiah Hubbard and Allan Head bring.

In the field, junior Kaedyn Kopelke is back after being Rib Lake’s top scorer in the shot put and discus last spring. Sophomore Jed Henderson looks to have an improved season in high jump and discus after getting a late start to his freshman season due to injury. He got up to 5-6 last spring in the high jump.

Hubbard and freshman Clinton Peterson add depth in the throws. Zuleger long jumped and triple jumped in the season’s first meet Tuesday.

The Marshfield meets and next week’s Tuesday and Thursday meets in Merrill will give the Redmen the opportunity to test lineup options in advance of the Marawood Conference’s second annual indoor meet at UW-Stevens Point, set for Monday, April 1. If Mother Nature cooperates, the outdoor season is set to start a week later at Stratford.

Rib Lake’s one home meet, the annual Northwoods Quad with Prentice, Phillips and Chequamegon, is set for Friday, May 3. Abbotsford hosts the Marawood Conference meet on Monday, May 13. In WIAA Division 3 post-season competition, Rib Lake was moved back to the northwestern sectional bracket, going to Gilman for the May 20 regional and Cameron for the May 23 sectional. Last year, Rib Lake went through the Stratford regional and Marathon sectional, where it had to fight through the Marawood giants.

“For some events based on their times last year it would’ve benefited us to be (northwest) and for some events it benefited us to be in the other sectional,” Campbell said. “But it definitely feels better when you don’t see an Edgar or some of these other powerhouses that we’re used to on the schedule. It does put the team’s mind at ease, they were excited to hear that. Hopefully it’s for the better.”