Abbotsford track hits stride in Edgar, Marathon
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Abbotsford track and field team had three meets over the past week, bouncing around to Gilman, Marathon and Edgar as the outdoor season hit full stride.
Doc Schultz Invite
Due to inclement weather expected on Tuesday evening, the Falcons had their meet in Edgar moved up to Monday night, where they faced off against nine other schools in the Doc Schultz Invitational. Both the girls and boys teams finished fourth in their respective competitions, with the girls putting up 75 points while the boys team finished the evening with 67.5 points.
Christian Fuentes had the sole event victory for the Falcons on Monday, capturing the top spot in the long jump. The sophomore’s leap of 20 feet, five-and-a-quarter inches was over a foot further than his closest competition, allowing him to cruise to his first victory in the event this season.
While Abbotsford may have only had one win, they put together five runner-up performances. Daniel Davila and Sydney Falteisek had field event second place finishes, with Davila earning his spot with a throw of 42 feet, 11 inches in the shot put and Falteisek doing so in the high jump by clearing a height of four feet, 10 inches.
A pair of Falcon relays also claimed second place in Edgar. The girls did so in the longest relay of the day, as the 4x800-meter relay of Celia Schindler, Azul Diaz, Ana Flores and Iris Cruz finished second by posting a time of 11:11.51 in their event. Meanwhile, the boys team took the runner-up spot in the shortest relay, with the 4x100-meter relay of Fuentes, Jovanny Cruz, Irvin Aguilera and Chase Boller completing their race in 48.72 seconds.
Iris Cruz earned the final second place finish for Abbotsford, trailing only Antigo’s Lillian L’Esperance in the 800-meter run, recording a time of 2:42.93 in the event.
A host of third place finishes helped bolster the Falcons efforts. Falteisek had two herself, doing so in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.97 seconds and the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.05 seconds. Celia Schindler also had a pair of third place finishes, putting up a time of 1:08.33 in the 400-meter dash and recording a leap of 30 feet, nine-and-a-quarter inches in the triple jump.
Abbotsford also had two third place finishes in the 1600-meter run, with Azul Diaz taking the spot in the girls competition with a time of 5:56.35 while Jack Schindler earned his place in the boys race by finishing in 5:01.70.
Other top-five finishes included fourth place finishes from Warren Flink in the pole vault with a height of nine feet, six inches, Oriah Harris in the long jump with a distance of 15 feet, three-and-a-half inches, and the girls 4x200-meter relay of Harris, Ava Bleck, Campbell Brodhagen and Marilyn Hammock. Those earning fifth included Fuentes in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.64 seconds, Aguilera in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.68 seconds, Grayson Totzke in the high jump with a height of five feet, four inches, Hazel Flink in the pole vault with a height of six feet, and the boys 4x200-meter relay of Aguilera, Luis Tzintzun, Luis Gonzalez Lujan and Emmanuel Manzanarez with a time of 1:44.70.
Marathon Meet
The Falcons had a number of solid performances against a good number of Marawood conference schools at the meet held in Marathon last Friday. While no team scores were taken for the competition, Abbotsford had 13 individual top-five finishes across both the boys and girls squads.
Sydney Falteisek and Oriah Harris notched first place victories for the Falcons in Marathon. The pair went backto- back in the 300-meter hurdles, with Falteisek grabbing the top spot with a time of 52.87 seconds and Harris coming in second with a time of 54.37 seconds. Falteisek also won the high jump, reaching a height of five feet, while Harris claimed first in the long jump, her furthest leap measuring 15 feet, seven-and-a-half inches.
Sommer Brodhagen had another runner-up finish for the girls team, finishing only three-tenths of a second behind Marathon’s Lena Putnam in the 400-meter dash, putting up a time of 1:08.58.
Irvin Aguilera and Chase Boller had the highest placement for the boys team, both earning second place. Aguilera did so in the 300-meter hurdles, putting up a time of 48.99 seconds. Boller had the second-best performance of the day in the high jump, clearing a height of five feet, 10 inches in the event.
The Falcon boys had four fourth-place finishes on Friday. Three of those came on the track, where Christian Fuentes placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.77 seconds, Jack Schindler did so in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:21.51 and Luis Tzintzun posted a time of 54.59 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles to claim a fourth place finish himself. Daniel Davila had the second best field event finish for the boys squad, taking fourth in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, five-and-a-quarter inches.
Brodhagen also grabbed a fourth place spot for Abbotsford in the throwing events, recording a throw of 91 feet, six inches in the discus to earn the place.
Fernando Perez took fifth in the boys discus with a throw of 104 feet, four inches and teammates Marcus VanLuven, Irvin Davila and Daniel Davila were not far behind. VanLuven took sixth with a distance of 101 feet, three inches, Irvin Davila placed seventh with a throw of 99 feet and Daniel Davila ninth with 98 feet, three inches.
Riley Podevels also put up a top-10 finish for the Falcons, her furthest attempt of 27 feet, 11.75 inches earning her sixth in the triple jump.
Gilman Meet
Abbotsford competed against 10 other schools at the meet held in Gilman last Thursday. The boys team took sixth place with 60 points while the girls team was eighth overall, ending the day with 21 team points.
The field events are where the Falcon boys flourished on Thursday, with 41 of the squad’s team points coming in throwing or jumping events.
Chase Boller, Christian Fuentes and Daniel Davila led the way for the Falcons in Gilman, all three putting up runner-up performances for Abbotsford. Boller cleared a height of five feet, eight inches in the high jump to earn his second-place finish while Fuentes and Stanley-Boyd’s Madden Mahr were the only athletes to post leaps over 19 feet in the long jump, with Fuentes finishing the day with an even 20 feet as his furthest attempt.
Davila took second in both the shot put and the discus. His best throw in the shot put traveled 40 feet, two-anda- half inches while his furthest attempt in the discus measured 113 feet. The Falcons had two more scoring performances in the latter event, with Irvin Davila placing sixth with a throw of 103 feet, seven inches and Marcus VanLuven taking seventh with a throw of 103 feet, two inches.
The boys’ 4x100-meter relay of Fuentes, Luis Tzintzun, Jovanny Cruz and Irvin Aguilera had the team’s top finish of the day, taking the top spot in the event. The squad beat out Thorp’s relay by four-tenths of a second, winning the race with a time of 47.95 seconds. The same relay team took fourth in the 4x200-meter relay, posting a time of
See ABBY TRACK/ Page 22
FLYING FALCON - Chase Boller goes airborne during the long jump competition in Gilman last Thursday. STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
SPRINTING TO THE FINISH - Alex Sundermeyer, left, and Kevin Fuentes race down the straightaway during the 100-meter dash event on Thursday afternoon.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
LAST LEAP - Riley Podevels launches into the pit on her final attempt in the triple jump.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Abby track
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1:41.16.
Eduardo Acuna and Jack Schindler both scored for Abbotsford in the 400-meter dash. Acuna earned fifth with a time of 59.54 seconds while Schindler came in at the 1:01.43 mark, earning himself seventh in the event.
Third place finishes from Sommer Brodhagen and Sydney Falteisek led the girls’ efforts in Gilman. Brodhagen’s throw of 90 feet, seven inches earned her the third place spot in the discus while Falteisek grabbed her own in the 100-meter hurdles, where she finished with a time of 17.71 seconds.
Oriah Harris grabbed fourth in the 200-meter dash, posting a time of 27.63 seconds while Falteisek added another scoring performance by taking eighth in the event, completing the race in 28.70 seconds. Brodhagen had the only other points for the Falcons on Thursday by taking sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 29 feet, seven-andhalf inches.
