GILMAN TRACK & FIELD INVITE - Gilman girls push toward the top; boys get a relay win at home

GILMAN TRACK & FIELD INVITE

With Claire Drier, Bailey Angell, Addy Vick and Jaylen Copenhaver consistently lurking in high-placing spots, the Gilman Pirates made a run at the girls team title in their nine-team home invitational Tuesday before settling into a three-way tie for second.

The Pirates’ 106 points equaled the totals of their Eastern Cloverbelt Conference rivals Colby and Owen-Withee as those teams separated themselves from the rest of the pack on an evening where the sun finally broke out and the wind died down, making for some of the best conditions so far this outdoor season.

Ladysmith won the girls meet with 125 points.

Drier won the 100-meter high hurdles and took second in the 300-meter hurdles and Copenhaver took the 100-meter dash for the Pirates. They also were part of the winning 800-meter relay team that blew away the rest of the field in that race. The combination of Copenhaver, Aubrey Steinbach, Drier and Vick won in a time of 1:54.51 that was 6.15 seconds ahead of second-place Colby and 11.12 seconds ahead of third-place Owen-Withee.

The Pirates also scored well in their other relay with Kaylee Copenhaver, Rilla Syryczuk, Aubrey Mann and Steinbach taking third in the 400-meter relay at 56.28 seconds, just behind Ladysmith (53.85) and Owen-Withee (55.31). The Pirates easily beat fourth-place Greenwood (1:01.15).

Drier’s winning time in the 100 hurdles was 17.77 seconds, tying her best time of the spring and putting her 0.98 seconds ahead of Ladysmith’s Hailey Wilmot. Syryczuk added two points with her seventh-place time of 19.74 seconds, which was her best of the spring. In the 300-meter lows, Drier finished in a season-best 51.1 seconds, 1.99 seconds ahead of thirdplace hurdler Abby Fye of Ladysmith and 1.94 seconds behind winner Kendall Weiler of Owen-Withee.

Drier and Vick both went 15 feet, 3 inches to tie for second place in the long jump competition. They were just 1.25 inches behind Weiler. Vick tied her season-best by clearing 4-8 in the high jump, which was good for second place, 4 inches under winner Aubrey Waldhauser of Columbus Catholic. Jaylen Copenhaver hit 4-4, which was her top height of the season and good for fifth place.

To top off her strong night, Vick placed third in the 200-meter dash at a seasonbest 28.69 seconds, while teammate Patricia Kloss was fifth in 29.88 seconds. Ladysmith’s Marika Gago (26.93) and Weiler (27.79) were the only sprinters ahead of Vick.

Jaylen Copenhaver’s win in the 100-meter dash came with a time of 14.1 seconds as she nudged past Ladysmith’s Miranda Grotzinger by 0.05 seconds. Pirate Kyra Rabuck was 10th for Gilman in 15.32 seconds. Rabuck later added two points with a seventh-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a season-best time of 1:13.89.

Angell ran into what will likely be her toughest conference competition in the throws and placed second in both events. Colby’s Daelyn Rieck won the shot put at 40-4 and the discus at 129-4, but no one else challenged Angell. She was second with throws of 36-10.5 and 109-3. Her shot put distance was her best since she threw 37-3 in the first indoor meet of the season. She was 10 inches off her season-best in the discus.

Mann entered the shot put for the first time and was ninth for Gilman at 25-2.5. Syryczuk threw the discus for the first time and took 16th at 48-4.

Kylee Copenhaver was fifth in the triple jump, improving to 27-11, while Mann was seventh at 27-8.

Columbus Catholic and Bruce tied for fifth in the team standings with 61 points, followed by Spencer (45), Prentice (35.5) and Greenwood (26.5).

Boys results

Gilman waited until the last race to get a win in Tuesday’s meet. Entering a 1,600-meter relay for the first time this spring, the Pirates got a win from Chad Konsella, Logan Halida, Brady McAlpine and Sawyer Winger, who finished in 3:53.66, 3.95 seconds ahead of Colby. Bruce (3:59.7), Columbus Catholic (4:02.59) and Owen-Withee (4:09.65) also entered the race.

The win capped Gilman’s fifth-place finish in the team standings. The Pirates scored 76.5 points to trail Owen-Withee (161), Columbus Catholic and Ladysmith, who tied for second at 105, and Colby (93).

Konsella had a solid night individually, taking second in the long jump at 19-9 inches, just a quarter-inch behind winner Ashton Clark of Ladysmith, and fourth in the 100-meter dash at 12.01 seconds, just 0.11 seconds behind winner Vincent Henke of Owen-Withee.

McAlpine, Winger, Logan Halida and Konsella added a third-place time of 1:39.1 in the 800-meter relay, trailing Owen-Withee (1:34.31) and Ladysmith (1:35.66) and just ahead of fourth-place Colby (1:40.13).

Winger scored in two field events, taking fourth in the long jump at 17-6.5 and third in the high jump at 5-6.

Quintin Franzen hurdled his way to 14 points, taking second in the 110-meter highs at 18.64 seconds, 0.31 seconds behind winner Bobby McCullock of Bruce, and third in the 300-meter intermediates at 47.44 seconds, 2 seconds behind McCullock and 0.21 seconds behind Columbus Catholic’s Dakota Hannasch.

Like his sister, freshman Taydyn Angell got his off best throw since the Neillsville Indoor meet getting one out to 38-0.5 for a third-place finish in the shot put. Caleb Marion was 11th for Gilman at 31-10.75. Colby’s Erik Martinez won that event at 41 feet even, while Owen-Withee’s Sullivan Poehler was 13.25 inches ahead of Angell. Marion got the eighth-place point in the discus at 94-7, while Angell was 10th at 926.

Trevor Vick went 35-11 to take fourth in the triple jump, while Max Ustianowski got the eighth-place point at 34-1.5. Ustianowski was seventh in the 200-meter dash, lowering his time to 25.99 seconds. James Wojcik was 13th at 27.26 seconds.

Halida was sixth (1:00.86) and Wyatt Orth was 10th (1:03.79) in his first 400-meter dash. McAlpine got the eighth-place point in the 100 at 12.47 seconds.

Orth, Ustianowski, Vick and Wojcik took sixth in the 400-meter relay at 50.71 seconds. Ladysmith won the race in 45.74 seconds.

Mitchell Moran placed eighth for Gilman in the 1,600-meter run at 6:10.63 and he was 11th in the 800-meter run at 2:37.78.

Gilman’s mixed 400-meter relay team was third out of six teams in 57.72 seconds, trailing Colby (54.64) and Spencer (57.45). Ladysmith (57.88) was third, followed by Owen-Withee (1:01.71) and Bruce (1:07.77).

Bruce took sixth in the boys meet with 69 points, followed by Spencer (34), Prentice (15.5) and Greenwood (7).

Gilman will compete at Stanley-Boyd Friday and at Colby on Tuesday, one week before the Pirates return to Colby for the Eastern Cloverbelt championships.

Gilman’s Jaylen Copenhaver pulls ahead of Colby’s Tori Underwood and wins the girls 100-meter dash in 14.1 seconds during Tuesday’s Gilman Invitational. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS