MARAWOOD TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS - Henderson jumps to title; girls work their way into points

MARAWOOD TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

As expected, scoring was difficult for Rib Lake Monday against the powers that be in the Marawood Conference, but there were highlights in Monday’s track and field championships held in Abbotsford, including one win, an extension of a school record and several best efforts for the season.

Sophomore Jed Henderson is Rib Lake’s lone 2024 conference champion as he won the boys high jump competition and accounting for nearly half of the boys’ 21 team points. Senior Olivia Lopez shattered her own school record in the long jump by almost 11 inches while placing third and she was second in the triple jump.

The girls had a little more luck putting points on the scoresheet, finishing with 39 points. They tied Auburndale for ninth place in the 12-team meet. The boys were 10th.

Stratford won both team championships. The Tigers edged Marathon 95-93, while Abbotsford wasn’t far behind with 88 points in the girls meet. Stratford (173), Marathon (119.5) and Edgar (116) were too deep for the rest of the boys teams, who battled for whatever points they could get behind the three traditional league powers.

Girls scoring

Five Rib Lake girls scored in individual events during Monday’s meet, led by Lopez, who did so in three events.

Her highest finish was in the triple jump, where her best jump went 34 feet even, 3.5 inches off her school record from earlier this year. She was 13 inches ahead of third-place jumper Emily Rundle of Stratford. Edgar’s Rachel Burke won at 35 feet, 3.5 inches.

Lopez’s new record in the long jump is 16-10.5, which blew away her previous best of 15-11.75. Lopez was seeded third coming into the meet and that’s where she finished behind favorite Brianna Sherden of Stratford (17-7.5) and runner-up Mel Severson of Newman Catholic (17-4.5). Abbotsford’s Oriah Harris was fourth at 16-8.5.

Rib Lake’s Emma Tlusty just missed scoring, taking ninth with a personal-best jump of 14-10.5. She beat her previous best by 11 inches and was 4.5 inches away from eighth place. Maddie Rademacher was 13th at 14-4.5.

The third scoring event for Lopez was the 200-meter dash, where she took fifth in 27.01 seconds, not far off her school record of 26.9. Bella Thomas of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption won in 25.63 seconds. Kloey Paul was 17th for Rib Lake in a personal-best 30.26 seconds and Anna Martin was 26th (34.62) Tlusty and Isabelle Gumz, both sophomores, placed in the 100-meter high hurdles. Tlusty had the third-best preliminary time at 18.06 seconds, while Gumz was fifth at 18.94 seconds. In the final, Tlusty was third again at 18.17 seconds, while Gumz placed sixth in 18.97 seconds. Marathon’s Alisha Blenker won (16.7) with Abbotsford’s Sydney Falteisek (17.41) taking second. Rademacher was 12th in the prelims at 20.61 seconds.

Rademacher, a freshman, cleared a personal best 4-10 to take fourth in the high jump, while Hadassah Nelson hit 4-6 to earn two seventh-place points. Evie Bates of Newman Catholic won the title at an impressive 5-4.

The rest of Rib Lake’s points came from the 400-meter relay team of Gumz, Tlusty, Paul and Lopez. They took fourth in 53.72 seconds, trailing Stratford (51.48), Edgar (52.07) and Marathon (53.39). Abbotsford was 1.4 seconds behind the Redmen.

Tessa Krause (27-7.5), Gumz (27-1.5) and Camryn Glenzer (26-7) were 17th, 18th and 19th for Rib Lake in the shot put. Coralee Glenzer (66-8), Gumz (59-9) and Camryn Glenzer (57-4) were 21st, 26th and 29th in the discus. Paul was 16th in the 100-meter dash at 14.73 seconds, while Nelson (15.74) and Martin (16.46) were 23rd and 25th.

Edgar was fourth in the team standings with 68 points, followed by Newman (67), Athens (59), Assumption (52), Phillips (48), Auburndale and Rib Lake (39), Chequamegon (33) and Prentice (21).

Boys scoring

Rib Lake’s boys scored in three events, led by Henderson’s height of 6-1 in the high jump. That tied his personal best and tied him for the top of the heap Monday with Stratford’s Xander Curtice with Henderson winning the tiebreaker. They were 2 inches ahead of third-place jumper Kaden Foster of Stratford.

A season-best time of 9:00.16 put Rib Lake’s 3,200-meter relay team of Kaleb Scott, Elijah Scott, Jack Regier and Henry Regier in third place out of 10 teams. The Redmen trailed Stratford (8:46.55) and Marathon (8:53.71). Rib Lake edged Edgar by 0.19 seconds for the third spot.

Jack Regier got the last five points for Rib Lake by taking fourth in the 3,200-meter run. He lowered his time by almost seven seconds to 11:06.44. He was 0.68 seconds ahead of Abbotsford’s Jack Schindler for that spot. The top three were Cree DeFoe of Stratford (10:24.36) and Phillips Loggers James Vollendorf (10:37.99) and Maverick Hoogland (10:51.18). Rib Lake’s Connor Highfill was 15th at 12:08.77.

Rib Lake’s 400-meter relay team of Demetrio Garelli, Seamus Highfill, Isaiah Hubbard and Gus Zuleger placed ninth in 51.47 seconds, 0.49 seconds away from an eighth-place point.

Henry Regier lowered his time to 4:59.03 while taking 10th in the 1,600-meter run, just ahead of Kaleb Scott (5:05.04). Truman Smith set a new best at 5:21.8 while taking 18th. Elijah Scott was 12th in the 800-meter run at 2:18.71, while Kaleb Scott (2:21.51) and Smith (personal-best 2:22.51) were 16th and 17th. Jack Regier (1:02.38), Riley Johnson (1:03.85) and Connor Highfill (1:04.57) were 17th, 18th and 20th in the 400-meter dash.

Garelli was 13th (25.68), Seamus Highfill was 18th (26.59) and Johnson was 23rd (28.49) in the 200-meter dash, while Garelli took 17th in the 100-meter dash with his best time of 12.92 seconds, Zuleger (13.02) was 19th and Hubbard (13.85) was 21st. Zuleger was 15th in the long jump at 16-3 and 17th in the triple jump at 32-5, just ahead of Seamus Highfill (31-3).

In the throws, Henderson took 24th in the discus at 82-5, Hubbard improved to 81 feet and was 25th and Johnson improved to 60-1 while taking 29th. Hubbard (25-5) and Clinton Peterson (24-3) both nudged upward while taking 27th and 28th in the shot put.

Phillips was fourth in the team standings with 73 points, followed by Auburndale (48.5), Assumption (34), Newman (33), Chequamegon (29), Athens (23), Rib Lake (21), Abbotsford (19) and Prentice (13).

On to regionals

Next up for Rib Lake is the start of WIAA Division 3 post-season competition. The first step is the regional meet in Gilman, set for a 4 p.m. start on Monday.

Rib Lake, Gilman, Abbotsford, Athens, Cadott, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser, Cornell-Lake Holcombe, McDonell Central, New Auburn, Owen-Withee, Prentice and Thorp are scheduled to attend the meet where the top four finishers in each event will advance to sectional competition.

Cameron will host the sectional on May 23. Competition there will start at 3 p.m. and the top four in each event will qualify for state.

Rib Lake’s Isabelle Gumz puts all she has into this shot put attempt Monday. She placed 18th with her best throw going 27 feet, 1.5 inches. NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD/TRIBUNE-PHONOGRAPH

Olivia Lopez extended her school record in the long jump during Monday’s Marawood meet. Her best effort carried 16 feet, 10.5 inches and was good for third place. NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD/TRIBUNE-PHONOGRAPH