Diaz breaks record, headed to state in 3200-meter run
By Nathaniel Underwood
More school records were broken by the Abbotsford track and field team at the sectional meet held in Cameron this past Thursday. Azul Diaz set a new time to beat in the 3200-meter run while qualifying for the state meet in the event and the 4x800-meter relay team once again set a new personal best, breaking their own school record in the process and narrowly missing out on a trip to La Crosse.
Based on heat sheet times heading into the sectional meet, Diaz likely needed to have a career day if she was going to find her way onto the podium and into the final competition of the 2024 season. She entered the competition with a seed time of 12:43.66, which was the sixth fastest of those who had made it through regionals.
The Abbotsford junior came up with more than just a new PR. She shaved an impressive 40 seconds off her seed time to finish with the fastest time in Abbotsford track history, completing the race in 12:03.29.
As Chequamegon’s Autumn Michalski grew a lead over the rest of the field, Diaz kept pace with Bruce’s Zoey Kemmitz and Prentice’s Kylie Orysen to form a group of leaders behind Michalski. As they neared the end, Diaz narrowly edged out Orysen at the finish line to take third, defeating the Buccaneers’ runner by less than two-tenths of a second.
The Falcons’ previous record in the event was 12:11.00 and was held by Jessica Hinrichsen.
Abbotsford had several athletes who narrowly missed out on joining Diaz in La Crosse, taking home four different fifth place finishes. The 4x800-meter relay of Diaz, Iris Cruz, Celia Schindler and Ana Flores found themselves one spot short, despite building upon their record time in the event. The quartet was four-and-half seconds behind the fourth place Webster relay on Thursday, finishing with a final time of 10:29.44.
Oriah Harris and Margo Pogodzinksi, who also broke school records earlier in the season, grabbed a pair of fifth place finishes in Cameron. Harris finished with a time of 26.77 seconds in the 200-meter dash, five-tenths of a second short of a trip to La Crosse. Pogodzinski, meanwhile, had a throw of 112 feet, six inches in the discus, putting her just behind Webster’s Avery Hetfeld, who grabbed the last qualification spot with a throw of 115 feet, five inches.
The 4x100-meter relay added another fifth place finish for the Falcons. The team of Harris, Sommer Brodhagen, Chloe Cihlar and Sydney Falteisek went toe to toe with Ladysmith’s relay in the event, but the Lumberjacks barely edged out Abbotsford to claim the final ticket to the state meet. The Falcons relay finished with a time of 51.75 seconds, just short of the 51.58 time set by the Ladysmith squad.
The 4x200-meter relay team of Brodhagen, Cihlar, Schindler and Harris grabbed a seventh place finish at the sectional meet. They finished between the Frederic/Luck and Clear Lake relays with a time of 1:49.35. Harris also had an individual seventh place finish in the long jump, her longest attempt of the day measuring 16 feet, oneand- a-half inches. Carter Cihlar set a new personal best at the sectional meet, earning himself a seventh place finish in the pole
See ABBY TRACK/ Page 15
HEADED TO STATE - Azul Diaz, pictured above at the regional meet in Gilman, broke the school record in the 3200-meter run at the sectional meet on Thursday. Her PR performance also earned her a place at the state meet in La Crosse.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Abby track
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vault by clearing a height of 12 feet.
Schindler had the Falcons’ final scoring performance at the meet, taking eighth in the triple jump with a distance of 33 feet, one inch, an improvement of eight inches over her seeded performance.
Pogodzinski also competed in the shot put on Thursday and earned herself a ninth place after registering a throw of 33 feet, seven-and-a-half inches. Falteisek added a 10th place in the high jump by clearing a height of four feet, eight inches and Cruz took 11th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:36.73. Jack Schindler had another 11th place finish for the Falcons by putting up a time of 4:55.07 in the 1600-meter run.
Diaz will compete at Veterans Memorial Stadium at UW-La Crosse on Friday, May 31. The running events for Division 3 will start at 3 p.m. and the 3200-meter run is scheduled as one of the final events of the day. The finals will then be held the next day, Saturday, June 1, with the 3200-meter run once again being one of the last events on the schedule. Track events are to start at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
