Rieck, Hopperdietzel move on to La Crosse

By Nathaniel Underwood

Seth Hopperdietzel and Daelyn Rieck were right at home during Thursday’s WIAA D2 Sectional competition, as the two members of the Colby track and field team punched their tickets to the state tournament in La Crosse after placing in the top-four of their events at the meet held in Colby.

Both Hopperdietzel and Rieck are standing school record holders, with the former having set a new record in the pole vault and the latter building upon her previous best earlier in the season.

In a competitive pole vault competition, Hopperdietzel needed to at least put forth a performance that matched his personal best of 13 feet, six inches to move on. A trio of Ashland vaulters and Prescott’s Ethan West all cleared the height during Thursday’s event, necessitating at least a PR from Hopperdietzel if he were to move on.

The Colby senior met the challenge, starting his day by clearing both the 12 foot, six inch and 13 foot heights in a single vault and then setting the pace by clearing the 13 feet, six inch mark on his first attempt at the height. Hopperdietzel

See COLBY SECTIONALS/ Page 24

VAULTING TO NEW HEIGHTS - Seth Hopperdietzel breaks his personal best and sets a new school record in the pole vault at the sectional meet at Colby.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD

STICKING WITH THE PACK - Max Adams starts off strong in the 1600-meter run during the sectional competition on Thursday. The senior took 12th in the race.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Colby sectionals

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then followed it up by successfully clearing the bar at 13 feet, nine inches for the first time in a live competition on his second attempt. The performance not only set a new standard for the Hornets in the event, beating out his own personal best, but also secured him a top-four spot and a trip to the state competition as Ashland’s Gage Mika and Jackson Fiamoncini could not match the height.

After no competitors could reach the 14 foot mark, Hopperedietzel grabbed second place, beating out Prescott’s West in a tie breaker but coming in behind Ashland’s Carter Mika, who managed to make it over the 13 feet, nine inch height in just one attempt. It will be the first time Hopperdietzel will be competing at the state meet.

Rieck, meanwhile, will be headed back to La Crosse after qualifying in both the shot put and discus. The sophomore reached the state tournament in both events last year, taking fourth in the shot put and 10th in the discus.

She set the tone early in both her throwing events on Thursday. Her first throw of the day in the discus was Rieck’s best, once again tying her school record distance of 129 feet, 10 inches. That throw held the top spot through the first three rounds, though she was bumped from first by Osceola’s Leanna Boettcher’s first throw of the finals, where she reached a distance of 131 feet, eight inches. Arcadia’s Casidi Pehler managed to take the event on her final throw, pulling out a throw of 133 feet, 11 inches. Rieck still took third, enough to grab a spot at the state meet.

The Hornets’ thrower once again set a high bar for the rest of the field in the shot put, where she put up a distance of 39 feet, six-and-a-quarter inches on her second throw of the day. That toss held up throughout the rest of the day, with no one truly putting any pressure on the throw. Rice Lake’s Addison Schmidt put forth a throw of 38 feet, six inches in the first round of the finals, but that was as close as any competitor would get to reaching Rieck’s mark in the event. With over a foot cushion, the sophomore sealed her second straight state trip in the shot put with a sectional win.

Pearl Feiten had the Hornets’ next highest finish at the meet, taking 11th place in the 400-meter dash. She put up a time of 1:03.03 in the event, placing third in her heat and edging out Osceola’s Lauren Ulrich and Kaylee Hurlburt.

The girls 4x800-meter relay team of Feiten, Casey Reynolds, Ali Adams and Annamarie Schmitt took 12th overall with a time of 10:37.86. Reynolds had an 800-split time of 2:33.60 in the leadoff spot for the Hornets and Adams and Schmitt followed with times of 2:46.37 and 2:45.41 respectively. Feiten served as Colby’s anchor and posted a split time of 2:32.49.

On the boys’ side, Max Adams competed in both the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs. The senior placed 12th in the 3200-meter race, posting a time of 10:33.49 in the race, putting him between Durand’s Connor Davidson, who had a time of 10:28.09 and Prescott’s Jayde Canfield, who finished in 10:36.48. Adams also took 13th in the 1600-meter run, where he put up a time of 4:55.52. Only one runner had a time over five minutes in the event and the winner, Owen Clark of Lakeland Union, posted a time of 4:24.67.

Xander Buchanan took 16th in the high jump, clearing a height of five feet, six inches. The height tied him with three other athletes, but a fault at the height gave the other trio a tiebreaker over the Hornets’ freshman.

Rieck and Hopperdietzel will compete at UW-La Crosse’s Veterans Memorial Stadium this coming Friday and Saturday, May 31 and June 1. Both will have events at the same time on Friday, with Rieck starting her shot put competition and Hopperdietzel taking part in the pole vault event at 3:15 p.m. Rieck will then compete in the discus on Saturday. The start time for the event is dependent upon how long it will take the Division 3 event, which will start at 9:30 a.m.

PUSHING ON TO LA CROSSE - Daelyn Rieck unleashes her sectional-winning throw of 39 feet, sixand- a-quarter inches in the shot put competition in Colby. The sophomore will also be moving on to state in the discus for the second year in a row.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD