ALL-GNC TRACK & FIELD - 26 Raiders among award winners for Great Northern track & field

ALL-GNC TRACK & FIELD

Jaylin Machon’s three-peat pole vault title as well as Gage Losiewicz’s pole vault win, three second-place runs for Meredith Richter, a 110-meter high hurdles championship for Will Daniels and a 1,600-meter relay win for the Raider boys highlighted Medford’s list of 26 athletes who earned 2024 All-Great Northern Conference track and field honors.

Raider junior Evan Paul and freshman Avery Losiewicz earned multiple awards individually. With all four boys relay teams and three girls teams getting top-three finishes, Medford’s list of award winners grew by three over last year. The awards are based on results from the 2024 conference meet, which Medford hosted at Raider Field May 14.

Both of Medford’s teams placed third, though the boys came very close to winning their side of the meet. The Raiders scored 124 points to fall three shy of cochampions Lakeland and Northland Pines. The girls’ 107 points had them trailing Tomahawk (146) and Northland Pines (125). The Raiders beat Rhinelander by a half-point to claim third.

Machon and Richter topped a list of 12 Medford girls who earned an All-GNC award.

Machon set the winning pole vault height at 10 feet for the second straight spring after winning at 9-6 as a sophomore. She ended her prep career by competing at the WIAA Division 2 state competition in the event. Machon also earned an All-GNC second-team honor with her runner-up time of 16.94 seconds in the 100-meter high hurdles.

Richter finished second in the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter runs. She wa behind friend and rival Nora Gremban of Northland Pines, who named the GNC’s Girls Runner of the Year, in the longer races. Tomahawk freshman Elise Gibeault won the 400. Richter, however, got her big reward at the state championships, where she repeated as the state champion in the 800 and took fourth-place medals in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. At state she set school-record times of 2:12.05, 4:58.13 and 10:45.86, plus she lowered her 400-meter record during the season to 59.47 seconds. Richter holds the school record with six state medals and will continue her track and cross country career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Avery Losiewicz made the All-GNC second team in the 300-meter hurdles and got honorable mention with a third-place height of 9 feet in the pole vault.

The rest of the girls awards came in relays with third-place, honorable mention finishes. Sophomore Morgan Liske, junior Ella Dassow, senior Ella Daniels and sophomore Felicity Ziehlke ran the 3,200-meter relay in 10:32.57. Senior Brenley Beran, sophomores Rivalee Stokes and Alexis Zuleger and Machon ran the 800-meter relay in 1:54.51 and sophomore Aliyah Pilgrim, junior Toryn Rau, Zuleger and Losiewicz completed the 1,600-meter relay in 4:26.14.

Antigo senior MacKenzieWissbroecker, last year’s GNC Runner of the Year award, was named the Girls Field Athlete of the Year this time after sweeping the long and triple jump titles. She also won the 100-meter dash. Wissbroecker was the repeat state long jump champion in Division 2 as well.

Tomahawk’s Kurt Cordova was named the GNC Girls Coach of the Year. The Hatchets ended Mosinee’s three-year reign at the top and won their first GNC title since 2014.

Boys awards

In the boys meet, Gage Losiewicz won his first GNC pole vault title by clearing 12 feet, competing a climb from honorable mention as a freshman and being on the second team last spring. He also hit 12 feet in last year’s GNC meet.

Daniels, a sophomore, and junior teammate Paxton Rothmeier were the top two finishers in the 110-meter high hurdles. Daniels won the final in 17.12 seconds while Rothmeier, last year’s champion, was clocked at 17.41 seconds.

Losiewicz joined seniors Caleb Scoles, Logan Gubser and Isaac Kautzer for Medford’s third and final GNC championship. That came in the 1,600-meter relay in a time of 3:37.09.

Paul landed on the All-GNC second team by going 40-2.25 in the triple jump and he placed third in the 200-meter dash at 23.79 seconds. Kautzer added an award by taking third in the 400-meter dash and senior Adyn Gripentrog got honorable mention with his third-place time in the 800-meter run.

Rothmeier, seniors Cory Lindahl and Adam Kowalski and freshman Jordan Lavin were second in the 400-meter relay at 47.58 seconds, trailing Rhinelander (45.85). Rothmeier, Daniels, Kowalski and Losiewicz took third in the 800-meter relay at 1:35.55 and sophomore Evan Pagel, freshman Peyton Ried, junior Anthony Seidel and Gripentrog were third in the 3,200-meter relay at 8:54.96.

Lakeland senior Owen Clark repeated as GNC Runner of the Year after sweeping the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter titles for the second straight year. Mosinee sophomore Omar Ingram was named the GNC Field Athlete of the Year after winning the long and high jumps. Lakeland’s Stephanie Strasburg and Northland Pines’ Josh Rhode shared the GNC Boys Coach of the Year award. Lakeland won its second straight GNC title, while Pines won its first GNC title.

Medford’s success in 2024 was achieved under outgoing fifth-year head coach Shawn Sullivan, who is retiring along with her husband, Medford district administrator Pat Sullivan.

Evan Paul

Paxton Rothmeier

Isaac Kautzer

Cory Lindahl

Will Daniels

Gage Losiewicz

Logan Gubser

Caleb Scoles

Adam Kowalski

Jordan Lavin

Avery Losiewicz

Adyn Gripentrog