SPRING COLLEGE REPORT: TRACK & FIELD - SNC’s Grunwald has steeplechase success; Seidel medals at NSIC meet

SPRING COLLEGE REPORT: TRACK & FIELD

As Joey Sullivan worked toward NCAA Division III All-American honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, he wasn’t the only Medford alum succeeding in that event this spring.

Ellee Grunwald, a 2021 Medford grad, scored valuable points for the St. Norbert College women’s track team in the event this spring, contributing to the Green Knights’ continued dominance in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. St. Norbert has swept the conference’s indoor and outdoor track and field championships since 2015.

On May 3-4, St. Norbert College scored 189.5 points to win this year’s outdoor championship by a comfortable margin over runner-up Aurora (149.33) and Concordia University Wisconsin (145.83). The meet was held at Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Raabe Stadium.

In her only event, Grunwald scored five points by placing fourth in the steeplechase with a personal-best time of 12:27.68. She was 10.37 seconds ahead of fifth-place finisher Ariel Martinez of Concordia University Wisconsin. CUW also had the winner and third-place finisher in Anessa Yim (11:26.12) and Emma Ahrens (11:43.38). Aurora’s Abby Liesen (11:34.05) was the runner-up.

It was Grunwald’s fifth steeplechase of the spring and it is an event she’d run from time to time in the past, including a fifthplace finish in 12:37.3 at last year’s conference meet.

She placed third out of six entrants, two of whom did not finish, during the St. Norbert College Mid-Week Meet on April 25 with what was then a personal-best time of 12:29.03. She wasn’t too far behind winner Kiki Sherman of Ripon (12:20.34) and Jane Partsch of Lawrence (12:27.86). She was fourth out of eight entrants in the April 13 Beloit Relays in a time of 12:38.05. She was 6.81 seconds behind teammate Carsen Gatz, who was third. Ahrens won in 11:43.62.

Grunwald was second in the event at the April 6 Wisconsin Private College Championships held at Carroll University. Her time was 12:59.22. Gatz won in 12:46.58. Grunwald finished ahead of Gatz with a third-place time of 12:47.96 during the March 28 St. Norbert Twilight Meet.

Also during her junior season, Grunwald was eighth in the 800-meter run (2:38.6) and eighth in the 1,500-meter run in a personal-best 5:23.28 at the March 15 University of Redlands (Calif.) Invitational. She was 26th in the 800 (2:44.17) at the Private College Championships and 13th in the 800 (2:36.57) at the April 19 Lawrence Viking Twilight meet. She was part of a fifth-place 1,600-meter relay team that finished in 4:46.2 at Lawrence.

Franny Seidel, a 2020 Medford graduate, capped her senior season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s women’s team with two solid performances at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) meet hosted by Minnesota State University in Mankato May 9-11.

Individually, Seidel competed in the 1,500-meter run and finished seventh in the final. Her time was 4:38.7. She was at the end of a tight pack that was separated by just 1.09 seconds from third to seventh. Seidel was 1.39 seconds ahead of eighthplace runner Alexis Erickson of Bemidji State. The two top finishers, MaKenna Thurston of Minnesota State (4:25.19) and Khot Juac of Sioux Falls (4:27.29) had times that qualified them for the NCAA Division II national championship meet.

In the previous day’s preliminary race, Seidel got one of the 12 spots in the final by posting a personal-best time of 4:37.44, which was good for ninth place. Thurston had the top time at 4:33.88 overall and in heat one, where Seidel was fifth.

Additionally, Seidel was part of UMD’s 1,600-meter relay team that took third in a time of 3:53.05. The Bulldogs trailed Minnesota State (3:50.25) and Concordia-St. Paul (3:52.15) and got by Northern State (3:54.01) and Bemidji State (3:54.14) for that spot. UMD’s relay team included senior Rachel Boelke of Eden Prairie, Minn.; sophomore Kate Fitzgerald of Mosinee and junior Savannah Schley of Loyal.

The Bulldogs finished fifth of 14 teams in the conference meet with 43 points. Minnesota State blew away the competition with 252 points, while the University of Mary (125) was second.

Seidel won the 1,500-meter race during the April 27 Drake Alternative meet hosted by Gustavus Adolphus with what was a personal-best time of 4:38.55. She beat teammate Rachel Ulrich by 1.89 seconds to win the race, which had 20 finishers. At that distance this spring, Seidel was 9th in 4:42.52 at the season-opening Wartburg Outdoor Select April 5-6 and was 46th out of 190 runners in Azuza Pacific’s Bryan Clay Invitational April 11-13 with a time of 4:42.56.

Seidel was second out of 39 entrants in the 800-meter run at Concordia-St. Paul’s April 20 Holst Invitational. Her time was 2:15.71, 2.52 seconds behind Schley and a tenth of a second ahead of Bemidji State’s Alexis Erickson. That was her best 800 time of 2024. She was 150th out of 238 at the Brian Clay meet in 2:15.72, fourth out of 32 entrants at Wartburg in 2:17.73 and 16th out of 35 entrants in St. Thomas’s Joe Sweeney Invitational May 1 at 2:20.74.

Seidel was part of a 3,200-meter relay team that placed second at the prestigious Drake Relays April 24-27 with a time of 9:09.72, just ahead of Loras (9:09.89) and behind Oklahoma Baptist (9:01.56). Also in that meet, she was on a 1,600-meter team that placed 20th in the preliminaries at 3:58.48. She was on a 1,600-meter team that took sixth at the Sweeney meet in 4:03.21.

In late May, Seidel, a social studies education major, was named to the NSIC’s Spring All-Academic Team. To be eligible, student-athletes must have a 3.2 cumulative GPA or higher while being a member of the varsity traveling team and at least a sophomore with at least one full year at his or her institution.

Alicia Kawa, a 2021 Medford graduate, ran two distance races this spring for Concordia University Wisconsin.

In the same NACC championships Grunwald competed in for St. Norbert, Kawa placed seventh out of 15 entrants in the lengthy 10,000-meter run. Her time was 42:09.91. She was third out of five team members who were entered in the race, which was won by Edgewood’s Ally Verbauwhede in 36:34.45. Yim (40:20.21) and Ahrens (40:52.94) of CUW were second and third and Abigail Poehlman (42:16.3) was eighth.

Kawa took second out of seven runners in the 5,000-meter run at the April 13 Beloit Relays. She finished in 19:28.66 behind teammate Melanie Arvis (19:21.92). Another CUW Falcon, Abby Van Rixel of Athens, was third in 21:18.01. CUW was second in that meet with 162 points, trailing St. Norbert (212).

Steven Petkau, a 2020 Rib Lake graduate, set personal bests in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 110-meter high hurdles while competing in men’s track and field for Crown College of Saint Bonifacius, Minn.

Petkau, a junior on the Polars’ roster, won the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference championship in triple jump with a distance of 46 feet, 8.75 inches during the May 3-4 league meet hosted by Minnesota-Morris. The jump was his best of the season by more than a foot. Petkau won the event convincingly. The best jump from runner-up Jeremiah Stanton on Martin Luther was 44-11.

Also during the meet, Petkau took fourth in the high jump competition, clearing a collegiate-best height of 5-11.25. He was 2 inches out of second place, while Martin Luther’s Samuel Plocher won at 6-3.25. Petkau took fifth in the long jump competition with a personal-best jump of 20-7, the same distance as fourth-place jumper Thomas Plocher of Martin Luther. He was only 5 inches behind Stanton, who won at 21 feet even.

Crown placed fourth out of seven teams in the conference meet with 91 points. UW-Superior edged past Martin Luther 253-237 for the title.

A week later, Petkau competed in the National Christian College Athletic Association’s outdoor championships in Columbia, S.C. and placed fifth out of 12 triple jumpers with a best distance of 45-7.25. He finished his spring by taking seventh in the Augustana College Midwest Final Qualifier May 15-16 with a distance of 45-8.5.

On April 20, Petkau had a busy day at the Carleton Relays, highlighted by his win in the triple jump. He beat six other entrants with a jump of 13.59 meters, or 44-7. St. Olaf’s Max Albertson was second at 12.92 meters. Petkau took fourth in the long jump at 5.8 meters (19-0.5) and fifth in his only high hurdles race of his college career at 19.56 seconds. Petkau also triple jumped 44-7 to place fifth at the Gary Wilson Invitational, held April 24 at the University of Minnesota. UW-Stout’s Jack Roeber won that day with a meet-record distance of 48-11. He took second at 43-9 at the Bethel Invitational on April 13, trailing Sawyer Nelson of South Dakota Mines (44-4.25). He was 6 inches ahead of thirdplace jumper Michael Braun of Hamline.

Petkau was 12th in the high jump (58.75) at the April 6 Hamline Invitational.

Petkau earned a UMAC Academic All-Conference award for winter/ spring and was named to the UMAC All-Sportsmanship team during the indoor track season. The academic award goes to student-athletes with grade point averages of 3.5 or better during their respective semesters of competition.

Dilan Schneider, a 2019 Rib Lake graduate, competed as a senior thrower on UWStevens Point’s men’s team. He ended his year with a 15th-place finish in the hammer throw at theWisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) meet held May 3-4 at UW-Platteville.

Schneider’s best throw of the competition went 47.71 meters, or 156 feet, 6 inches, which was a personal best.

He competed in the hammer and discus throws this spring for the Pointers, who finished seventh in the WIAC meet.

Schneider started the outdoor season with a 10thplace finish in the discus (125 feet) and a 12th-place finish in the hammer throw (136-8) at UW-Whitewater’s Rex Foster Twilight meet. After a 36thplace discus throw (119-4) at the April 1213 UW-Platteville Invitational and a 14thplace hammer throw (149-4) at UW-La Crosse’s April 19-20 Phil Esten Challenge, Schneider competed in both events at the April 27 St. Norbert Invitational.

There, he placed sixth out of 27 hammer throwers with a distance of 148-8 and was 12th out of 22 competitors in the discus at 126-3, a personal collegiate best.

During the 2024 indoor season, Schneider placed 16th in the weight throw at the Feb. 23-24 WIAC meet hosted by UW-Whitewater with a distance of 49-8.25. He was second at the UW-Stevens Point Alumni Open at a season-best 52-7.5, trailing the alumni’s Logan Heil (56-3.25) and fifth at Point’s Big Dawg Invite Feb. 3 at 50-0.75, not too far behind winner Mitchell Moeller of Concordia-Wisconsin (52-10.25).

Franny Seidel

Alicia Kawa

Steven Petkau

Dilan Schneider