FALL COLLEGE ATHLETES, PART 2 - Richter starts strong at Omaha; locals compete in several sports

FALL COLLEGE ATHLETES, PART 2

Part two of our 2024 fall sports update for local student-athletes features area graduates who were on their school’s football, women’s swim, volleyball, golf and soccer rosters this fall, as well as a quick look at the start of the winter season.

We start, however, with the newest addition to the local stable of cross country runners at the collegiate level, Medford’s Meredith Richter, who completed a solid first season at the NCAA Division I level with the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Richter competed in six meets with the Mavericks.

The true freshman had a strong close to the season, starting with a 25th-place finish in the Summit League Championships, held Nov. 2 at the University of South Dakota. She completed the 6K course on The Bluffs Golf Course in a season-best 22:14.12, getting the last top-25 spot by 1.42 seconds over Olivia Pauly of St. Thomas. She was Omaha’s second scorer behind Kamryn Ensley, a junior from West Des Moines Valley, Iowa, who was ninth in 21:07.88.

As a team, Omaha placed sixth out of eight teams with 160 points, beating Oral Roberts (160) and Kansas City (248). South Dakota State won the league title with 41 points, while North Dakota State was second with 70. North Dakota State junior Reagan Baesler was the conference champion in 20:34.04.

Omaha finished its season Nov. 15 at the NCAA Division I Midwest Region Championships, held in Peoria, Ill. Again, Richter was the team’s second scorer, placing 159th out of 230 runners in 22:26.62. Ensley was 74th in 21:13.65. Oklahoma’s Leah Jeruto was the regional champion in 19:42.87. As a team, Omaha placed 30th. Oklahoma State (61), Minnesota (76) and Northwestern (103) were the top three teams.

Leading into those big races, Richter was 246th out of 330 finishers in Missouri University’s Gans Creek Classic Sept. 27 in 23:04.3 and 16th out of 80 finishers in Omaha’s Platte River Collegiate Rumble on Oct. 18 with a time of 23:50.2. Omaha was second out of six teams in that meet with 55 points. Creighton won it with 21.

Richter started the year with an 18thplace finish out of 87 runners in Omaha’s 5K Platte River Rumble Gold Division race Sept. 6. Her time was 18:37.03 and she was the team’s second scorer behind Ensley, who was third in 17:56.11. Omaha placed fifth as a team in that meet. In another 5K race held on a hot and humid day Sept. 21, the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ Woody Greeno Invite, Richter placed 29th out of 58 runners in the Red Division and 57th overall out of 230 finishers in 19:24.5. Omaha was eighth out of 22 schools in the team standings with 222 points. Nebraska (39) and Iowa State (66) were the top two.

Football

Blaine Seidl, a 2021 Medford graduate, was off to a strong start to his junior season as a starting inside middle linebacker with the UW-Stout Blue Devils. Unfortunately, his season ended early with a knee injury in the team’s fifth game, a stunning 29-27 home win over UWWhitewater, who was the eighth-ranked NCAA team in Division III at the time. It was Stout’s first win over the Warhawks in 21 years.

Stout was 4-1 in those first five games Seidl played in. The Blue Devils finished 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). They finished in a four-way tie for third place in the conference with Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh and UW-River Falls and earned a berth in the fourth annual Culver’s Isthmus Bowl in Sun Prairie on Nov. 23. They lost 35-32 to Wheaton College (Ill.) in that game, which featured the top teams from the WIAC and the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) that do not make the NCAA D-III playoffs.

Despite his limited time on the field, Seidl still ranked seventh on the team in total tackles with 38. Fourteen of those were solo stops and 24 were assisted tackles. He had 3.5 tackles for loss, totaling 12 yards. He was credited with a half-sack and three quarterback hurries.

Seidl had a season-high 13 tackles, including five solos in Stout’s week-two 22-20 win at then 16th-ranked Dickinson State (N.D.). His half-sack and 1.5 tackles for losses came in the win. The sack came on Stout’s first defensive series. The Blue Devils jumped out to a 22-0 lead and held on.

Seidl had three solo tackles, five assists and a tackle for loss in a closer-thanexpected 22-15 win at UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 5. The tackle for loss came on a short pass to receiver Brycen Cashin early in the second half. The loss was 5 yards.

Seidl also had three solo tackles and five assists as well as a half-tackle for loss in Stout’s 56-19 home rout of the University of Northwestern (Minn.) on Sept. 21. He had three solo tackles, four assists, a half-tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry in a 28-16 home loss to Carroll University to start the year on Sept. 5. He had two assists in the Whitewater game.

Charlie Kleist, a 2023 Medford graduate, is a wide receiver on Stout’s roster. His older brother, Riley Kleist, a 2019 Medford graduate, is an offensive assistant on the Blue Devils’ coaching staff. Max Dietzman, a 2024 Medford graduate, is a defensive lineman in the UWRiver Falls football program. He grayshirted this past fall and will begin his playing eligibility next fall.

Volleyball

Gracie Tallier, a 2023 Gilman graduate, saw her playing time increase significantly in her second season with the UW-River Falls volleyball team.

After appearing in just two matches and four sets as a freshman, the defensive specialist/libero appeared in 24 matches and 66 sets this fall for the Falcons, who went 12-20 overall, including a 1-6 mark in the WIAC.

She finished with 49 digs (0.79 per set), six set assists and 18 service aces.

Tallier had a season-high 13 digs in a 3-2 loss to Augsburg College on Oct. 5 and had three of her aces in a 3-0 win over the Lakeland Muskies at the Sept. 21 UW-Stevens Point tournament. She had two assists in a match twice. The first time was in a 3-1 loss to host Elmhurst (Ill.) at the Oct. 11-12 Elmhurst tournament. The second was in a 3-0 win over Luther Oct. 19 at the Gustavas Adolphus Triangular.

Tallier had 10 digs along with the two assists in the Luther match. She served up two aces on three occasions. The first was in the Augsburg match. The second was in a 3-2 win over Albion Oct. 12 in the Elmhurst tournament. The third was Oct. 26 in a 3-0 loss to seventh-ranked UWWhitewater in the Falcons’ home triangular. They beat Macalester 3-0 in their other match that day.

The team’s lone conference win was a 3-1 home win over UW-La Crosse on Sept. 18 in the league opener.

Danielle Mann, a 2024 Gilman graduate, was one of eight players making up the UW-Stevens Point at Marshfield volleyball team, which played home-andhome matches this fall against UWStevens Point at Wausau, UW-Platteville at Baraboo and Blackhawk Technical College of Janesville along with three exhibition matches against alumni.

Women’s swimming

Erin Bergman, a 2021 Medford graduate, returned to the St. Cloud State women’s swim team this fall after missing last season. The senior has swam in backstroke and freestyle events this season for the Huskies, who are on their mid-season break.

The Huskies started the year by hosting two dual meets with Northern Michigan Oct. 4-5. On day one, a 148-90 loss, Bergman was sixth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:05.34, was on the fifth-place 200yard freestyle relay team that finished in 1:47.41 and was on the seventhplace 200-yard medley relay that finished in 1:56.63.

On day two, a 153-69 loss, Bergman placed 10th in the 200-yard backstroke at 2:25.87 and was on the seventh-place 400-yard medley team that had a time of 4:26.64.

In a four-team meet at UW-La Crosse on Oct. 12, Bergman placed 25th in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:06.76 and 19th in the 200-yard backstroke at 2:23.53. The 200-yard medley relay team she was part of finished 16th in 1:59.42. The Huskies finished second in the meet with 705.5 points, trailing Minnesota State Mankato (817.5) and beating UW-L (503) and Truman State (405).

In a home meet against St. Thomas on Nov. 9, Bergman placed seventh with her season-best time by far in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:01.57. She added a 14thplace time of 2:19.82 in the 200-yard backstroke, also her best mark of the season.

Another 2021 Medford graduate, Morgan Ball, is in her senior swim season as well with the University of Minnesota-Morris Cougars. She got her first action of the season in an 83-18 win over Iowa Lakes Community College on Nov. 16. She took third in the 50-yard

Charlie Kleist

Riley Kleist

Max Dietzman

Gracie Tallier

Erin Bergman

Blaine Seidl, a 2021 Medford Area Senior High graduate, makes a tackle for UWStout during the Blue Devils’ 22-15 win at UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 5. NOAH ALBRICHT/UW-STOUT SPORTS INFORMATION