Falcons enter 2025 with trip to River Falls
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Abbotsford Falcons track and field team opened their indoor season by traveling to UW-River Falls last Tuesday. In a crowded field consisting of 13 other programs, the Falcons had a number of top performances, ending the day with 12 top-10 finishes.
Both the boys and girls teams demonstrated Abbotsford’s strength in the field events, garnering some of their best results off the track.
Junior Christian Fuentes notched the Falcons’ first event victory of the season. Heading into the long jump with nearly a two-foot seed advantage over the next closest competitor, Fuentes delivered after posting a leap of 19 feet, six-and-a-quarter inches on his second attempt of the day. None in the field could surpass Fuentes’s mark, Spring Lake Park’s Zachary Domokos coming in as the runner up at 18 feet, 11.25 inches, giving the Abbotsford junior his first win of 2025.
Chase Boller and Celia Schindler both grabbed second place finishes as the Falcons continued to demonstrate their prowess in the jumping events.
After competing at the Division 3 sectionals in the high jump last season, Boller picked up right where he left off, earning the runner-up spot at River Falls. After getting a fault on his first jump of the day at 5 feet, five inches, the junior cleared five straight attempts, pushing past six feet, one inch on his first attempt at the height. While River Falls Ty Bauschelt was able to reach a height of six feet, five inches, Boller still earned himself second place for his efforts, beating out Bauschelt’s teammate Jacob Hutchins who reached the same height of six feet, one inch, but needing three attempts at the height to do so.
Schindler likewise got her season in the triple jump off to a good start by taking second in the event. She started her day off with her best leap, an attempt that measured 31 feet, three-quarters of an inch. It was a mark that only Spring Lake Park’s Anja Erickson was able to beat on her final attempt of the day, putting together a winning performance of 36 feet, five inches. Lorrayne Kahnke of Eastview pulled close to Schindler on her final attempt, which measured 30 feet, eight inches, but the Falcons junior was able to hold on to her runner up spot.
Freshman Lauryn Harris also had a strong start to her high school career on Tuesday. She claimed fourth place in the long jump after edging out Eastview’s Natalie Roe and tying with Apple Valley’s Jocelyn Pittman on her final attempt of the day, which measured 14 feet, three-and-aquarter inches. Only a quarter of an inch separated her from second place Elise Branville’s best leap of 14 feet, four inches in an exceedingly close competition. Under two inches separated second through seventh place in the event.
Senior Margo Pogodzinski started her 2025 campaign with a fifth place finish in the shot put. A throw of 30 feet, seven inches on her first throw of the day was good enough to get her into the finals, where she put up a throw of 31 feet, six inches on her second attempt. The throw allowed her to momentarily maintain her fourth place positioning, but Apple Valley’s Shayna Collier-Phillips was able to sneak past her on her final throw of the day.
Carter Cihlar and Hazel Flink added two more top-10 finishes for the Falcons in the field events by taking sixth and eighth in their respective pole vault competitions.
Cihlar nearly matched his career best mark from last year’s sectional competition by reaching 11 feet, six inches on Tuesday. The Falcons’ sophomore had the most clears of any boys athlete in the event, racking up six over the course of the event. After a pair of faults at 10 and 10and-a-half feet, Cihlar kept his day alive by clearing both heights on his final attempt. While both he and William Huber both finished with the same final height, Huber was able to clear the height on his first attempt where Cihlar did so on his third, giving Huber the tie breaker.
Flink meanwhile entered in the girls competition at five feet and promptly cleared the first three height increments on her first attempt. She could not quite get over the seven foot mark, but her height of six feet, six inches was good for eighth place.
Marcus VanLuven had Abbotsford’s final top-15 placement in the field events after taking 14th in the shot put. The junior’s first throw of the day was his best, measuring 37 feet, seven inches.
On the track, a pair of fourth place finishes were the top performances for the Falcons. Azul Diaz earned one in the 3200-meter run, where she posted a time of 13:30.32. While she was in range of teammates Neve Atwood and Ashton Larson from Lakeville North, who took second and third, Eastview’s Gracie Puit paced the rest of the field by a minute, finishing in 12:22.94. Diaz also had another top-10 finish for the Falcons, taking 10th in the 1600-meter run with a time of 6:06.21.
The girls 4x400-meter relay team of Chloe Cihlar, Harris, Flink, and Schindler secured the other fourth place finish for the Falcons. The quartet posted a time of 4:41.49 to earn their spot, defeating the Eastview relay by six seconds to put them squarely in the upper half of the competition. The boys 4x400-meter relay team of Boller, Carter Cihlar, Jovanny Cruz and Miguel Bautista similarly put themselves in the top half of teams by taking fifth in a 10-team field with a time of 4:04.10. Their race went right down to the wire, but the Falcons were able to edge out the Spring Valley relay by five tenths of a second.
Harris had Abbotsford’s best result in the sprints, taking sixth in the 200-meter dash. She defeated Michiana Kamara of St. Croix Preparatory Academy by twotenths of a second for the spot, finishing
See ABBY TRACK/ Page 18
GETTING OFF TO A FAST START - Hazel Flink makes a break off the blocks during the 60-yard dash at the Marshfield Tiger Invite last Thursday afternoon.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Abby track
Continued from page 10 with a time of 28.45 seconds. Boller and Chloe Cihlar also delivered top-15 performances in the sprints, with Boller taking 12th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.29 and Cihlar taking 13th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:11.80.
Marshfield Tigers Invite
The girls team also sent a smaller team to Marshfield to compete against more local teams last Thursday afternoon.
Pogodzinski had the Falcons’ top finish in Marshfield, earning her second fifth-place finish of the season in the shot put after posting a throw of 30 feet, nine-and-a-half inches. Kinsley Kalepp and Kate Sheahan also represented Abbotsford in the event, taking 27th and 29th with throws of 21 feet, seven-and-a-half inches and 20 feet, four-and-a-half inches respectively.
Flink improved upon her day in River Falls in the pole vault to record another top-10 finish for the Falcons. She cleared a height of seven feet to place ninth in the event.
On the track, Alexis Searer had the highest placement for Abbotsford with a 20th place finish in the 880-yard run. She posted a time of 3:45.43.
Flink led the Falcons in the 60-yard dash, taking 23rd with a time of 8.55 seconds, while teammates Alyra Olson and Reyna Romo placed 29th and 37th with times of 9.02 and 11.06 seconds. Ana Tzintzun Carino and Daryana Rodriguez finished back-to-back for Abbotsford in the 440-yard dash, taking 23rd and 24th by posting times of 1:33.39 and 1:33.43.
Both the boys and girls will be back in action when they travel to Menomonie on Thursday, April 3 for UWStout’s Elite Meet. The meet will start at 3 p.m.
STRONG THROW - Kinsley Kalepp unleashes a throw during the shot put competition last Thursday in Marshfield.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
