MARAWOOD INDOOR MEET - Three Redmen win at league’s indoor meet

MARAWOOD INDOOR MEET

While the Rib Lake Redmen don’t have the depth to compete from the team perspective in the Marawood Conference, they do have individuals who rank with the league’s best track and field athletes.

That was proved at Monday’s Marawood Conference Indoor Invitational held at UWStevens Point with three Redmen earning first-place finishes and three more scoring points in individual events.

Kaleb Scott and Jack Regier won the 800and 1,600-meter runs to lead the boys to a seventh-place finish in Monday’s 12-team meet, while Jed Henderson tied for third in the high jump and Connor Highfill placed sixth in the 3,200-meter run. Rib Lake added a fourth-place finish in the 3,200-meter relay.

For the girls, Emma Tlusty won the title in the 60-meter hurdles while Maddie Rademacher had a big day in the jumps, finishing second in the long jump and fourth in the high jump. Those three performances gave Rib Lake 11th place in the team results.

Scott held off Brady Annis of Marathon by 0.15 seconds to win the boys 800 in 2:05.71. Chequamegon’s Jarrett Heckendorf was third in 2:07.43. Scott lowered his time from Rib Lake’s last meet March 29 at UW-Stout by 0.87 seconds. Also in that event, Rib Lake’s Jackson Schutt (2:23.36) and Regier (2:29.26) were 18th and 21st. Regier did much better in the 1,600, winning the race in 4:55.11, which was 3.36 seconds ahead of runner-up James Vollendorf of Phillips. Wisconsin Rapids Assumption freshman Reed Hartjes was third in 4:59.09. The Redmen got a ninth-place time of 5:20.79 from Truman Smith and Kylan Bartelt was 17th at 5:59.38.

Highfill’s sixth-place time in his first 3,200-meter race of the spring was 11:36.97. He was right in between Evan Johnson (11:16.83) and Logan Sokolowski (11:43) of Phillips. Stratford’s Cree DeFoe won in 10:09.07.

Scott, Schutt, Smith and Regier teamed up to post a time of 9:03.09 in the 3,200meter relay. They were well ahead of fifthplace Phillips (9:13.17). Marathon won in 8:36.05, followed by Stratford (8:36.39) and Edgar (8:59.83). A non-scoring Rib Lake team finished seventh at 9:34.19. Highfill, Dene Zuleger, Bartelt and Ian Weber made up that combination of runners.

Marathon freshman Cael Riesgraf won the high jump competition by clearing 6 feet, while Henderson was one of three jumpers who hit 5 feet, 10 inches. Abbotsford’s Chase Boller was credited with second place, while Henderson and Stratford’s Xander Curtice were credited with the third-place tie. Zuleger hit 4-8 and was 16th for Rib Lake.

Rib Lake had one more top-10 finish in Monday’s boys meet. Scott, Schutt, Smith and Seamus Highfill took ninth in the 1,600-meter relay at 4:03.76. Bartelt, Weber, Gavin Zondlo and David Pichea were 14th in 4:26.83.

Gus Zuleger went a season-best 16-11 in the long jump, good for 11th place. Dene Zuleger was 22nd at 15-0.5, also a seasonbest. Lawson Carlson equaled his seasonbest distance of 34-11 and placed 15th in the varsity shot put competition. Chris Krause was 14th in the JV shot put with a much-improved distance of 28-3.5.

Zondlo took 13th in the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries at 11.34 seconds and Isaiah Hubbard cracked the top 25 in the 60-meter dash prelims at 8.26 seconds. Seamus Highfill was 20th in the 400meter dash at 1:02.6, an improvement of 2.37 seconds over his last meet, and Dene Zuleger was 24th at 1:05.08. Gus Zuleger was 23rd in the 200-meter dash at 27.91 seconds and the team of Rylan Schaelzka-Lenz, David Pichea, Riley Johnson and Hubbard was 14th in the 800-meter relay at 1:52.94.

Stratford won a tight battle with Marathon 120.5-118.5 for the boys team title. Edgar scored 94.66 points and no one else was close. Auburndale (38) was fourth, followed by Abbotsford (37.5), Newman Catholic (34), Rib Lake (33.5), Assumption (32), Phillips (31), Chequamegon (23.33), Athens (17) and Prentice (5).

Girls results

Tlusty made her statement as the day’s top sprint hurdler in the girls meet, winning the 60-meter preliminaries and final by solid margins.

The junior had her best time in the prelims at 10.75 seconds, well ahead of Newman freshman Enya MacCarthy (11.18) and Marathon’s Jayden Henrichs (11.27). Tlusty ran the final in 10.9 seconds to beat Henrichs by 0.29 seconds and MacCarthy by 0.31 seconds.

Rademacher scored eight points with a season-best leap of 15-6 in the long jump. She beat Newman’s Addison Puent by a half-inch for second behind Stratford’s Brianna Sherden (15-11). Tlusty jumped for the first time this season and took 11th at 13-9.5, while Ella Grzanna was 21st at an improved 10-10.

Rademacher’s top height of 4-8 in the high jump also was a season-best and good for fourth overall. She ranked in the middle of three jumpers who cleared 4-8.

Evie Bates of Newman won at 5-4, while Marathon’s Addie Molepske took second at 4-10. Chequamegon’s Sydnie Button was credited with third place, while Izzy Varden was the other jumper to hit 4-8 and claimed fifth place. Rib Lake’s Hadassah Nelson hit 4-4 and took 13th.

Rib Lake’s highest placement after that was a 10th-place finish from the 800meter relay team of Grzanna, Rademacher, Nelson and Tlusty in a time of 2:10.93. They were 5.55 seconds away from eighth place. Edgar won in 1:56.73. Grzanna was 13th in the 400-meter dash at 1:16.12 while Tlusty was 20th at 1:20.1.

Roxy Goberville-Lopez took 19th in the 60-meter dash prelims at 9.55 seconds, while Nelson (9.9) and Rademacher (9.92) were 25th and 26th. Maria Bisco (35.64), Lucia Nevarez (37.5) and Sydney Briggs (39.99) were 31st, 32nd and 34th in the 200-meter dash.

Stratford scored 81 points to sneak by Assumption (77) for the girls title. Newman Catholic was third with 65 points, followed by Edgar (62), Auburndale (50), Marathon (48), Athens (47), Phillips (44), Abbotsford (39), Chequamegon (32), Rib Lake (23) and Prentice (13).

Rib Lake hopes to open outdoor competition Friday at Cornell. The Redmen will be at Stratford Tuesday.

Kaleb Scott

Emma Tlusty