Falcons send 9 athletes to D-3 sectional

The Abbotsford Falcons are light on numbers this season, but are heavy on talent. Just eight Falcons competed for the boys team, and yet Abbotsford won three events to finish seventh out of ten teams with 57 points.

Ty Falteisek, Mason Wellman and Marcus Bohl all advanced to Boscobel for the WIAA D-3 sectional meet on Thursday. Win there and they’ll have a chance to compete on the biggest stage at the prep level - the WIAA state tournament.

Falteisek has to feel good about his chances to qualify for state for the first time in his career. He’s already overcome tremendous odds after he broke his foot during the football season this past fall.

Sectionals is just another hurdle for the junior to overcome, and on Monday, Ty proved unbeatable in the 200-meter and 400-meter races, winning the two events in 23.41 and 53.18 seconds.

The best part about those times is they’re nowhere close to his personal bests. But someone who did reach a personal best was Mason Wellman.

Wellman scaled higher than anyone else in the pole vault competition, defeating the field with his winning height of 11-3. Marcus Bohl didn’t need a PR to punch his ticket to the next round. His throw of 126-7 in the discus netted him second place, and gets him one step closer to Veterans Memorial Stadium on the campus of UW-La Crosse.

The Abbotsford girls team fared a bit better than the boys team, and punched above their weight to finish fifth out of 11 teams after scoring 57 points - two shy of tying for fourth with Pittsville.

Six Lady Falcons will be in attendance at Boscobel, and will compete in a variety of relays and individual events.

Bridgette Pogodzinski will be in the 100-meter hurdles after she took fourth in 18.81 seconds. Abbotsford will have two freshmen in Boscobel to take part in the triple jump.

Sydney Falteisek was third with a leap of 29-11.25, and Brisieda Escalara placed fourth with a distance of 29-2.50. Sommer Brodhagen posted the best individual result of the day, taking second in the discus with a throw of 92-7.

The Falcons will be busy in Boscobel after Abbotsford qualified for sectionals in three relay events.

Brodhagen, Escalara, Mya Ruesch and Olivia Hammel took third in the 4x100 in 55.07 seconds. This same team took third in the 4x200 in 1:55.69.

The team of Brodhagen, Falteisek, Hammel and Escalara took third in the final event of the night, the 4x400, with their time of 4:41.61.