Abby pole vaulters Cihlar, Flink set new records
By Nathaniel Underwood
It was a good night for the Abbotsford pole vault team as two of their members etched their names into the school record books during Tuesday evening’s Medford Invitational. Carter Cihlar took sole possession of the boys’ record for his performance in Medford while Hazel Flink matched the current record in the girls’ competition.
Both athletes had been close to the record in the past, with Cihlar reaching a height of 12 feet last season during the sectional meet in Cameron and Flink coming within half a foot of the girls record with a height of 7 feet, six inches at the Colby Invitational in 2024.
It did not take long for both to make up the difference this season, doing so in just the second outdoor meet of the season.
After a fault on his first attempt of the day, it was smooth sailing for Cihlar for the rest of the boys competition. The sophomore cleared the next four heights on his first attempt, including the height of 12 feet, six inches that tied him with previous record holder Kevin Schilling. After a fault on his first attempt at 12 feet, nine inches, Cihlar cemented the record as his alone after clearing the height on his second try at the height. He then pushed the envelope further by making it over the height of 13 feet on his third and final attempt.
The record setting performance put him only behind Northland Pines’ Morgan DePuydt, who also maxed out at a height of 13 feet, but won the tiebreaker by doing so in two attempts.
Flink’s day looked quite similar to her teammate’s. After starting out with a fault on her first attempt of the competition, the junior pole vaulter locked in, successfully clearing the bar on five straight attempts. The final clearance at eight feet put her into the record books, tying the height set by Tracey Schindler.
She took fourth place in the competition, Medford’s Avery Losiewicz taking the top spot with a height of nine feet.
In addition to the two record-setting performances, the Falcons had a number of other impressive results on Tuesday.
Abbotsford’s current record holder in the girls discus, Margo Pogodzinski, took the top spot in the throwing event in Medford. Her top throw of 107 feet, seven inches edged out Medford’s Rivalee Stokes, who finished the day with a distance of 106 feet, seven inches. The Falcons’senior thrower then grabbed another 10 points for the team by taking first in the shot put. Pogodzinski put together her best performance of the season, her best toss measuring 33 feet, five inches. Northland Pines’ Bella Nowak was the next closest athlete, her best throw coming in at 32 feet, two inches.
The Falcons weren’t finished in the throw-
See POLE VAULT RECORDS/ Page 17
HIGH FLYING FALCON - Carter Cihlar reached heights that no previous Falcon pole vaulter has soared to on Tuesday in Medford, setting a new school record in the event.
STAFF PHOTO/MATT FREY Pole vault records
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ing events, however. Marcus VanLuven also notched a first place finish for Abbotsford after taking the top spot in the boys discus. A personal best throw of 127 feet, six inches pushed him well past runner-up Kenai Radtke of Antigo, who finished with a throw of 114 feet, five inches. Teammate Irvin Davila also scored for the Falcons in the event, grabbing third place with a throw of 111 feet, five inches. On top of his win in the discus, VanLuven added a third place finish in the shot put, registering a throw of 39 feet, 4.5 inches.
Kate Sheahan and Kinsley Kalepp also scored for the girls’ team in the throwing events, with the former taking sixth in the discus with a throw of 72 feet, seven inches and the latter grabbing seventh in the shot put with a throw of 25 feet, 10 inches.
Celia Schindler added another scoring result for the Falcons in the field events. The junior posted an attempt of 31 feet, 8.25 inches in the triple jump, earning herself third place in the event.
On the track, the girls 4x200-meter relay team of Reyna Romo, Chloe Cihlar, Schindler and Flink nearly took the top spot in the event. Their time of 1:56.96 was just three tenths of a second slower than the Gilman relay, who took first in the competition. The two squads had some significant distance between themselves and the third place Lakeland relay, which finished with a time of2:00.60.
The boys’ 4xl00-meter relay and the 4x800-meter relay teams both took third in their respective events. The 4x100 team of Davila, Jovanny Cruz, Carter Cihlar and Christian Fuentes put up a time of47.52 seconds to secure their third place position while the 4x800 team of Preston Belanger, Jack Sheahan, Gavin Reis and Miguel Bautista picked up their third place finish with a time of 9:37.26.
Bautista added a fourth place finish in the 800-meter run, giving him one of Abbotsford’s top individual results on the track. His time of 2:22.52 put him behind Marathon’s Ethan Huebsch and just ahead of Medford’s Judah Wipf.
Chloe Cihlar had a pair of scoring performances for the girls team on the track. The senior took fourth place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 55.26 seconds and then placed sixth in the 100-meter dash after recording a time of 14.00 seconds.
Monse Ochoa had the girls best performance in the distance events, taking fifth place in the 3200-meter run with a time of 15:23.78.
CRUISING IN MEDFORD - Miguel Bautista does his part to help the 4x800meter relay team take third place at the Medford Invitational. He also took fourth in the 800-meter run. staff photo/matt frey
