Elk Mound says goodbye to several track and field athletes

The Elk Mound boys and girls track and field teams had several seniors, most of whom were four year competitors, end their high school careers this spring at the regional, sectional or state meet. Members of the boys’ team who competed since their freshmen year were a part of the 2010 and 2013 conference championship team and the 2012 and 2013 regional championship teams. And both the boys and girls won the First Annual Dunn-St. Croix/Lakeland Conference Challenge meet this year. Following are just a few of the many highlights of the boys and girls who competed in every type of weather imaginable over the past four years.

 Mitch Zimmer was a conference champion as a member of the 4 X 800 and 4 X400 relay teams as a senior and ran on the regional winning 4 X 800 team. He and his teammates placed fifth at the sectional, just one spot short of a state tournament berth. He was also conference champion his junior year in the 4 X 800 and was sixth individually in the 800 m run. As a sophomore, he was fifth in the conference in both the 400 m run and the 4 X 400 relay and running on the 4 X 800 team, finished second in the conference and in the regional.

Dakota Tarnow competed in hurdle events and relays for four years and the pole vault and triple jump for three. He gave up the pole vault to concentrate on the hurdles this year and won the conference title in the 110 m hurdles with a personal best time of 16.10 and also won the regional before finishing sixth at the sectional meet. He was also a member of the conference winning 4 X 200 relay. Tarnow was the conference champ his junior year in the 110 hurdles and as a sophomore finished fourth in the pole vault at conference and was 12th in the triple jump. In his freshman year, he was third in the pole vault at the conference meet and fifth in his hurdle event.

Ryan Bridges concluded his high school career at the state meet as a member of the sectional winning 4 X 200 relay. He was also a conference winner, running a leg of the 4 X 400 relay, and in his junior year was a conference runner up in both the 4 X 100 and 4 X 200 relay teams. He also did some throwing, placing sixth in the shot put at conference his junior and senior years.

Andrew Zabel was a member of the 4 X 200 relay team and finished his career at the state meet this year. He was also on the 4 X 800 team that won the regional meet and fell one place short of going to state with a fifth place finish at the sectional. Zabel was a conference champion as a junior in the 4 X 800 and was fourth in the 800 m run.

Jordan Klemp was the third senior on the 4 X 200 team that finished up at the big show in La Crosse this spring. He also won the conference as part of the 4 X 100 relay as a senior. Klemp pole vaulted for three years and dropped the event this season after placing seventh in the conference as a junior and tenth as a sophomore. He was second team All Conference his junior year in both the 4 X 100 and 4 X 200 relays.

Nate Mack competed four years for his dad, head coach Jeff Mack, in several running events and the high jump. As a senior, he ran a leg of the conference and regional winning 4 X 800 relay and also won the high jump at conference with a personal best leap of 6-02. As a junior, he again ran on the conference winning 4 X 800 and was second in the high jump, and in his sophomore year, Mack ran on the 4 X 800 team that placed second in the conference and regional meets. He started his career by placing third his freshman year in the 4 X 800 at conference and was second in the regional with that team and was fifth in the 3200 and fourth in the 1600 m runs at conference.

Shawn Lane ran the distance events and was a member of the 4 X 800 relay team that was oh so close to getting to state this year with a fifth place finish at sectionals. Lane was also fourth in the regional meet in the 800 m run and placed 13th at sectionals. He took second place at the DSC-Lakeland Challenge in the 800 and as a junior, finished sixth in the 3200 m run at conference.

Josiah Bauer threw both the shot and discus in his high school years, winning the conference and regional meets in the shot put and placing sixth in the sectional this year. He was the conference runner up in that event his junior year, moving up from third as a sophomore.

Will Miller ran hurdle events and relays and did some jumping events for the team. He placed ninth in the high jump at conference his junior year and was  fifth in the conference his sophomore year in the 4 X 200 relay.

Jon Adank jumped a personal best 39-06 in the triple jump for sixth place in the conference meet this year and was also 10th in the discus throw. He placed second in the triple jump at the DSC-Lakeland Challenge meet while taking third in the high jump.

Yeng Her ran on the conference winning 4 X 100 sprint relay as a senior and  the team was second at regionals and seventh at the sectional meet.

Several girls finished off long careers for the Mounders with Andie Friberg winning several conference and regional titles. Friberg competed at state her sophomore and junior year in the pole vault, placing 14th as a sophomore and moving up to eighth last year. As a senior, she won the conference and regional in the event with a vault of 9-06. She was a member of the 4 X 100 relay team that won conference, and she won the regional in the 100 m dash. She was second in the conference in the pole vault, 200 m dash and 4 X 100 relay and fifth in the 100 m dash as a junior and in her sophomore year she was third at conference in the 4 X 100 relay and sixth in the 100 m dash.

Emma Hayes was the premier long distance runner for the team for the past four years, finishing sixth at conference in the 1600 m run in her junior and senior years. Her sophomore year, she was fourth in the 3200 m run at conference and eighth in the 1600. As a freshman, Hayes placed eighth in the 1600 and 10th in the 800 m runs, again during the conference meet.

Emma’s twin sister Josie Hayes also did some distance running early in her career along with hurdle events and the triple jump. As a junior, she placed 12th in the triple jump at conference and during her sophomore season, she was 12th in both the 300 m hurdles and the triple jump, also at conference.

In her freshman year, Anne Kendzierski was a member of the 4 X 400 relay team which placed fifth at the conference meet, then made her mark in the throwing events for the next three seasons. In those years, she was sixth in the shot put at conference, and 10th in the discus her sophomore and junior year before moving up to ninth place this year.

“All of these kids were a huge part of our success the past four years,” coach Mack said. “Competing in Division 2 is very tough and I feel bad we couldn’t get a few more through the sectional to get to state because they deserved to get there with all the hard work they put in,” he added.