Glenwood City boys claim second at track regional
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COLFAX — After finishing as the runner-up a week earlier at the conference meet, the Glenwood City boys’ track and field team followed it with another second-place finish at the 2023 WIAA Division 3 regional meet at the Lee Bjurquist Sports Complex at Colfax High School Monday, May 22.
With three individual championships, gold-medal performances in a pair of relay races and seconds in the other two, the Topper boys placed second in the 12-team regional competition with 115 points. Fall Creek claimed the team championship with 135 points.
The top four place winners in each event qualified for the sectional meet which was held on Thursday, May 25 in Cameron while the top eight places earned team points.
In another near perfect day for track and field, Glenwood City once again turned in some record-setting performances.
The boys’ 4×800 meter relay squad of seniors JJ Williams, Elek Anderson and Wyatt Thompson and freshman Brady Thompson broke a 29-year old school mark when they ran to first place in a time of 8:17.81.
Brady Klatt joined Williams and Wyatt and Brady Thompson in the 4×400 m relay race and finished with another first as the quartet grabbed the gold in a time of 3:36.14.
The boys’ 4×100 m (Blake Wakeling, Cody Hansen, Jackson Halbach, Brady Thompson) and 4×200 m (Klatt, Halbach, Hansen and Wyatt Thompson) relays both finished as runners-up.
In addition, seniors Brady Klatt, Blake Wakeling and JJ Williams captured individual event victories and automatic sectional berths.
Williams continued to be the “King of the Half Mile” as he won another 800 meter race. His time of 2:012.36 was about three-tenths better than senior Stewart Gundry of Fall Creek who finished in second.
Although his top regional throw was nearly 15 feet short of the personal record he established a week earlier at the conference meet in Durand, Brady Klatt’s toss of 139 feet and 10 inches was just enough to earn the senior another first-place finish and trip to the sectional.
Blake Wakeling proved consistency combined with talent can take an athlete to special heights – no pun intended – as he turned in another top finish in the pole vault. Wakeling and Mondovi’s Jarod Falkner both cleared 13 feet in Colfax but Wakeling took the gold based on fewer misses during the competition.
In the shot put competition, junior Connor Gross and senior Nick Hierlmeier both grabbed sectional berths. Gross, who has been improving his distances with every meet, threw 47’ 5” to take second while Hierlmeier’s distance of 45’ 3” was good for third place.
Senior Owen Bauman and sophomore Tyler Harrington also copped silver- and bronze-medal finishes in the high jump. The pair both cleared 5 feet 8 inches with Bauman taking second place and Harrington third.
The Glenwood City boys’ final sectional qualifier was freshman Clayton Hoffman who ran a 11:02.86 in the 3,200 meters to finish in fourth place.
Four other Topper boys scored placement points but missed the sectional cut. Senior Anthony Nelson took fifth in the 400 meters (:56.63), sophomore Ilan Anderson jumped to sixth place in the triple jump (36’ 11”), junior Connor Berends took a seventh int he 1,600 m run (5”13.55) and sophomore Logan McVeigh ran and jumped his was to eighth place in the 300 m intermediate hurdles (:48.72).
Junior Haylie Hannah rewrote the school’s pole vault record for a third time this season when she cleared ten feet six inches to finish in second place. Fall Creek sophomore Alena Sanfelippo also cleared the same height but was awarded first due to fewer misses.
Hannah’s sectional-qualifying performance was the top one for the Glenwood City girls who finished tenth out of the 12 schools competing in Colfax with 24 points. Fall Creek dominated the girls’ race as it amassed 186.5 points to easily outdistance runner-up and Dunn-St. Croix champion Mondovi who tallied just 83 points.
Freshman Ava Multhauf was the only other Glenwood City girl to earn a spot at the sectional meet after she cleared 4’ 8” in the high jump and finished fourth.
The girls other points came via an eighth-place showing by junior Rileigh Schwartz in the triple jump (27’ 10.5”), a fifth by the 4×400 m relay team, and a pair of sixth-place finishes in the 4×200 and 4×800 meter relays.
Glenwood City Boys’ Other Individual Results: Discus: 22. Ben Klatt, 89’ 9”; Triple Jump: 13. William Standaert, 31’ 2.5”; 100m: 20. Logan Rands, :13.46; 400 m: 9. Elliott Springborn, :57.83; 200 m: 12. Justin Rogers, :26.23; Long Jump: 20. Sal Stillday, 15’ 3”; Shot Put: 17. Tucker Augeson, 35’ 11”; 3,200 m: 11. Garrett Gross, 11:54.31.
Glenwood City Girls’ Other Individual Results: High Jump: 13. Alexis Alms, 4’ 2”; Long Jump: 9. Maddie Booth, 14’ 2”; 17. Savanna Millermon, 12’ 11”; Shot Put: 9. Brooklyn Caress, 27’ 9”; 18. Whittnie Wittmer, 22’ 11”; Elsja Meijer, 21’ 1.5”; 100 m High Hurdles: 9. Rileigh Schwartz, :20.49; 100 m: 20. Kylie Ohman, :15.22; 300 m Low Hurdles: 10. Rileigh Schwartz, 1:02.95; Discus: 13. Gretchen Draxler, 74’ 1”; 14. Brooklyn Caress, 70’ 2”; 28. Kenzie Price, 41’; 1,600 m: 11. Elsja Meijer, 7:09.49; 800 m: 11. Savanna Millermon, 2:53.61; 17. Gabriella Williams, 3:17.23; 18. Whittnie Wittmer, 3:45.85.