Boyceville boys’ and girls’ track and field teams are inexperienced, but show talent and promise

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by Renee Bettendorf

Sports Correspondent

BOYCEVILLE — Boyceville is bringing a young team to the 2025 track and field season with just one senior out for the sport. Even so, head coach Corey Day is optimistic about the teams and looks forward to them becoming more competitive as the season progresses. 

“The question that will be answered is whether this inexperience is going to be a weakness or a strength for this team. The way they are approaching the workouts I believe it is a strength. They are setting their own expectations of what it is going to take to be successful,” said Day.

Day went on to say that he is very confident in the juniors that are stepping up on both teams. He also said there is a strong sophomore class of boys and a strong freshman/sophomore class of girls on the teams.

“The excitement is we should just keep getting better throughout the season as these young athletes gain experience,” said Day.

Last year, the Bulldog boys’ track team enjoyed some serious talent from the 2024 senior class from Caden Wold, JJ Kurschner and Peter Wheeldon. Wold was the 2024 state champion in the long jump and he also competed in the triple jump at the state level. Kurschner was a state qualifier in the 200 meter dash and all three were on a relay team that broke school records and earned them a seventh-place finish at state in the 4×200 meter relay race, according to Day.

The 2024 girls team had a lot of younger athletes and did not advance anyone to state, said Day. Another challenge the team faced last year were the highly competitive Cameron and Fall Creek teams. Cameron was the state runner-up and Fall Creek placed third as a team at the state meet making for a very competitive sectional. This year both of those teams are not in Boyceville’s sectional and the girls are looking to qualify some athletes. 

This year the boys’ team is led by junior Jon Madison, who was the fourth member on the chart-topping state qualifying relay team from last year. As captain, Madison has been leading the sprint group and looks to put together some good relays with the addition of Jon Frett, Jacoby Kurschner, Owen Rydel and Gavin Rydel. 

Additionally, the team has Liam Moore who was a sectional qualifier in the discus last year and he looks to improve upon that this season. Moore will be joined by Isaiah Romero, who just finished up a great wrestling season, in the throwing events. Long distance runners Forest Bettendorf and Riley Naughton, who both ran on the cross country team last fall, look to be competitive in the distance races this year, said Day.

The girls’ team captain is junior Halle Tonn who was a sectional qualifier in the 4×400 meter relay and pole vault last year. Tonn is also on the girls’ cross country team which went to state last fall and several other members of that team are out for track and looking to be competitive in the mid-distance and distance events. 

“Teammates from cross country to watch for are; Lydia Day, Layla Score, Sydney Larson, Ellie Engeman, Ashlyn Maska and Blake Jeske,” said Day. 

Current top sprinters on the team include Chelsi Holden, Kayla Frett and Maddie Nelson who also runs hurdles. Day said Holden has dealt with some knee issues which kept her out of track the past two seasons. Holden looks really strong and healthy this year and will definitely be one to keep an eye on.

The roster for the girls’ team is: 

Freshmen: Lydia Day; distance, pole vault; Ireland Ennis; mid-distance; Kayla Frett; sprints; Maddie Nelson; sprints, hurdles; Blake Jeske; mid-distance, distance. 

Sophomores: Ellie Engeman; mid-distance, distance; Elliana Kietzer; long jump, mid-distance; Sydney Larson; sprints, triple jump; Kylee Schlough; sprints, long jump; Layla Score; distance, triple jump; Lucy Wheeldon; discus, high jump, sprints.

Juniors: Chelsi Holden; sprints, long jump; Ashlyn Maska; mid-distance, distance; Brylee Stevens; pole vault, sprints; Halle Tonn; pole vault, mid-distance; 

Senior: Ashley Prestrud; sprints, shot put.

The roster for the boys’ team is: 

Freshmen: Riley Naughton; distance; Gavin Rydel; sprints high jump, long jump; 

Sophomores: Jonathan Frett; sprints, long jump; Jacoby Kurschner; sprints; Brock Larson-Wang; shot put, discus; Devon Lee; mid-distance, discus, triple jump; Isaiah Romero; sprints, shot put, discus, high jump; 

Juniors: Forest Bettendorf; distance; Jeremy Keating; sprints; Jon Madison; sprints; Liam Moore; shot put, discus, pole vault; Alex Obermueller; mid-distance; Owen Rydel; sprints, high jump, long jump.

Day has been a co-head coach for track and field for the past 17 years. This season he is joined by co-head coach Mitch Nelson. Nelson is from Barron and competed at UW-Stout in jumping events. This is his first year as a track coach and he brings a lot of jump and sprint relay expertise to the teams.

“We also would like to recognize our volunteer coaches Jacob Peterson, Cass Bettendorf, Lisa Moore and JJ Kurschner,” said Day.