Elk Mound thinclads send pair of relays and a thrower to state

By Cara L. Dempski

MEDFORD — The Elk Mound track and field teams will be sending five athletes – four boys and one girl – to the WIAA State Track and Field Championships  to be held this Friday and Saturday at UW-LaCrosse’s Memorial Stadium.

The boys’ 400m and 800m relay teams placed third in both races to assist the team to a 16th-place finish in the WIAA Division 2 Medford Sectional meet last Thursday, May 25, while the girls’ team placed 27th out of 32 that same day. The Mounder boys tallied 18 points in the final team standings while the girls finished with seven.

Mounder sprinters Noah Zurbuchen, Tyler Sahm, Brady Redwine and George Friberg punched tickets to the state meet in two relays after taking third in both the 4×100 meter and 4×200 meter races. Zurbuchen, Sahm and Friberg are all senior; Redwine is a sophomore.

The quartet finished the 4x200m race in 1:32.16, not quite three seconds behind race winner Osceola, and ran to a :44.35 finish – a personal best for the team who broke the Dunn-St. Croix record the previous week with a time of :44.53 – in the 4x100m relay. Osceola took top honors in that relay as well, with a time of :43.98.

Lakeland took home the hardware for the boys’ sectional championship after accruing 81 points over the course of the event.

Senior thrower Mikayla Solberg will also be heading to the state meet after she finished fourth in the girls’ discus throw. She qualified with a throw of 113’ 1”, and will see her fellow qualifiers Katie Haase of Osceola (117’), Somerset’s Eve Goldstein (131’ 11”), and Destinee Haas from Baldwin-Woodville (135’ 10”) in LaCrosse.

Only the top four placewinners in each event qualify for the state championships.

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood ladies earned the sectional championship after picking up 65.25 points to just slip past Hayward’s score of 63.50.

Elk Mound had a few other athletes garner placement points at the Medford Sectional.

Senior Chandler Schreiber just missed a qaulifying spot in the pole vault, finishing in a two-way tie for fifth after jumping 12’ 6”. Fellow senior Hunter Johnson placed seventh in the 400 meter dash for two team points. Sophomore Alana Plaszcz also ran to a seventh-place finish in the 3,200 meters. Junior Tyler Branter tied for eighth in the boys’ high jump.

Division 2 and 3 competition will get underway at 9:30 a.m. this Friday.

BOYS’ INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: Discus: 9. Conner Mavis 127-08; Pole vault: 5. Chandler Schreiber 12-06.00; 110m hurdles: 7. Jake Johnson 15.78; 100m dash: 12. Brady Redwine 11.83; 800m relay: 3. Elk Mound 1:32.16; 400m dash: 7. Hunter Johnson 53.09; 400m relay: 3. Elk Mound 44.35; High jump: 8. Tyler Brantner 5-10.00; 3200m: 12. Cade Hanson 10:37.07.

BOYS’ TEAM RESULTS: 1. Lakeland 81, 2. Osceola 64, 3. Medford 57.50, 4. Rice Lake 52.50, 5. Haywary 44.50, 6. St. Croix Falls 35, 7. St. Croix Central 33, 8. Antigo 28, 9. Ashland 27, 10. Neillsville/Granton 26, 10. Amery 26, 12. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 25, 13. Unity 22, 14. Durand 21, 15. Stanley-Boyd 19, 16. Elk Mound 18, 17. Ellsworth 16.50, 18. Prescott 16, 19. Mondovi 13, 19. Northwestern 13, 21. Barron 11, 22. Bloomer 9, 22. Mosinee 9, 24. Stratford 8, 25. Northland Pines 5, 25. Baldwin-Woodville 5, 27. Somerset 3, 27. Wittenberg-Birnamwood 3, 27. Ladysmith 3, 27. Altoona 3, 31. Spooner 2, 31. Frederic/Luck 2.

GIRLS’ INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: 3200m relay: 12. Elk Mound 10:54.33; 100m hurdles: 16. Hannah Cedarblade 19.86; 800m relay: 13. Elk Mound 1:56.12; 3200m: 7. Alana Plaszcz 12:27.97, 15. Victoria Fasbender 13:37.20; Discus: 4. Mikayla Solberg 113-01; 1600m: 12. Kristin Martinson 6:03.99.

GIRLS’ TEAM RESULTS: 1. Wittenberg-Birnamwood 65.25, 2. Hayward 63.50, 3. Medford 51.50, 4. Lakeland 43, 5. Bloomer 41, 6. Altoona 32, 6. Osceola 32, 8. Somerset 31.25, 9. Antigo 30, 10. Ashland 28.50, 11. St. Croix Falls 27.50, 12. Northland Pines 23, 13. Rice Lake 22.25, 14. Fall Creek 21, 15. Amery 20, 16. St. Croix Central 18, 17. Mosinee 17, 17. Baldwin-Woodville 17, 17. Cameron 17, 20. Frederic/Luck 16.50, 21. Prescott 14, 22. Northwestern 10.50, 23. Neillsville/Granton 9, 23. Ladysmith 9, 25. Durand 8.25, 26. Ellsworth 8, 27. Elk Mound 7, 28. Barron 4, 28. Cadott 4, 28. Colby 4, 28. Stratford 4, 32. Stanley-Boyd 3.