Last year during our 2024 Track and Field season we had a lot of success across the board that we hope to emulate and improve upon! The boys team finished in 2nd place by only 12 points at the conference meet, and the girls team finished in 4th. We had an impressive 15 of our 28 athletes qualify for sectionals, and five athletes advance to State Championship. Mason Gay and Colton Paczkowski qualified for state in the 800 meter where Colton finished in 11th place. Vince Henke, Mason Gay, Dominic Sherwood, and Brandon Geldernick qualified for state in the 4X100 and 4X200 meter relays and finished in 16th and 11th place respectively. We also had two school records broken this past year as our 4X200 crew smashed the existing record and Kendall Weiler set a new school record in the 300 low hurdles. We have a few big holes to fill from a very solid senior class graduating last year; Keyton DeGroot in the hurdles, Ryan Nelson in the sprints and relays, and Vince Henke in the jumps and sprints.
While we expect great success from all of our athletes, there will be major contributors in every area of the team. Sully Poehler, Jordan Wulff, Mathew Wilson, Lydia Lobacz, and Kayla Rasmussen will lead our throwers; Kendall Weiler, Mason Gay, Dominic Sherwood, and Brandon Geldernick will be competitive in jumping events; Madi Mueller and Sam Wells will lead our pole vaulters; our sprints will be headed by Brandon Geldernick, Dominic Sherwood, Kayla Rassmussen, Kendall Weiler, Lydia Lobacz, and Jozlin Severeid; our hurdle crew will be highlighted by Cassidy Graski, Kendall Weiler, and Leah Simenson; and our distance crew will be led by Madi Mueller, Tegan Hatlestad, Mason Gay, Colton Paczkowski, and Talon Mueller. We also have an awesome group of freshmen who will be very valuable in our relays and various individual events!
This year’s team exemplifies upstanding character. We have a group of student-athletes with tremendous work ethic, willingness to try new things, and drive to be the best. Our biggest strengths are the competition between each other that keeps pushing us to new levels, and the experience that we are bringing back this season. In addition, this is again one of the fastest teams that we have had in both the girls’ and boys’ teams, which will allow us to put together some very competitive relays.
After a very exciting basketball season for both the boys and girls teams, our transition into the track season has been a bit slower. Because of the later transition, one of our biggest obstacles is building our endurance and different muscles groups specific to our events. Hopefully as the season goes on, the weather will stay warm and allow us the time to prepare outside properly. As a team, our primary goal at this point in the season is to gain confidence in each of our events and continue building good habits. Our ultimate goal would be to bring home the conference championship and also earn a way for a few individuals and relays to the state track meet. We will again be up against tough competition; our boys will face a strong Gilman team and Neillsville team, and our girls will be battling Gilman and Loyal. This season’s team has the potential to bring home an abundance of personal awards, some team trophies, and will make waves at all the meets we attend. As always, we plan to still be running in June!