The Bluejay boys took one last rip around the indoor track in last Tuesday’s WVC Indoor at UW-Stevens Point, and found themselves in fifth place when it was through.
The Jays captured the 800M relay with Tyler Butler, Nick Peterson, Nick Hoffmann and Kriss Philipp by more than a second in 1:35.92.
Ethan Schneider ranked third in the 200M hudles (:27.12) and fifth in the 55 highs (:08.56). The Jays put three in the top nine in the 55 dash prelims with Philipp (:06.73), Butler (:06.95) and Lucas Lee (:06.97), then placed 6th and 8th in the final with Butler (:06.92) and Philipp (07.00)
“Our 4-by-200 team fell just .09 of a second short of the indoor school record, which was promising to see,” MHS coach Kurt VandenHeuvel said. “These guys never take a practice off and consistently work hard in the weight room. That motivates others and keeps the team morale up. They have an outstanding display of character.
“Both Tyler Butler and Kriss Philipp looked strong in the preliminaries, with Tyler increasing his place and Kriss falling short with a sickness he has been battling.
“My most consistent performer would be Ethan Schneider, who always shows up in the 110 hurdles and 200 hurdles and was our fastest leg in the 4-by-400. He is getting stronger and I am excited to see what he can do outdoors!”
That 1600M squad (Dalton Wilding, Brandon Bartz, Schneider, Tom Grund) rated third in 3:36.58, 3-1/2 seconds better than fourth.
In the triple jump, Jake Anderson (41’ 5”) and Brandon Bartz (39’ 11.75”) rated third and fifth, while Anderson (20’ 5.25”) and Peterson (18’ 10.75”) placed fifth and seventh in the long jump.
“We have been weak in the past in the horizontal jumps and our strength has come from the new coach we hired three years ago, Paula Soderberg,” VandenHeuvel said. “Each year she has built tremendous athletes, especially with Jake going 42 feet in the triple as a junior!”
The 3200M team of Wilding, Jagger Scholz, Carl Noland and Grund was sixth in 9:10.14.
Cole Rajek (42’ 7.5”) and Tyler Schmidt (41’ 7.25”) placed seventh and 10th in the shot put. Ben Shuman was eighth in the high jump (5’ 6”). Bartz rated ninth in the 200 hurdles (:28.97), as did Todd Grund in the pole vault (10’ 6”).
Placing 10th were Anderson in the 200 (:24.43) and Scholz in the 800 (2:15.41).Thomas Grund and Wilding went 11-12 in the 400 in :55.39 and :55.69.
SPASH ran away with the meet with 185 points, 62 more than Wausau West.
Team standings–SPASH 185, W.W. 123, D.C. Everest 117, Marshfield 101, Merrill 52, Wis. Rapids 34, Wausau East 8.