Beautiful weather greeted the conference teams in last Tuesday’s WVC Meet at Jay Stadium. The Merrill girls pulled off a stellar third-place finish while the boys were a solid fifth.
“The night was a perfect night for a track meet,” MHS coach Bethany Martinovici said. “The weather cooperated and many of the girls put their best efforts out there to place third in conference. All year, we have been battling back and forth between Marshfield and DC Everest for the 3rd position. It was nice to see our team compete with no regrets. This was our home and we were going to perform our best. As we move closer to tournaments, we need to focus on the small things that will help our competitors succeed with each event. We are healthy and physically where we should be, now we just need to make sure we mentally see ourselves there as well. It will be a very exciting week.”
MHS boys coach Kurt VandenHeuvel noted, “It was stressful hosting the big meet and thankfully the weather cooperated. Believe it or not, the warm weather hurt us in some ways. Athletes were not used to running with warm muscles which made them faster causing scratches, especially in the jumps. The guys are adjusting to performing with fresh legs which means we need to practice and make adjustments during the peak season.
“Finishing fifth was not surprising, but I thought we could have made a run for fourth. The place does not reflect the individual threats we have on our team. All around the competition was intense, it was one of the most memorable conference meets I have experienced. I enjoyed watching and knowing we are competing against the teams who will be big threats in the state meet. I am happy with where we are at going into regionals. Now we just need to show up and continue to compete taking it one meet at a time.”
Morgan Marnholtz was a double winner in the long (17’ 3.5”) and triple (36’ 3”) 400 (:59.71).
The girls went 1st, 3rd in the discus with Renee Sladek (128’ 5”) and Ashley Berton (103’ 9”), and Sladek was the shot put runner-up (38’ 9”). Hannah Marrier took the 300 lows (:46.54) and ranked 4th in the 100 ints. (:16.98).
The boys were the 800 relay runner-up with Jake Anderson, Nick Peterson, Lucas Lee and Kriss Philipp (1:31.79), and Philipp (:11.32), Tyler Butler (:11.85) and Lee (:11.85) placed 3rd, 7th, 8th in the 100 dash.
Merrill went 3-4 in the 300 ints. with Ethan Schneider (:41.69) and Brandon Bartz (:41.76). Other 3rds came from: Tyler Schmidt (SP, 45’ 1”); the 400 rel. (Nick Hoffmann, Peterson, Lee, Philipp, :44.34); the 1600 rel (Dalton Wilding, Bartz, Thomas Grund, Schneider, 3:34.36); and the 1600 rel. (Marnholtz, Lauren Hojan, Berton, Kaitlin Berry, 4:17.27).
Fourths – Anderson (LJ, 20’ 3”/TJ, 42’ 3”), Todd Grund (PV, 12’ 6”), Rylee Folz (HJ, 4’ 10”), 400 rel. (Marrier, Berry, Kennedy Soderberg, Sladek, :52.93); Fifths – Bartz (TJ, 41’ 7”), Schmidt (D, 125’ 10”), 3200 rel. (Jagger Scholz, Drake Hirte, Wilding, Th. Grund, 8:45.49), 800 rel. (McKenna Folz, McKenna Robbins, Soderberg, Miranda Jahnke, 1:58.52); Sixths – Schneider (110 highs, :15.89), 3200 rel. (Kate Williams, Katie Bagley, Morgan Pettit, Sarah Ranta, 11:24.05).
Team standings– Girls–Wausau West 1180, SPASH 148.5, Merrill 97, D.C.E. 92.5, Marshfield 72, Wis. Rapids 59, Wausau East 43…….SPASH 183.5, D.C.E. 133.5, Marshfield 128.5, W.W. 118.5, Merrill 80.5, W.R. 37.5, W.E. 14