Merrill girls tested early in home indoor

The Merrill girls brought a couple of heavy hitters to town for last Tuesday's quad indoor meet and ended up a solid third.

Wausau West amassed 103.5 points to secure the win, while three-time defending state champ Edgar was second with 74. Merrill racked up 48.5 points and Rhinelander tallied 25.

"The girls performed well at the first home meet of the season, but we continue to have some things to work on during our practices during spring break," MHS head coach Bethany Martinovici said. "Some impressive performances were had by many including Morgan Marnholtz in the triple jump and 400, and Ashley Berton in the triple jump and pole vault."

The Jays' best event was the triple jump where Marnholtz won at 34' 11.25" and Ashley Berton was the runner-up at 32' 3.75".

The 6-lap team of Hannah Marrier, Anna Finnell, Cassandra Chism and Kaitlin Berry raced to first (2:24.00), and Berton tied for the win in the pole vault (9' 0").

In the 3200, the locals went 2-3 with Svetlana Heisinger (13:51.23) and Kate Williams (14:35.29).

Marnholtz was edged out of first in the 400 with a 1:05.00 that was just 7 hundredths off the winning pace.

The 4-lap (Marrier, Finnell, McKenna Robbins, Berry, 1:31.76) and 10-lap (Finnell, Lauren Hojan, Berton, Marnholtz, 4:14.31) teams both took second.

In the 50 hurdles, Marrier (:08.77 qualifying, :08.62 finals) was third and Christa Schleif (:09.31 qual., :09.44 finals) ranked sixth. Aubrey Wardall rated third in the shot at 34' 6". Berry qualified eighth (:07.52) in the 50 dash, but placed fifth (:07.30) in the finals.

Hojan tied for fifth in the high jump (4' 6"). Sixths were turned in by: Sarah Cournaya (long jump, 11' 3"); Morgan Pettit (1600, 6:26.97); and Chism (200, :32.55).

"Aubrey continues to get back into the swing of things and we are looking forward to what she will be able to compete like outdoors," Martinovici said. "Kaitlin Berry also placed 5th in the 50 dash finals, as well as her nice work at anchoring two out of three relays

"This was Kennedy's first 400 at an indoor meet and she fought the pressure well. Each of our relays took a medal placing. We have some handoffs that need to be worked on and perfected, but overall the girls performed smart and made each of the connections needed for a finish."

Merrill's Marissa Matushak-who attends West-captured both the 1600 (5:38.25) and 800 (2:38.49) runs by sizeable margins.