The Hatchet girls ran away with their season-opening quad meet, while the boys prevailed over Spencer and Prentice in a competitive meet.
The girls racked up 118 points – behind 11 wins in 15 events and eight runner-up finishes – while limiting their nearest opponent to just 33. The boys tallied 69 to hold off Spencer (63) and Prentice (63).
“It’s seems like things have been a blur since the season started last week, we’ve been focusing on conditioning and it showed as our athletes were sore and tired tonight,” THS coach John Zuelsdorf said. “To perform as well as they did despite the recent workload is a credit to their competitiveness as athletes.”
The Hatchet girls swept the high jump with Kaitlin Gaedtke (4’ 8”), Sara Kouba (4’ 4”) and Hailey Schaper (4’ 4”). They also grabbed 1-2 finishes in the: 45M HH (Gaedtke, :07.86/Annaluz Fox, :08.05); 45M LH (Gaedtke :07.99/Fox, :08.07); pole vault (Dani Whiting, 7’ 0”/Fox, 6’ 6”); 20-lap (Alex Zedler, 14:11.0/Susan Waye, 15:40.0); and 10-lap (Whiting, 6:02.0/Claire Kuehn, 6:32.0).
Additional firsts came from: Hanna Meyer (TJ, 33’ 7.75”/40M, :06.24); Emmy Larson (2-lap, :55.32); the 8-lap team (Meyer, Larson, Lauren Hilt, Emily Verkilen, 3:46.04); and the 12-lap team (Whiting, Talyn Jones, Maggee Renn, Kuehn, 6:33.91).
Also placing second were Jenna Schade (SP, 29’ 8.25”) and Jones (5-lap, 2:52.25), while Hilt (LJ, 14’ 4.75”) and Kouba (3-lap, 1:42.24) were third.
“Kaitlin Gaedtke had an outstanding meet with her three individual titles,” Zuelsdorf said. “All the work that she is putting in at practice and attending the extra track camps and clinics is really paying off for her. She is such a hard worker and a great role model for her teammates.”
The THS boys showed their strength in the distance events – even without Bryan Tomek competing. They swept the 10-lap with Austin Kaiser (5:31) Dakota Tomek (5:44) and Lucas Tjugum (5:53), and ranked 1-2 in the 20-lap (Tyler Wittmann, 11:57/Jacob McGuire, 12:07) and the 5-lap (Kyle Kolpatek, 2:37.21/Alex Johnson, 2:30.60). They also took first in the 12-lap relay (Matej Sklar, D. Tomek, Kaiser, Tjugum, 5:47.9).
Ben Yirsa took the final first in the 45M IH (:07.95). Ranking second were: John Rupel (SP, 36’ 5.25”); McGuire (3-lap, 1:27.13); and the 8-lap team (Han McMahon, Yirsa, Aslam Thinkohkaew, Wittmann, 3:33.11).
“Austin Kaiser had a solid last half of his race in the 1600 meter run and ran the fastest split in the winning 12-Lap relay,” Zuelsdorf said.
Tomahawk now gears up for the UW-Eau Claire Invitational on Thursday, April 3.
“It will be nice to participate on a larger track at UW-EC in a few weeks,” Zuelsdorf said.