The Merrill girls track team wrapped up their indoor season with a fifth-place finish in last Tuesday’s WVC Indoor at UW-Stevens Point.
Junior Hannah Marrier pulled off a double win in the hurdles, taking the 55 highs by 1/100th of a second in :09.44, while winning the 200 lows by a full second in :30.05.
“Hannah is able to compete under any circumstance,” MHS coach Bethany Martinovici said. “She was feeling the pressure and a little beat up from previous events in the season, but continued to power through to compete. She edged out her opponent by a lean over the finish line. It definitely was a photo finish. I love girls who aren’t fond of losing a race.”
Morgan Marnholtz was the 400 runner-up in a MHS indoor record 1:02.67.
“She had a difficult start which made the race a little challenging,” Martinovici said. “She was racing from behind, looking at when to pass, and trying to catch Marshfield’s Martha Kupfer. Morgan raced strong once she got around some of the athletes in front.”
The Jays shone in the field events, with Marnholtz (35’ 11”) and Ashley Berton (34’ 4.5”) placing 1st and 3rd in the triple jump, Renee Sladek (37’ 10.5”) and Aubrey Wardall (32’ 5”) placing 2nd and 5th in the shot put, Lauren Hojan (4’ 8”) high-jumping 4th.
“The dynamic duo of Morgan and Ashley are constantly feeding off each other,” Martinovici said. “It is great to see them work together by giving advice and cheering on. Aubrey launched a throw that was four feet better than her previous. I am beginning to see her consistency with practices and she has been injury-free.”
The 1600 team (Marrier, Hojan, Berton, Marnholtz) was edged out of second place with a 4:24.15, while the 800 team (Marrier, McKenna Robbins, Kennedy Soderberg, Kaitlin Berry) nipped D.C.E. for third in 1:57.70.
“Despite messy handoffs, the girls ran nice splits and nudged out D.C. Everest by a tenth of a second,” Martinovici said. “It is crazy how close the times were. I know they are looking forward to being outside and using the speed on the track instead of worrying about all the corners.”
The 3200 squad (Kate Williams, Rachael Romanowski, Morgan Pettit, Sarah Ranta) was 6th in 11:49.46. Berry ran 8th in the 55 (:08.03), Christa Schleif ranked 9th in the 55 highs (:10.34), pole vault (7’ 6”) and long jump (13’ 8”), and Berton was 9th in the 200 lows (:33.09).