The Hatchet Track & Field team traveled to Merrill last night and competed in their 31st annual invitational. The meet was cancelled due to weather with only two events remaining. At that point the Hatchet girls were in 7th place and the boys were in 9th of the 12 teams competing. Lakeland topped the field for both boys and girls.
Hanna Meyer successfully defended her long jump title from last year with a seasonal best jump of 15’9 1⁄2” to top the field. She also won her specialty the triple jump with a seasonal best jump of 34’6”. Hanna qualified out of the prelims and placed 5th in the finals of the 100 meter dash and teamed with Olivia Weber, Sierra Schulz, and Delaney Langdon to place 6th in the 400 meter relay.
Dani Whiting ran to a runner-up title in the 1600 meter run with her best time of the season at 5:40. The 3200 meter relay team of Mason Webster, Alex Johnson, Lucas Tjugum, and Troy VanStrydonk cruised to a seasonal best time of 8:58 with their 3rd place medalist effort.
Senior thrower Dane Borchardt had an awesome outing with two career best efforts in the discus and shot. Dane tossed the discus 122’5” (a nearly 15 foot PR) for a 6th place finish and followed with a 42’10” effort for 6th in the shot (a near 3 foot improvement). Dane also teamed with Easton Phalin, Wyatt Wenninger, and Kole Woodall to place 5th in the 400 meter relay. Hanna Schade also had a career best effort in the discus as she cracked the 100 foot barrier with her 100’4” 4th place effort.
Other place winners for the Hatchets include the 800 meter girls relay team of Weber, Schulz, Langdon, and Sara Kouba who placed fifth; the 800 meter boys relay team of Phalin, Wenninger, Woodall and Jacob Zietlow who placed sixth. Fox who placed eighth in the 100 meter high hurdles and Kouba placed eighth in the high jump.
Next meet for Tomahawk is the annual Hatchet Invite at Tomahawk on Tuesday. The meet gets underway at 4:30 PM with the field events and the 3200 meter relay.
“When we laid the road map a couple of weeks ago prior to the Pines meet, we had in mind to compete only those that we thought could score for us at Otto Bacher and compete the rest at Three Lakes a few days prior, said THS coach John Zuelsdorf. “It worked well, as it gave our younger athletes a chance (without their teammates in front of them) to score at a varsity-level meet and it gave our veterans an extra training night without a meet prior to a marquee event.
“This is an event we coaches circle on our calendar every year. Not only is it a great rivalry competing against county foe Merrill, but they have an outstanding facility and run a quality large school meet under the lights similar to what the varsity will experience in a couple of weeks at tournament time. They are the only meet that simulates conference and regionals as well with trials and finals in the sprints and field events, so that in itself is worth the trip and competition.”