By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
On Friday night Merrill hosted the 33rd annual Otto Bacher track meet at Jay Stadium. Teams from all over north central Wisconsin came to compete under the lights in this great event.
The Merrill boys team finished in first place, scoring 128.33 points compared to second place Medford who scored 112. The girl’s team did not finish as well as they took seventh place out of 10 teams, scoring 63 team points.
For the Bluejay boys, Jared Ollhoff had himself a great day jumping, taking first place in the high jump with a height of 6-00.00. Ollhoff would also take first place and set a new Otto Bacher record in the long jump with a distance of 21-05.50. Ollhoff also set a new school and Otto Bacher record in the triple jump, with a jump of 44-11.00.
In the girls 100 meter dash, Autumn Schenzel would finish in fourth place, running a time of 13.26 seconds. Schenzel also placed third in the 200 meter dash, with a time of 27.24. In the 400 meter run, Merrill’s Dalie Thomas took third place, running a time of 1:03.12. On the boys side of the 400, Taron Gutowski placed third, running a time of 54.66, with teammate Isaiah Heyel right behind him with a time of 54.98 seconds. In the boys 800 meter run, Merrill’s Dominic Laufenberg ran a time of 2:10.12, good enough for fifth place. Laufenberg also ran in the 1600 meter, and would finish in fourth place with a time of 4:46.63.
In the 110 meter hurdles, Aiden Tautges took third place, running a time of 17.59 seconds. In the 100 meter hurdles, Emily Sczygelski took fourth place with a time of 17.60 seconds. Tautges would also run the 300 meter hurdles and take first place with a time of 43.43 seconds with teammate Tyler Wolff taking fourth with a time of 47.90.
In the shot put, Morgan Wardall threw a distance of 32-11.50 which was good enough for third place. Robert Oestresch took first place in the discus with a distance of 128-00 which was his new personal record.
Merrill track will be back in action on Thursday as the boys travel to Goerke Field in Everest and the girls head to Wausau West for conference meets, both starting at 3:30 p.m.