Track: Hudson Raiders sweep BRC, regional titles

• Ryan Daulton clears the bar at 12 feet

Raider senior Ryan Daulton clears the bar at 12 feet during the pole vault competition at the WIAA regional Track and Field Meet in New Richmond Monday. Daulton went on to clear 12 feet, 3 inches on his next attempt and finished second to move on to this Thursday’s sectional meet in Rice Lake. Photo by Bob Burrows
• Katie Thielman edges Menomonie's runner in the 4x200 meter relay

Hudson senior Katie Thielman edges Menomonie’s 4x200 meter relay anchor by four-tenths of a second at the finish line to give the Raider team a regional title at the WIAA Regional meet Monday in New Richmond. Photo by Bob Burrows

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The Raider track and field teams will ride a wave of momentum into this Thursday’s (May 24) sectional meet in Rice Lake after both the boys’ and girls’ teams swept the Big Rivers Conference Championships last Thursday and Monday’s New Richmond Regional.

Last week’s conference title was the eighth straight for the Raider girls and the fourth consecutive for Hudson’s boys. They continued their dominance by sweeping Monday’s regional meet against the seven other BRC schools as well as New Richmond and Superior.

Hudson will be well-represented at Thursday’s Rice Lake Sectional with a total of 30 athletes competing in 23 different events.

Ryan Kromer and Katie Wetzstein followed their sweep of their respective 1600 and 3200 meter races last Thursday by duplicating the feat at Monday’s regional. Kromer won the boys’ 1600 in 4 minutes, 34.96 seconds and took the 3200 meter title in 9:50.68, while Wetzstein won the girls’ 1600 in 5:10.21 and the 3200 in 11:17.75.

Taylor Steffen was also a double winner Monday, taking home the girls’ discus championship with a throw of 109 feet, 7 inches and the shot put title with a toss of 39-7.5. Steffen also won the BRC shot put title with a distance of 38-7.25.

Tyler Smrcina shaved .17 of a second off his preliminary time in the 100 meter dash to win the finals in 11.49 seconds, while Tucker Malecha took home the 200 meter dash championship with a time of 23.38 seconds. Brandon D’Andrea won the BRC 200 meter dash title last Thursday in 23.06 seconds.

Hudson’s girls won conference and regional titles in both the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays. In the 4x100, Julia Douglas, Jordan Huber, Claire Zais and Katie Thielman teamed up for a first place time of 50.86 seconds Thursday and 51.19 seconds Monday.

In the 4x200, Huber, Erikka Haft, Zais and Thielman won the conference title in 1:46.78 and the regional title in 1:46.33. Huber also qualified for the sectional meet in the 200 meter dash with a fourth place time of 27.37 seconds Monday, while Thielman won the BRC 100 meter dash title last Thursday.

Hudson’s girls also qualified for the sectional meet in the 4x800 meter relay, where Shannon Hartzell, Erin Wetzstein, Ellen Snyder and Sadie Kroll finished third in 10:02.21. Kroll will also join Katie Wetzstein in the 1600 meter run after placing fourth Monday with a time of 5:28.64.

The top four finishers in each event at the regional meet move on to the sectional.

The Raider boys swept all four relay events at the conference meet and won the 4x100 and 4x200 meter regional titles Monday. In the 4x100, Malecha, D’Andrea, Smrcina and Dan Kelly took first in 44.36 seconds, while in the 4x200, Malecha, D’Andrea, Nick Jorgenson and Kelly combined for a time of 1:31.67.

Hudson’s boys also qualified for Thursday’s sectional in the 4x400 and 4x800 meter relays, with Sam Entenza, Jorgenson, Ryan Schramm and Alex Beyer teaming up for a second place time of 3:29.12 in the 4x400, and Don Clark, Anders Christensen, Greg Frechette and Kromer placing third in the 4x800 with a time of 8:33.99. Clark will also join Kromer in the 3200 meter run Thursday after finishing fourth Monday with a time of 10:11.11.

Beyer and Schramm will also compete in the 400 meter dash Thursday. Beyer took third at the regional meet with a time of 52.09 seconds while Schramm was fourth in 53.16.

The Raider boys had three sectional qualifiers in the 110 meter high hurdles. Brett DuCharme placed second in 16.06 seconds, Sam Somerville was third in 16.25, and Wade Malecha finished fourth in 16.33. The trio swept the top three spots in the event at last week’s conference meet.

Jorgenson and DuCharme also qualified in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles, with Jorgenson placing third in 42.26 seconds and DuCharme fourth in 43.31.

Sectional qualifiers for the Raider boys in the field events include Bryan Caffin and Jared Johnson in both the discus and shot put, and Ryan Daulton in the pole vault.

Caffin, the BRC shot put champion, was second in the shot put Monday with a throw of 50-5.75 and fourth in the discus with a distance of 141-06, while Johnson placed third in the shot at 47-5.5 and third in the discus with 148-7. Daulton cleared a personal best 12-3 in the pole vault to finish second.

On the girls’ side, Casey Fall took second in the pole vault Monday with a height of 10-feet to move on to the sectional. Fall cleared a personal best 11 feet last Thursday to win the BRC pole vault title.

The top three finishers in each event at Thursday’s Rice Lake sectional will advance to the WIAA State Track and Field Championships June 1-2 in La Crosse.

Tags: sports, track, raiders, prep