This story is sponsored by: Trudeau Construction and The Tile Guys
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
LA CROSSE – Stratford’s Jake Griffith and Matt Zuelke grabbed medals by placing in the top six during the first day of the WIAA State Track and Field Championships on Friday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Griffith was the runner-up in the Division 3 pole vault with a vault of 13 feet, 3 inches. Jake Wiedemeier of Crivitz won the event with a vault of 13-6.
Zuelke took third in the 3,200 meters, finishing in a time of 9 minutes, 58.74 seconds, nine seconds behind winner Jack Taylor of Webster. Zuelke will compete in the 1,600 meters on Saturday.
The Tigers’ duo combined for 14 points, which places Stratford in third place in the team standings. Webster and Edgar each accounted for 18 points on Friday.
Stratford’s two relay teams that qualified for state were eliminated in preliminary races Friday.
The 400 relay team of Dylan Kell, Eli Temanson, Phil Sersch and Nick Viegut took 11th in 45.42 seconds and missed qualifying for the finals by just 3/100 of a second.
The 800 relay team of Temanson, Austin Shelley, Mark Marquardt and Viegut was 12th in 1:36.06, and missed qualifying by 1.51 seconds.
The top 10 in all preliminary races Friday move on to Saturday’s finals.
Stratford’s lone girls state qualifier, the 800 relay team, also narrowly missed making the finals. The Tigers team of Brooke Schultze, Abby Bender, Josie Kolbeck and Toshia Spindler was 11th in 1:51.47, and missed qualifying by 0.23 seconds.
Marshfield Columbus Catholic’s only state qualifier, the girls 400 relay team, moved on to Saturday’s finals.
The Dons team of Mariah Heiman, Lindsey Brandt, Abigal Gotz and Kayla Selz finished sixth in prelims on Friday, in a time of 51.43 seconds.
Spencer’s Marcie Hebert competed in the shot put Friday and placed ninth with a toss of 36-6. She will compete in the discus on Saturday.
Auburndale had two of its four athletes compete on Friday. Freshman Lakisha Sutton took ninth in the 200-meter preliminaries with a time of 27.85 and will compete in the finals on Saturday.
Sutton’s teammate, Danica Harrison, finished 10th in the 1,600 in 5:30.59 and will compete in the 3,200 meters on Saturday.
Kelly Tomfohrde will compete in the girls pole vault and C.J. Castellano will take part in the boys high jump on Saturday.