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MarshfieldAreaSports.com
LA CROSSE – A number of local athletes earned medals on the opening day of the 2019 WIAA State Track & Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
Senior Logan Zschernitz and junior Hannah Zastrow won medals for Spencer with top-six finishes.
Zschernitz placed second in the Division 3 boys shot put with a throw of 56 feet, 4½ inches, 5¾ inches in back of the winning throw from Wayland Academy’s Gracien Jules. He also placed second in the event last year and will compete in the discus on Saturday.
Zastrow, who just missed medaling in the pole vault last year, earned a fifth-place medal in the Division 3 girls event with a vault of 10 feet. She also qualified second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.56 and will run in the finals, as well as compete in the high jump, on Saturday.
Marshfield senior Molly Meyers took fifth place in the Division 1 girls shot put with a throw of 41 feet, 11¾ inches, earning a state medal.
Fellow Tigers senior Caden Pearce competed in three boys preliminary events on Friday and qualified for Saturday’s finals in two of them.
Pearce was second in the 400-meter qualifying with a time of 49.02 seconds and took sixth in the 200 qualifying in 21.92 seconds. He missed out on the finals, which is the top 10 qualifying times, in the 100 as he placed 15th in 11.15 seconds.
Joey Goettl competed in the boys triple jump finals on Friday and took 13th place with a jump of 43-11.
The Marshfield girls two running events ended in the prelims. The 400 relay team of Carly Brickley, Alexia Daul, Kaydee Johnson and Gracie Holland finished 24th in 50.65 seconds, and Johnson was 23rd in the 200-meter qualifying with a time of 27.13 seconds.
Holland will compete in the Division 1 girls pole vault on Saturday.
Marshfield Columbus Catholic’s Noah Eckelberg earned a third-place medal in the wheelchair shot put with a throw of 21-8¼. He will also compete in three more wheelchair events on Saturday – the 400, 800 and 1,600.
Spencer’s Leah Zastrow qualified seventh in the Division 3 girls 100 hurdles (16.12) and Mason Barth qualified 10th in the boys 110 hurdles (15.97). Barth will also compete in the boys pole vault on Saturday.
Dalaney Eichman was Spencer’s other state qualifier, and she finished 10th in the pole vault with a vault of 10-0.
Auburndale’s 1,600 girls relay team of Paityn Hamus, Macie Schmeiser, Isabelle Hilber and Isabella Jewell qualified third for Saturday’s finals in 4:09.82.
The 800 relay team of Hamus, Annalise Jewell, Schmeiser and Hilber missed out on a finals berth by less than 1 second, finishing 11th in 1:49.36.
Errika Zenner took eighth (2:26.02) and Vanessa Mitchell was ninth (2:26.43) in the Division 3 girls 800 meters.
Auburndale’s 3,200 relay team of Schmeiser, Zenner, Jordyn Karl and Mitchell will compete in the finals at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and Isabella Jewell will be in the girls 400 meters finals after qualifying 10th in 1:00.97.
In Division 2, the Stratford boys had athletes in three events, with one moving on to the finals.
Junior Teddy Redman qualified eighth in the boys 400 meters in 50.67 seconds and will compete Saturday.
Senior Hunter Hannan failed to make the finals in the 200, taking 11th in 22.90 seconds.
The 1,600 relay team of James Heeg, Hannan, Chase Flink and Redman finished 16th in 3:33.94 as well for the Tigers.