Taking to the field at Stevens Point Friday and Saturday this past week before heading to Stout March 22, the Orioles started their spring 2024 track season. Coach Bob Seidl shared more after the results were in.
“This was the first meet of the season with teams attending from all over the state,: he said. “With over 700 athletes competing each day, it was really a showcase of the best athletes and top level performances as we kicked off the 2024 track season. A number of our girls performed well but were unable to make the top eight cut and make the finals. Most of our girls made or exceeded their seed times, distances and heights and that was encouraging. We have a lot of work ahead of us but our coaching staff can see the potential for our athletes to compete in the Cloverbelt and be competitive at the end of the season. Most notable was how much our younger athletes improved from last year. With only one senior on the team, this will be a rebuilding year with goals beyond 2024.
“The best performance of the day for the girls was Beth Pilgrim in the 400 meter dash (1:06.99) and Lula Chwala, Macie LaGrander, Addison Mahr and Ady Gustafson in the 4X200 relay (1:58.87). Our girls were competing against mostly DI schools at the University and we held our own against extremely tough competitors.
“The boys team also faced very tough competition. We have an excellent group of athletes this year and our boys team should be very competitive throughout the track season. Our sprinters are very fast and we have enough sprinters to do well in the individual events and relays. Junior Madden Mahr placed 3rd in the boys 60 meter dash (7.19) and Cole Brenner just missed the final (7.31). This was out of 75 competitors, mostly DI. Our 4x200 team of Brenner, LaGrander, Hodowanic, and Mahr placed 2nd with a time of 1:35.8, behind Stratford with 1:35.6. Lucas Walker placed 4th in the 1600 meter run (4:36.51). That’s an indoor time and the school track record is 4:26 set by Zach Vircks. Lucas’ goal is to break the school record. He is on track to do that and is working extremely hard. He also ran a 2:04.74 in the 800 meter run. This is the event he went to State in last year. He is on track to break 2 minutes by the end of the season.
“We had some good entry level field performances on Saturday also but we will need to improve a lot in the field events to be competitive. We are planning our practice schedules to do just that.
“The boys team placed 8th out of 34 teams competing. That’s a great start, especially going up against a lot of DI athletes.”
Having shared on Stevens Point, Seidl looked forward to Stout.
“We are at Stout next Friday,” he said.
