For the Tomahawk Leader

ASHLAND – The Tomahawk Hatchet track and field team travelled to Ashland on Thursday, May 6 to compete against 10 teams in their first meet of the season.

The Tomahawk boys ran hard and placed 5th with 81.5 points, falling short of the champions, 144.33 point-Rhinelander.

The Lady Hatchets worked their way to a 4th place finish with 70 points, falling to the champions Hayward at 172 points.

First-place finishes for Tomahawk included: 3200m relay, Drew Bolder, Hunter Borchardt, Alex Norman, Noah Buckwalter; 800m run, Noah Buckwalter; Ethan Liebnitz, pole vault; Micah Arnott,  high jump; Drew Bolder, 1600m run.

Other top performances for the Hatchets: Emily Maki, 2nd, 100m hurdles; Alex Norman, 2nd, 3200m run; Kate Reilly, 2nd, 3200m run; Ava Dragosh, 2nd, Pole Vault; Emily Maki, 3rd, Triple Jump; Adam Hall, 4th, Triple Jump; Adam Hall, 4th, High Jump; Rachael Reilly, 4th, 1600m run.

Top relay finishes: 3200m relay, Rachael Reilly, Kate Reilly, Macey Mann, Robin Schmidt, 2nd; 800m relay, Maddie McCormick, Autumn Peissig, Karlie Woodall, Sophie Urmann, 2nd; 1600m relay, Maddie McCormick, Autumn Peissig, Karlie Woodall, Sophie Urmann, 4th; 800m relay, Ben Schertz, Joey Reiter, Zach Hanse, Ethan Liebnitz, 4th; 800m relay, Kambyl Mattke, Nadia Schoone, Ayla McCormick, Halle Derleth, 5th; 400m relay, Ben Schertz, Micah Arnott, Adam Hall, Dakota Jelinek, 5th.

“Starting out with such low numbers on both the boys and the girls sides of track this year was a concern going into this first meet at Ashland,” said coach Kurt Cordova. “But the Hatchets all came to compete. They have worked hard to get to this first meet and to see them place 1st and 2nd in so many events at the first meet was a pleasant sight. Our veteran track athletes have led the way and are great leaders for this underclassman group coming into this season.”

Cordova said the athletes were looking forward to the start of the season, calling the trip to Ashland “the perfect start.”

“They had strong competition and worked their way to top finishes,” he stated. “Our underclassmen relays have stepped up in a big way and helped put points on the board for the team. We were impressed with their dedication in handoffs and starts this week and both their 5th place and 4th place finishes. Overall, this was good momentum to start the season for the Hatchets and leading up to our home meet next Tuesday.”

Athletes of the Week

Sophie Urmann: 2nd, 800m relay; 4th, 1600m relay, 6th, triple jump.

“Sophie has shown strong work ethic at the beginning of the season and we were asking a tall order of her to step up and run 2 relays with our Veteran seniors in her first ever varsity meet. She rose to the occasion and set her times rivalling the seniors which helped the relay team produce a 2nd and 4th. Sophie then set up a 6th place finish in Triple Jump to help the Lady Hatchets move to 4th in the Teams point total.”

Dakota Jelinek: Personal record in 200m dash, long jump, and triple jump.

“Dakota showed his dedication tonight and came to compete, Setting a new personal record in all 3 of his individual events. He has been working really hard in practice the last 2 weeks and it is starting to pay off. He also showed a strong performance as part of the 400m relay adding points to the team total.”