SPASH Girls Track Takes Tops at Friday’s Invitational

By Robert Whitmire
The SPASH Varsity and JV teams finished top at Friday’s 32nd Annual Panther’s Girls Track and Field Invitational.
Nine teams competed on the varsity side, with eight teams in the junior varsity meet. DC Everest and Wausau West varsity teams finished second and third, respectively. DC Everest and Merrill took second and third on the JV side.
Tatum Houlihan was a double winner for the Panthers, taking top honors in the long and triple jumps. Houlihan posted a long jump of 16-03.5, then returned to record a triple jump of 35-10.0.
Taylor Louis finished fourth in the discus throw, with a distance of 99-02 and took first in the shot put with a toss of 36-06.5 to lead the SPASH throwers.
On the track, the 3200-meter-relay (Autum Sherbert-Hetzel, Grace Belson, Abbey Hyland, Mya Zajakowski) set a new meet record crossing the finish line in 9:42.8 beating the old record of 10:23.21, held since 2004.
The 400-meter-relay team of Kiana Thompson, Laura Canapa, Ashley Canapa and Brooke Britz took first with a time of 51.46 and Abbey Hyland finished atop the field in the 800-meter-run with a time of 2:18.71.
JV athlete Gabby Johnson, a freshman, won the long jump with a distance of 14-06.0, with runner-up honors to junior Kayla Stutesman at 14-03.5. Sophomore Jaycie Korth won the triple jump at 10.02.5, with junior Sam Danczyk and senior Katy Pozorski taking first and second in the discus at 103-0 and 82-10 respectively.
On the track the 3200-meter-relay (Kim Klein, Madelyn Schnieder, Madelyn Pelot and Caitriona Quirk crossed the finish line in a winning time of 11:11.16. Schnieder came back to win the 1600-meter-run at 6:00.53. Ashley Canapa won the 100-meter-dash at 13.59 – just off the record of 13.57 set in 2004 – and Emily Luetschwager, the 100-meter-hurdles at 20.24.
The 800-meter-relay team of Kayla Van Asten, Brianna Besaw, Ellie Schraufnagel and Anissa Zaske took first place, posting a time of 2:01.29. The 400-meter-relay runners (Katy Pozorski, Jillian Keup, Ally Martin, Bryar Brooks) took second place, coming in at 53.89.
Martin also took the 200-meter-dash at 28.79. Rounding out the first-place finishers for SPASH was sophomore Emma Kempen winning the 800-meter-dash with a time of 2:51.12.
Taylor Konczal won the 400-meter-dash with a new meet record of 1:05.8 and Emma Byers won the 300-meter hurdles at 57.54.