PLATTEVILLE — Monroe’s boys and girls track teams ended their indoor seasons on a high note, recording 23 top-five finishes at the Pioneer High School Meet on Tuesday, March 28.
Fourteen teams participated in the unscored event: Bangor, Sugar River, Benton-Scales Mound-Shullsburg, Darlington, Fennimore, Lancaster, Monroe, Mount Horeb, North Crawford, Oregon, Pecatonica-Argyle, Platteville, Prairie du Chien and Wisconsin Dells. Teams were limited to three athletes per event and one relay entry per event.
It was the final indoor meet for Monroe before hosting its annual Glendenning Invite on Monday, April 10.
On the boys end Broderick Cornfield and Charlie Wiegel led the squad with multiple top-five finishes. The pair nabbed the first two spots in the 200-meter dash with times of 24.54 and 24.74 seconds, respectively.
Wiegel then tied for fifth in the high jump with Sugar River’s Cade Thayer. Both athletes recorded a height of 5-6.00. Cornfield earned his second top-five finish in the 4x200 relay. He partnered with Jy’shon Broitzman, Ben Gatdula and Jordan Klocke for a third-place finish with a time of 1:40.41.
In other sprints, Jakar Broitzman took third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.60 seconds.
Brady Wyss and Christian Carpenter excelled in the 55-meter hurdles. Wyss won the race with a time of 8.71 seconds, while Carpenter took fifth with a time of 9.05 seconds.
The Cheesemakers also excelled in long distance with their seasoned cross country runners. Cole Oudinot completed the 800-meter run in 2:12.37 for fourth place. Jared Batz ran a mile (1600 meters) in 5:01.19 for third place, while Tre Dammen and Padraic Houston nabbed two spots 3200-meter top five. Dammen took second with a time of 11:19.06, while Houston finished fifth with a time of 11:51.64.
In the field, Monroe snagged three of the top-five spots in the shot put. Isaac Bunker and Sean Rufenacht finished one and two. Bunker’s farthest throw was 46 feet, 5.75 inches, while Rufenacht came in at 45-00.75. Austin Fuchs took fourth with a throw of 41-02.00.
James Seagreaves was the final top-five finisher in the field, taking second in the high jump. He recorded a height of 5-10.00. Lawrence Vasquez of Sugar River won the event with a height of 6-02.00.
The Lady Cheese were led by Aleigh Zettle, Brenna Aebly and Lauren Coppes, all of whom had multiple top-five finishes.
Zettle and Coppes went one and two in the 200-meter dash with times of 27.87 and 28.02 seconds, respectively. Sugar River’s Herioli Fraire took fourth with a time of 28.92.
Coppes represented Monroe in all things jumping, taking third in the long jump and second in the triple jump. She recorded leaps of 15-07.75 and 32.02.50, respectively.
In other field events, Zettle tied for second in the pole vault, leaping over the bar set at 8-06.00.
Aebly proved her versatility by taking fourth in the shot put with a throw of 32-04-75. She then followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles. She completed the race in 9.81 seconds — just 0.09 seconds behind teammate Taylor Jacobson in third.
As a team, Darlington fared best in long-distance events.
For the boys, Isaac Crist took fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.82. The Redbirds had two, top-five finishers in the 3200-meter run. George West won the race with a time of 11:04.65, while Ethan Aird took fourth with a time of 11:50.23.
On the girls side, Darlington received a third-place finish from Alyza Johnson in the 400-meter dash. She finished with a time of 1:08.39. Coming off a successful freshman cross country season, Adalee Berget took fifth in the mile (1600 meters), finishing with a time of 5:52.00.
In the field, Jaidyn Evenstad finished fifth in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 10.21 seconds. Josie Mesiter took third in the shot put with a throw of 32.07-00.
Pecatonica-Argyle did not have any top-five finishers. However, Jace Starr and Anna Tisch qualified for the finals in their respective hurdle events.
Starr finished eighth with a time of 9.75 seconds, while Tisch took seventh with a time of 10.44 seconds.
