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Records fall at Glendenning Invite
Meyer breaks MHS high jump mark
Monroe Track 01
Monroe senior Jordan Montgomery and junior Nick Bansley run in the 100-meter dash during the Richard Glendenning Invitational at Monroe High School April 8. Montgomery placed first and Bansley finished second. - photo by Marissa Weiher

MONROE — The annual Richard Glendenning Invitational is one of the Monroe track and field team’s favorite meets of the year — and not just because it takes place at the friendly confines of T.R. Holyoke Field. This year’s April 8 meet welcomed eight area schools to compete, with the Cheesemakers splitting into two teams — one red and one white — to make it a 10-team meet.

“We’ve got a lot of Lafayette and Green County — and these kids all know each other,” Monroe boys coach Scott Mosher said. “You compete hard, but it was more of a light, fun atmosphere. At conference it’s more serious, but right now, let the kids have fun.”

The Glendenning meet honors Hall of Fame track coach Dick Glendenning, who coached for 51 years — 48 of which at Monroe. Glendenning died in January 2014.

“It was unfortunate with the weather last year, but it’s nice to have a meet like this because everybody knows everybody — athletes and coaches,” Monroe girls coach Eric Jubeck said. “It’s kind of like a family atmosphere — a family environment where, yes, we are competing, but at the same time it’s a fun, local meet.”

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Sophomore Cade Meyer runs in the 800-meter relay. - photo by Marissa Weiher

While Monroe won both the girls and boys meets (Monroe Red for girls, Monroe White for boys), the story of the day for the Cheesemakers may just have been the history made on a high jump platform.

Both freshman JT Seagreaves and sophomore Cade Meyer equaled Michael Barrett’s 2011 record of 6-feet, 4-inches. But while Seagreaves couldn’t move up from there, Meyer kept going.

First he mastered 6-6, then after discussing it with his coach, decided to do one better.

“Coach came up to talk to me and said ‘You could go up to 6-7 right now and PR, or you can go 6-8 and a half and beat the school record,’” Meyer said. “I was like, ‘let’s try it.’”

With the tape measure out to make it official, the bar was raised to 6-08.5 — exactly 1/4 inch higher than the school record set by Jake Hirsbrunner.

On this third and final attempt, Meyer safely cleared the bar to set the new record.

“With the second try I couldn’t make it, and the third try I just wanted to show everybody that I could beat this record,” Meyer said.

Coach came up to talk to me and said ‘You could go up to 6-7 right now and PR, or you can go 6-8 and a half and beat the school record.' I was like, ‘let’s try it.’
Monroe sophomore Cade Meyer

Meyer is relatively new to high jumping, and admitted to having taken some lumps along the way.

“At first my form was bad, but the coaches have stuck with me and it finally showed today,” he said.

But having a teammate like Seagreaves there to push him every day at practice and at every meet is something Meyer leans on.

“He just pushes me. I try to beat him and he tries to beat me. It’s fun,” said Meyer, who stands 6-7, three inches taller than Seagreaves. 

Though Meyer’s record was the only school record set at the meet, teammate Jordan Montgomery set the meet record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.10 seconds. The previous mark of 11.45 was set three years ago. Montgomery’s teammate, Nick Bansley, was second (11.69) while Black Hawk junior Jaylen Rufenacht was third (11.94).

In the 200-meter dash, Montgomery (22.91) came up 1/100th shy of matching Reid Zanoya’s meet record, set in 2011. Darlington’s Parker Fitzsimons (23.72) was second and Monroe’s Lucas Sathoff (24.11) was third.

Pecatonica-Argyle senior Joe Tisch won the 400 (53.79), and Monroe junior Dylan Fahrney took first in the 800 (2:06.21). In the 1,600, Monroe swept the top two spots, with senior Kyle Legler (4:47.92) taking top honors and Fahrney (4:57.09) finishing second.

Legler was the top dog again in the 3,200 (10:19.25), with teammate Alex Henry finishing second (10:57.71) and Monticello’s Evan Guenther third (11:02.42).

In the 300-meter hurdles, Monroe sophomore Trevor Rodebaugh (42.72) and Pec-Argyle’s Jaden Hendrickson (42.73) had a photo finish, with each topping the Jon Beckman’s record mark of 42.74, set it 2012. Rodebaugh (15.97) and Hendrickson (16.81) also finished 1-2 in the 110-high hurdles.

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Pecatonica-Argyle junior Chevy Hughes runs the 1,600-meter run. - photo by Marissa Weiher

In the relays, Monroe White finished on top of Darlington in the 400, with Monroe White beating Monroe Red by two seconds in the 800. In the 1,600-relay, Benton-Scales Mound-Shullsburg was first and Pec-Argyle second, while Pec-Argyle won the 3,200-relay ahead of second-place Darlington.

“I came away pretty impressed. We held our ground against what is usually pretty stiff competition,” Pec-Argyle coach Jason Klocek said. “I would have liked to have seen a better result in that 4-by-400, but I can’t complain because we did really well.”

Monroe junior Patrick Rielly finished second in the pole vault at 10 feet. Montgomery (19-06) won the long jump ahead of Hendrickson (18-11.5) and Rodebaugh (18-10.5). Meyer (38-11.5) beat out Darlington’s Ryley Lancaster (38-10.5) in the triple jump.

Leif Bredeson of Darlington won the shot put (43-04.75), and Albany’s Evan Blumer dominated the discus (149-01) by over 22 feet.

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Monroe sophomore Trevor Rodebaugh competes in the long jump. Rodebaugh placed third. - photo by Marissa Weiher

The Monroe White finished with 136 points to lead the boys scoring, while Darlington (129) was second, Monroe Red (121) third and Benton-Scales Mound-Shullsburg (112) was fourth.

“We had people step up — Jordan set the record in the 100, and then Trevor Rodebaugh broke the record in the 300. He broke 16 seconds in the 110s, which is great and is one of our fastest of all time,” Mosher said. “JT, a freshman, also went 6-4, which is also an unbelievable (high) jump. So, on a day like this, this early in the season, I’m very excited about how the kids performed.”

On the girls side, Monroe senior Cammi Ganshert was pushed in two short sprints but came away victorious in each. In the 100-meter dash, Ganshert took first (12.80) with Monticello’s Alyssen Noriega (12.98) second and Monroe teammate Megan Benzschawel (13.76) third.

Ganshert edged Darlington’s Kathleen Mathias by 1/100th of a second in the 200, with both cruising by the previous meet record of 26.94 seconds set by Jen Wellnitz in 2012. Ganshert finished at 26.52, and Mathias at 26.53. Noriega was third (27.11).

I came away pretty impressed. We held our ground against what is usually pretty stiff competition.
Pecatonica-Argyle coach Jason Klocek

“With Cammi in the 100 and 200, she has been on the podium numerous times, and she had to run today just to barely squeak it out. It was a great opportunity to push herself, and both of her times were really good — they are where she needs to be right now,” Jubeck said. “(Noriega) and (Mathias), those girls are going to have success at conference, regionals, sectionals and beyond.”

Mathias won the 400 (1:02.65) by nearly five seconds. Benton-Scales Mound-Shullsburg freshman Kayci Martensen broke the 800-meter record by over 14 seconds. Martensen finished in a time of 2:17.14, nearly 18 seconds ahead of Darlington’s Ilse Mendez (2:36.73) and blowing by the 2012 record mark set by Bailey Hlavachek.

Monroe’s Alyssa Roelli won the 1,600 (5:42.80), and Darlington’s Judith Meister (13:24.59) dominated the 3,200 field.

Monroe junior Cassi Gersbach won the 100-meter hurdles (16.39), with Darlington’s Lizzie Schwartz (17.65) second and Monroe’s Bri Seagreaves (18:04) coming in third. Gersbach also won the 300-hurdles (49.87), with Schwartz (50.49) again taking second and Monticello’s Maggie Bak (51.73) coming in third.

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Monroe freshman Alyssa Roelli runs in the 1,600-meter run. Roelli placed first. - photo by Marissa Weiher

Monticello’s 800-meter relay team of Maggie Bak, Hannah Clark, Ali Risley and Noriega broke Monroe’s 2017 record by 7/100ths of a second with a time of 1:52.59.

Albany won the 400-relay ahead of Darlington, and the Comets were also victorious in the 1,600-relay. Darlington won the 3,200-relay, with Albany finishing second.

“I thought we had a pretty good meet, especially how it ended there with the girls 4-by-4 (1,600-relay),” Albany coach Tony Brewer said. “It was our second outdoor meet, and this was a beautiful night. We had a lot of good performances and really something to build on.”

In the high jump, Faith Koester took top honors with a 5-00, while Pecatonica-Argyle’s Addisyn Noble, Benton-Scales Mound-Shullsburg’s Trinity Law and Benzschawel all reached 4-10.

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Darlington senior Kathleen Mathias runs in the 400-meter dash. Mathias placed first. - photo by Marissa Weiher

Monroe’s Kajen Medenwaldt was second in the pole vault. Gersbach (16-00.5) edged Bak (15-05) in the long jump. Bri Seagreaves (31-00) won the triple jump by two inches over Albany’s Kristen O’Bel. Libby Beck, an Albany senior, won the shot put (38-07.5) ahead of Monroe’s Chloe Bunker (34-09) and Darlington’s Marissa Gould (34-06.5). Bunker finished second in the discus (93-06) behind Belmont’s Elsie deHaan (101-09).

“This was the first meet that we knew we would be able to kind of get a feel with where we are,” Jubeck said.

Monroe Red took first place with a score of 139.5, while Darlington was second (136), Benton-Scales Mound-Shullsburg third (93) and Monroe White fourth (87).

“It was nice to see our top athletes do well and score a bunch of points, but it was also neat to see some of our role athletes do a good job and see that we have a really nice, complete team. Eighteen events and being able to score in all of them is a really nice accomplishment,” Jubeck said.