Raider Boys 9th, girls 11th at Stout Elite invite

Independence/Gilmanton sophomore Taylor Sylla and multiple members of the Arcadia track and field team cracked the top five when area schools returned to University of Wisconsin-Stout for an invitational meet last week.

The Indees joined the Raiders and Blair-Taylor at the college in Menomonie for the ‘Elite’ Invite last Thursday.

Sylla ran the girls’ 800-meter race in 2 minutes, 34.86 seconds to place fifth. Her time was three-tenths of a second faster than sixth-place finisher Aliya Hartman of Bloomer. Medford’s Meredith Richter won the event with a time of 2:27.28. 

Sylla was joined by numerous Arcadia athletes who left UW-Stout with top five placements — Ted Teske once again was a common name on the leaderboard as he finished fifth in a trio of events, and Jaylie Dahl continued her quick start to the 2024 season. 

Teske leapt to fifth in high jump for the Arcadia boys, tied for the same placement in long jump and was a member of the 1600-meter relay team, whose run in 3:38.95 was also good for fifth.

Arcadia finished top among county competitors in the team scores—the Raider boys finished ninth as a squad (20.5 points) while the Raider girls (17) placed 11th. 

Bloomer took home the team title on the girls’ side with 74 points, and Hudson took the boys’ crown with 86.

Landan Bremer recorded the Raider boys’ best finish. The Arcadia senior ran the open 200 in 23.66 seconds to finish fourth, narrowly behind winner Jackson LeMay (23.22 seconds) of Chippewa Falls.

The 200-meter races were good for Arcadia overall—Dahl’s third place finish in 27.62 seconds was the highest placement of any county athlete last week and was one-tenth of a second from tying for second place. 

Dahl also joined teammates Maddie Grotjahn, Casidi Pehler and Joselyn Lockington for a fifth-place run in the girls’ 1600-meter relay (4:30.21). 

Pehler claimed the Raiders’ final top finish in shot put, her toss of 35 feet, 1.25 inches being enough for fifth.

A leap of 18 feet, 11.5 inches in the boys’ long jump field made DaVonne Turner Blair-Taylor’s top performer, finishing ninth, on Thursday.

Boys track, Elite Invite, March 28 @ UW-Stout

Hudson 86 Chippewa Falls 69 Osceola 48.4 Webster 32 Prescott 31.2 Bloomer 27 Mauston 26 Stanley-Boy 24 Arcadia 20.5 Turtle Lake/Clayton 18 Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 17 Medford Area 16 Spencer 15 Wausau East 14 Viroqua 13.7 Spooner 10 New Auburn 10 Eau Claire North 9 Colby 9 Holmen 6 Flambeau 5.2

Arcadia top five finishers

Fourths—Bremer, 200, 23.66.

Fifths—1600 relay (Bremer, Fernando, Teske, Kolstad), 3:38.95; Teske, high jump, 5-10; Teske, long jump, 19-5.5.

Girls track, Elite Invite, March 28 at UW-Stout

Bloomer 74 Holmen 60 Chippewa Falls 53 Osceola 43 Cadott 41 Medford Area 32 Prescott 31 Northland Pines 24 Turtle Lake/Clayton 23 Mondovi 18 Arcadia 17 C-W 13 Prairie Farm 10 Viroqua 9 Abbotsford 9 Spooner 8.5 Colby 8 I/G 7 Barron 6.5 S-B 5.5 EC North 5 Wausau East 4.5 Flambeau 3 Webster 2

Arcadia top five finishers

Thirds—Dahl, 200, 27.62.

Fifths—1600 relay (Dahl, Grotjahn, Pehler, Lockington), 4:30.21; Pehler, shot put, 35-1.25. 

I/G top five finishers 

Fifths—Sylla, 800, 2:34.86.