Hodag junior Nicole Long takes off on her lap of a relay during an indoor meet at Wisconsin Rapids last week.

For the Star Journal

The indoor track season’s first meet took place at Wisconsin Rapids on Thursday. Many of the athletes were still on spring break but those that participated did well. Reedsburg was the only other school with a team participating.

The Hodag boys and girls teams both finished third out of the three teams there. The boys were a distant third with 16 points to Wisconsin Rapids’ 98 and Reedsburg’s 38. The girls finished with 43 points to Rapids’ 50.5 and Reedsburg’s 49 points; only 6.5 off the lead.

Scoring for the Hodag boys were Daniel Gillingham placing fourth in the 400 meter dash; Abe Barlog, third in the 50 meter hurdles; the foursome of Kaden Huber, Payton Campbell, Gillingham and Cody Ruetz placed second in the 4×400 meter relay; Ruetz placed third in the 400 meter dash; Shawn Denis, fourth in the 800 meter run; Connor Jensen, fourth in the shotput; and in the 4×133 meter relay, Austin Sparling, Lucas Haselton, Josh Haselton and Blake Kjos placed eighth. Next Thursday the team travels to Ashland for a meet.

The girls fared well in more events. Freshman Aila Bergman placed second in the 50 meter dash and was part of the winning 4×133 and 4×400 meter relays, along with Nicole Long, Lexi Bishop and Camilla Gruett. Long also placed fourth in the 50 meter dash. Senior Juliana Smith placed second in the 800 meter run and the 400 meter dash.

Junior Mariah Gubler scored points, placing fifth in the 800 meter and first in the 1600 meter runs. Freshman Libbey Buchmann placed first in the shotput with a throw of 31-feet-8 inches with Abby Swanson placing second.

BOB MAINHARDT PHOTOS