Breaking 90 was a big deal for both Poynette track and field teams.
The girls’ and boys’ teams took second at Westfield’s nine-team Verle Clarke Invitational, as they scored big.
“I was most impressed with our ability to score over 90 points with both squads despite only having one event winner between both teams,” said Pumas’ head coach Kevin Frehner. “Our competitiveness was much improved as a group over Tuesday, which is something we stressed. Wyatt See was our one event winner in the boys 1600m run with a time of 4:50.88, which is less than two seconds off of his lifetime best. We did end up with medalists (top 3 finish) in 18 other events, which showed our team depth. There were multiple other schools who had more event winners that we were able to beat in the final score.”
The Pumas’ depth was key to their performance.
“We also had multiple athletes earn medals in multiple events,” said Frehner. “On the boys’ side, Avery O’Dea, Wyatt See and Alexander Graeme each earned three medals with JJ Davidson and Levi Mueller earning two. On the girls’ side, Mercedi Lapacek earned medals in all four events she was in. Zayne Hushagen earned three medals (all of her events) and Emma Yelk, Piper Johnson, and Geneva Ritzke each earned two. For the boys’ team, there were 11 season-best performances and four lifetime bests for returning athletes. The girls had 12 season bests and four lifetime best performances.”
Two Pumas stood out.
“’Feet of the Meet Awards’ on the track went to sophomore Zayne Hushagen and senior Avery O’Dea,” said Frehner. “Zayne anchored both of our distance relay teams to medals and also earned an individual medal in the 800m run. Avery ran to lifetime best times in both the 100m and 200m dashes. He also medaled in our 4x200m relay. In the field events, first-year athletes Val Heth and Xander Potter performed season bests in both the shot and discus to earn the awards.”
Lodi dual
On Tuesday, April 9, the Pumas competed in its first outdoor meet of the season, a dual with the Blue Devils. Lodi swept both the girls’ and boys’ meets, as expected.
“We knew going in that beating Lodi would be a tall task, so we scaled some things back considering we had an invitational later in the week,” said Frehner. “This is in no way a slight to Lodi. They are a consistently successful program at the state level in Division 2. We have great respect for their coaches and athletes. We just took the opportunity to be more ready for the meet later in the week because we know how tough it would have been to beat them even at full strength.”
There were highlights for Poynette.
“We did have some very good performances,” said Frehner. “On the girls’ side, we had two ladies really compete well and earn lifetime bests. Junior Dakota Coppernoll has been healthy for the first time since her freshman year. She improved her 200m time by over five seconds to earn the ‘Feet of the Meet Award’ on the track. In the field, sophomore Evelyn Hafeman set a career-best by almost 10 feet in the discus to earn the same award in the field events.”
Newcomers turned in strong performances for the boys.
“On the boys’ side, we were especially pleased with our athletes who are out for track for the first time,” said Frehner. “We had an injury to one of our relay runners early in the meet and two rookies were thrown in as alternates. They did a great job. One of those athletes was junior Jason Morton who ran a strong relay leg and also an impressive open 100m race to earn ‘Feet of the Meet’ on the track. Avery O’Dea also had an impressive start with a career-best in the 100m dash. In the field, junior Levi Mueller set a lifetime best in the pole vault to win the team award.”
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