The Gopher Conference hosted its 2024 conference meet at Maple River High School over the weekend. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva led area teams, with the girls team finishing as the runners-up with 99 points, and the boys finishing third with 71 points.
Blooming Prairie earned a fourth-place finish from its boys team with 70 points. and a ninth-place finish from the girls team with 58 points. The Medford girls finished in fifth place with 58 points, and the boys finished seventh with 45 points.
NRHEG Track and Field
Will Tuttle was the highlight of the night for the Panthers as a two-time conference champion. NRHEG’s standout hurdler took first in both boys hurdles events with respective times of 15.34 seconds and 42.17 seconds.
Jacob Karl finished as the runner-up in the boys 3,200m with a time of 11:18.76, while also finishing third in the 800m with a time of 2:20.84. Other third place finishers for the boys included Levin Kitzer in the 110 hurdles behind Tuttle, Jaylin Raab in the long jump and the 4x100 relay team of Kitzer, Tuttle, Raab and Harbor Cromwell.
The boys 4x200 relay team of Wyatt Tuttle, Colton Conroy, Gavin Lewison and Brenden Schmidt finished fourth. Parker Bunn finished fifth in the 300 hurdles. The 4x800 relay team of Lewison, Logan Schiell, Gavin Sletten and Devon Nelton also finished in fifth.
The girls team didn’t have any conference champions, but surged up the team standings with several top five placements. Evelyn Nydegger at 50.22 seconds in the 300 hurdles and Anika Ladlie at four feet, 10 inches in the high jump led the way with second place finishes.
Nydegger also finished third in the 100 hurdles at 17.31 seconds, while the 4x200 relay team of Chloe Riewer, Sierra Misgen, Clara Buendorf and Paige Johnson finished third at 1:54.87.
The girls racked up fourth place finishes with Riewer in the long jump, Gabby Schlaak in the 100 hurdles, Kylie Olson in the shot put, McKenzie Mueller in the discus throw, Julieann Wobbrock in the 3,200m and the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams. Fifth place finishes included Riewer in the 100m, Nydegger in the 200m, Ellie Clark in the 300 hurdles, Schlaak in the high jump and Malonna Wilson in shot put.
Blooming Prairie Track and Field
The Awesome Blossoms had both of their teams be represented by two-time conference champions with Owen Krueger for the boys and Annaka Forsberg for the girls.
Krueger led in both throwing events with the boys top throws of 136 feet, six inches and 47 feet in the discus and shot put, while Forsberg won the high jump at five feet, two inches and the triple jump at 36 feet, 3.25 inches.
Blooming Prairie also had two runner-ups with Gloria Hernandez finishing second in the girls 800m at 2:27.22 and Gabe Hein finishing second in boys high jump at six feet, two inches.
Other top placements for the boys included Cole Wangen and Kolby Vigeland finished third and fourth in pole vault, Ty Forystek finishing fourth in the 1,600m and Will Sunde finishing fifth in the 400m. The 4x100 and 4x800 relay teams both earned fourth place finishes.
The girls team saw Hernandez also finish third in the 1,600m, Jaspher Doocy finish sixth in the 300 hurdles and the 4x200 relay team of Bella Romeo, Elizabeth Miner, Daisy Heimer and Annaka Forsberg finish fifth.
Medford Track and Field
There might not have been a more productive athlete at the Gopher Conference meet than Medford’s Jesse Ortiz, who finished the day as a four-time conference champion. On top of that, Jackie Cole represented the girls as a two-time champion.
Ortiz and Cole helped the Tigers sweep conference championships in the 100m and 200m dashes behind Ortiz time’s of 11.17 seconds and 22.57 seconds for boys and Cole’s times of 12.46 second and 26.22 seconds for girls. Along with those two titles, Ortiz also won the boys 400m with a time of 51.62 and the long jump at 20 feet, seven inches.
Cole finished as the runner-up in the girls triple jump at 35 feet, one inch and anchored the girls 4x100 runner-up relay team with Olivia Ward, Annette Kniefel and Hailey Hemann at 51.84 seconds.
Other top placements for the Tigers included Isabel Miller third in the girls discus throw and ninth in shot put, Joseph Hora fourth in the boys 3,200m, Megan Tegmeier and Avery Arndt fifth and eighth in the girls 3,200m and Ward ninth in the 200m.
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