Track and field: Madsen, Sheplee break school records as Rice Lake boys, girls claim regional titles

The Rice Lake boys and girls track and field teams each won regional titles during a Division 2 meet held in Rice Lake on Monday.

The Warriors set a pair of school records and advanced 29 events to the sectional meet in Colby on Thursday.

Highlighting the night’s action were school record performances by Jacob Madsen and Adaline Sheplee in hurdle events. Rice Lake had 11 first-place finishes.

Eliana Sheplee was a three-time regional winner, Madsen won two events, and also winning individual competitions were Madilyn DeLawyer, Ethan Mullikin, Addison Schmidt and Adaline Sheplee. Both the boys and girls 400-meter relays also took first.

The Warriors girls scored 152 points to beat out runner-up Northland Pines by 51 points. With 129.5 points for the Rice Lake boys, they had a 6.5-point advantage over second place Ashland.

Madsen broke a long-held school record in the 110 hurdles as he set his personal-best in the finals by nearly a half second with time of 14.71. That breaks a school record of 14.83 held by Phil Roux that stood since 1988. Madsen also set a career-best 20 feet, 4.5 inches to win the long jump.

Adaline Sheplee now holds the school record in the 300 hurdles after she won in 46.17. That surpasses a school record of 46.83 from Grace Brunette in 2011. Adaline Sheplee also advances to sectionals for the 100 hurdles after taking second in 16.04 and for the high jump as she placed third at 5-2.

Eliana Sheplee advances after first-place finishes for the 100, 200 and 400. She won the 100 in a season-best 12.35 and the 200 in a season-best 25.45. In the 400 the senior and three-time defending state champion won in 57.83.

Madilyn DeLawyer will compete individually in three events at sectionals. She won the triple jump with her best leap of the season at 33-11 for first place, and also long jumped a personal record of 17-1 for second. DeLawyer took third in 26.75 for the 200.

In the shot put Schmidt topped the leaderboard in throwing 38-5.5. Mullikin triple jumped 41 feet for first. The girls 400 relay of Avery Ash, Adaline Sheplee, Sophia Knauff and DeLawyer ran a season-best 49.83 for first, while in the boys 400 relay a time of 45.32 by Madsen, Vincent Weber, Connor Durand and Lucas Peters also placed first.

Kaden Willger is a two-time sectional qualifier. He was third in 110 hurdles at 15.56 and finished in 41.67 to take fourth for the 300 hurdles. Sedona Gay will also run two events at sectionals. She was second in a personal record time of 5:23.12 for the 1,600 and took third for the 800 in a career-best 2:23.24.

Owen Brunette ran the 400 in a personal-best 52.52 to take second, while also in second was Carter Kucko in the 3,200 after a time of 10:15.54. The Warrior boys also had Durand clear 13-0 to finish third in the pole vault, Peters come in fourth in season-best 11.49 for the 100 and Pierce Hastreiter take fourth after a personal best of 4:45.86 in the 1,600. Adding to the Rice Lake girls sectional qualifiers was Morgan Stephens, who had a career-best time of 12:25.88 for fourth in the 3,200.

All four Warrior boys relays advanced to sectionals. The 3,200 relay of Bailey MacDonald, Austin Prince, Hastreiter and Kucko was second in a season-best 8:23.58, while the 1,600 relay of Brunette, Hastreiter, MacDonald and Jacob Jondreau also set their best time the season in taking third at 3:45.02. In fourth was the 800 relay of Xander Easton, Braeden Kretzschmar, Steven Lai and Peters who finished in their best time of the year at 1:35.52.

The Warrior girls also advanced the 800 relay of Ash, Safia Winfield, Ellie Pacholke and Knauff after their time of 1:52.94 placed them fourth.