The Northland Pines boys and girls track teams kicked off the season in high gear as the boys placed first and girls second as the team hosted the Eagle Invitational last Thursday at Northland Pines High School.
Led by Cole Wiedenbeck, the boys dominated the meet with 160 points and Hurley came in second with 75 points.
Everything went well for the girls, too, but the Eagles (100 points) fell just short of Wittenberg-Birnamwood who tallied 139 to win the meet.
“We were happy to come away from this meet with a win and a second but even more excited to watch these athletes compete for the first time,” said Pines head coach Josh Rhode. “We found a lot of hidden talent and the teams competed with mental toughness and tenacity throughout the meet. The girls team performed awesomely but ran into a tough Wittenberg team. I was happy with the girls’ team in their preparation and execution throughout the meet. The boys had a dominant performance and we were able to see some great performances across the board.”
The boys cruised to a victory against some good competition in the opening meet of the year. Wiedenbeck led the squad with two second-place finishes in the triple jump and 55-meter dash while taking fourth place in the 400-meter dash.
“Cole worked as hard as any athlete I’ve seen over the off-season and has come into the 2025 season in tremendous condition. He is significantly faster than last year which is saying a lot because he was one of the fastest in our conference and sectional,” explained Rhode. “We will be looking for Cole to continue his progress and he has a lot of goals to accomplish this season.”
Rhode was also impressed with the performance of sophomore Ryan Rydeski, whole grabbed third place in the 400-meter dash. Rydeski took four seconds off his time in this race from last year with a time of 58.04.
“To take that much time off in a sprint is extremely difficult and it just points to Ryan’s talent and hard work. He is a sophomore who helped us in the long sprints to mid-distance last year but he has now earned his spot as one of our top sprinters on the team, and he will be leaned on throughout the season.”
Other notable finishes for the Eagles included Miles Kirschbaum (14 pts), Kaemyn Heritage (14 pts) and Brady Dumovich (12 pts) to name a few. Senior sprinter Eli Kerner also took first place in the 55-meter dash and 200-meter dash. Kirschbaum and Dumovich went one-three in the 55-meter hurdles with times of 9.74 and 10.43, respectively.
Dumovich also took third out of five in the 200-meter hurdles.
Heritage, Morgan DePuydt and Mason Minaudo kicked off their pole vault seasons with a dominant performance as the three took all three top spots with vaults of 11 feet or higher.
Hahn paced the girls team by tallying 24.5 points out of 100 after a busy meet.
The sophomore took first place in the 55-meter in what Rhode described as a blazing time of eight seconds flat, while she also took second in the 200, anchored the 4x400 relay team and finished fourth in the pole vault. The 4x400 relay took third place with a time of 5:14.10.
It was Hahn’s first time attempting pole vault and she cleared six feet as teammate Mykayla Felesena took first place in the event by clearing seven feet-six inches.
“This was Ella’s first time trying the pole vault and she is a natural in the event and I truly see big things in her future as a pole vaulter,” mentioned Rhode.
Miana Miller was Rhode’s outstanding performance for her improvement in the shot put. Miller took 12th out of 24, with a throw of 23 feet- eight inches. She improved by two feet and three inches this year from last.
Other notable athletes on the girls side included Felesena (16.25 pts), Maria Krueger (10 pts), Tatum Meier (9.5 pts) and Bella Nowak (8 pts). Krueger took third in the triple jump, fifth in the long jump, 23rd in the 200 and 18th in the 55-meter dash.
Meier grabbed sixth in the 55 and fourth in the long jump. Nowak took the silver in the shot put with a throw of 30 feet-one inch.
Pines is back in action again at Northland Pines with a few other Great Northern Conference teams Thursday, April 3, at 4:30 p.m.
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