The Ellsworth Panthers track and field team took third place in their second meet of the season at the Eau Claire North Varsity Indoor Invitational, held at the University of Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday.

With a limited number of indoor meets on their schedule, Ellsworth took full advantage of the environment in Eau Claire over the weekend as both the girls and the boys teams finished in third place.

Head coach of the boys Drew Pechacek thinks overall his team performed very well. 

“We are a relatively young team, and it is great to see the guys have some early success. We hope that this will translate into more when we can get outside,” Pechacek said. “Right now our returners are leading the way for our younger athletes and showing them what they want to achieve.” 

The field events were especially strong for Ellsworth. Parker Woodland led the way in the triple jump and high jump.

“We had a lot of personal bests as well like Coen Hinrichs achieving a personal best in the high jump,” Pechacek said. “Newcomers Nash Kuhl and Omar Coulson continue to improve in both the Long Jump and 200.”

The Panthers sprinters also continue to be strong with Levi Nelson, Jake McCabe, Michael Holst, and Brady Mitchell leading the way. The distance runners headed by Noah Matzek, Adolfo Perez, and Ben Baker have also been a pleasant surprise, according to Pechacek.

“The depth we are starting to see at many of our positions is starting to become evident and we are then able to showcase our athletes' strengths and not over-taxing them by putting them in multiple events to make sure we can fill our roster,” Pechacek said. “I know that we still have a lot to improve on, but with over 40 athletes on the boys' team the future of Ellsworth track is looking up.”

A number of athletes are expected to make jumps for Ellsworth this year. Sprinter Logan Mueller is one of those. He was one of the Panthers’ top sprinters last year but was dealing with shin issues most of the year, and they will look for him to stay healthy and solidify some spots they have on the team. Kehan O'Neil and Coen Hinrichs are expected to make some big strides in this area, and so are sophomore throwers Chace Kressin and Adam Capatske.

In their field events, they have a lot of returners coming back, but Pechacek says they need to develop some depth in these positions. 

“We have a lot of newcomers to track this year who are not freshmen. Gavin Puhrmann has already begun contributing to the long jump and is looking to help in our longer sprints. We are looking for sophomore Ben Baker to help in distance events, George Rohl in hurdles and jumping events, and Gabe Albarado and Carter Bjork to add depth to our throwing crew,” Pechacek said. “Some freshmen who have already contributed early with good marks are Eli Grand in the shot who will push the older kids, Charles Huff and Tyler Lewis had good marks in the 55 and 200, Brycen Streich in the 800, and Kyle Van Watermuelen in the hurdles.”

With more talent on the roster this year than in the recent past, expectations are high for the Ellsworth program coming up a top 3 finish in their second meet of the season.

“As always, our goal is to be ready to compete with the top team in the conference. In the past, our top athletes have always been near the top in their events, but we lacked the depth to make a serious run at a conference title,” Pechacek said. “To see how far the program has come in the past five years is a great thing and to see the excitement surrounding Ellsworth track is something that we have strived to create here in Ellsworth.”

On the girls’ side of things, top 3 performers included the 4x400 meter runners Kayla Kressin, Mary Prissel, Olivia Gilbertson and Gabby Christian who took second in the event. Libby Groh finished third in the high jump, and Kelila Gooden, Maleah Petersen and Nyla Wilford rounded out this group finishing first, second and third, respectively.

Top 5 finishers included the 4x200 meter sprinters Sienna Lansing, Julia Boyle, Brenna LaBahn and Lexi Marks. Lansing also finished fourth in the 55-meter hurdles, and Grace Christian took fifth in the 800-meter event.

Head Coach Macia Jahnke says she’s very excited about how the team looks overall so early in the season. 

“Our throwers are picking up right where they left off and are performing exceptionally well. Not just our throwers, but many of our returning athletes are already building on their performances from last year. Libby Groh jumped a personal record in the high jump and our 4x400 and 4x800 look promising as they did last year,” Jahnke said. “We are still trying to figure out where all our younger athletes belong. The snow coming in right after the season started and having spring break as the first week of practice has put us a little behind in getting to know our newer athletes. I also think a change in the weather will hopefully give us some more endurance.”  

Coach Jahnke says this year they have a large group of seniors who are their foundation. 

“Kayla Kressin, Mary Prissel, and Gabby Christian, and Chloe VanWatermeulen in middle distance. Abigail Michaels in triple jump and hurdles. Bella Freisen in hurdles, and of course, Kelila Gooden and Nyla Wilford in shot put and discus,” Jahnke said. “They are looking as strong as ever and feel they will be strong mentors to our younger members. I'm excited for several of our incoming freshmen. They are looking fast. Standing out right now is freshman Sienna Lansing. She has made finals in 55-meter hurdles at the last two meets and has been strong in our sprint relays.”  

There’s always a lot of progress that teams make from the beginning of a season until the end, and Jahnke says she has goals of finishing high in the conference.

“I'd like us to be more competitive in events this year. In the past couple of years, we have had some holes in our lineup that I'm expecting we will be able to fill with new freshmen and sophomores,” Jahnke said. “Numbers are high this year and we have a lot of young talent, so I'm hoping we will be able to ultimately place in the top half of the conference. It should be an exciting season.” 

The Panthers will have a short break in between events with the next one set to come on April 9 when they will travel to Baldwin for another indoor event where they will see multiple conference rivals. The invitational begins at 4:30 p.m.