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Wadena-Deer Creek Track and Field (Season Preview)

By Craig Olson, 04/13/21, 8:45AM CDT

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Marc Reynolds heads up the Wadena-Deer Creek track and field program and after enjoying a historic 2019 season his Wolverines joined the rest of the state in sitting through a season of no competition in 2020 due to the COVID19 pandemic. As things return in 2021 Reynolds will be assisted by Terry Olson, Brad Wollum, John Crandall, Lindy Lahmann and Travis Collins.

In 2019 the WDC boys were the Park Region Conference champions, Section 6A True Team Champions and they finished fourth as a team at True Team State as well as the MSHSL State Track and Field meet, the highest finishes in school history.  The girls team finished third in the Park Region Conference and were fifth in the Section 6A True Team meet.  Several individuals had outstanding accomplishments in their events, including a school record in the boys 4 x 400 meter relay, placing second at the state meet, and a school record by Mikaela Malone in the long jump.

The Wolverines lost Cooper Folkestad (Concordia Track and Field), Bereket Loer (UMD Track and Field), Chase Domier (Northern State Track and Field), Lucas Hinojos (Concordia Track and Field), Kennedy Gravelle (Northern State Volleyball), Eve Collins, Cody Wheeler and Josh Tabery off that team.

“On the boys side we graduated ten solid athletes with a wealth of experience in 2020, so filling those shoes will be difficult, but overall we have a solid group coming back,” said Reynolds.  “Our upper classmen numbers are low, but the juniors and seniors we have are solid with experience placing in the section meet and competing at the state true team meet.  We have a lot of ninth and tenth graders who we’ll be looking at to step up this season.  It will be exciting to see where they are at since we haven’t competed since 2019.  We are still very confident we will compete in the top half of the conference as well as the Section 6A True Team meet, with a strong group of individuals and relays who will be looking to qualify for state.”

Returning letter winners include junior Brady Domier (pole vault, sprints), seniors Aidan Larson (jumps) and Cole Dunker (hurdles, sprints), and sophomores Charlie Bushinger (pole vault, sprints), Lane Hoefs (distance) and Kaden Peterson (sprints).

Newcomers to the boys’ varsity program are junior Eric Malone (distance), sophomores Bjorn Brunsberg (distance), Nick Briggs (sprints), Noah Johnson (hurdles, sprints), Dylan Wirth (throws) and MJ Lunde (sprints, jumps, hurdles), freshmen D’Andre Hammond (sprints, jumps), Teshe Loer (sprints, jumps) and Lyrik Haug (jumps).

“The girls team will return the majority of our team from 2020,” indicated Coach Reynolds.  “We graduated two solid individuals in 2020 and unfortunately, we had some off-season injuries to a couple of other key girls we won’t have in 2021.  We return one state qualifier place winner and a handful of other girls who have placed at or qualified for the Section 6A Championships in 2018 or 2019. Like the boys, we are excited to see where these girls are at in 2021!  Our distance group will be strong coming off a Park Region Conference title in cross country in the fall of 2020.  We also return a solid group of vaulters, jumpers, throwers, sprinters and hurdlers.  We’ll be looking for some younger kids to step into some new roles and feel our team should be very competitive within the conference as well as Section 6A.  Like the boys, we have some big goals for kids looking to place at the section and qualify for the state meet.”

Returning letter winners include seniors Kira Sweeney (distance), Emma Mehl (distance), Mikaela Malone (jumps, sprints), juniors Lauryn Gravelle (throws), Johanna Brunsberg (distance), Emma Ries (distance), Kylee Collins (pole vault, sprints), Madison Packer (hurdles, long jump, sprints), sophomore Ellie Hale (sprints, throws) and freshmen Kelanie Oldakowski (hurdles, sprints) and Isabelle Larson (pole vault, sprints).

Varsity newcomers for the girls are sophomore Paige Self (throws), freshmen Brooke Self (throws), Macey Goeden (distance) and Ryan Schmidt (throws), and eighth-graders Amber Collins (distance) and Addyson Gravelle (sprints, jumps, hurdles).

Coach Reynolds says Perham, Minnewaska Area, Pequot Lakes, Morris and OTC are the top teams in Section 6A, while OTC and Pillager lead the way in the Park Region Conference.