Staff file photo by Fritz Busch GFW’s Javier Victorino competes at the Section 2A Track and Field Tournament this past Saturday in Mankato. He is one of two GFW athletes to advance to the state tournament this year and will compete in the 3,200-meter run.

ST. PAUL — Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Shylo Hilbert and New Ulm’s Ben Mathiowetz will be the lone athletes representing New Ulm at the State Track and Field Tournament Friday and Saturday at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Seven other area athletes will also be making an appearance at state, including five from Wabasso and two from Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop.

Mathiowetz, a junior, is no stranger to making the trip to state. This will be his third year in a row competing at state in the wheelchair shot put and wheelchair discus for Class AA.

But for Hilbert, a senior, this will be the first time she has made it to state individually. She previously made it to state a year ago in the 4×100-meter relays and the 4×200, but she’s never made it by herself.

This past Saturday in Mankato, she qualified for state in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.3 in the finals, good for second place in Section 2A. That was her best time all year.

Without any teammates competing along side her at state this year, Hilbert will have the challenge of keeping her composure in order to represent MVL to the best of her abilities. She is excited for Friday and is hoping to make an appearance on Saturday as well.

Hilbert will compete on Friday in the prelims for a shot to compete again Saturday in the finals.

“With it being my last season running with MVL, I’ve been pushing myself harder and harder the whole time in order to make it back to the state meet and also leave my mark on the school,” Hilbert said. “State’s something that not many get to experience. I’d never be able to make it to where I am without being blessed with such an amazing team supporting me all the way.”

MVL head coach Rollin Timm said that Hilbert was one of the reasons that the MVL girls’ team qualified for the Minnesota State True Team meet this year. He also said the senior has been a great example for her teammates.

“Shylo has been a hard worker and a great example throughout her career,” Timm said. “It is nice to see that hard work pay off for her. We have been blessed to have Shylo as a member of our team.”

For Mathiowetz, his best performance this year was a 12-feet, 1 inch throw in the wheelchair shot put on April 26 and at the Big South Conference meet on May 12. In the wheelchair discus, his best throw was for 27-feet, 2 inches at the section tournament last Friday. Both throws were records for Mathiowetz.

He will first compete Friday in the wheelchair shot put before moving on to the wheelchair discus on Saturday. He has been all-conference champion and section champion in both events in all of his three seasons (2016, 2017, 2018).

New Ulm head coach Breanna Olson said that Mathiowetz has progressively gotten stronger each year and continues to impress.

“Ben is a great member of the track team,” Olson said. “It has been a true joy to watch him grow as an individual and develop relationships with other members of the team. . . . Each day Ben impresses us with exercises and tasks that he is able to complete during practice. Ben has continually improved and has set and broken his own records multiple times in the past three seasons.”

THE WABASSO 5

Colton Taylor (400), Myles Zeug (shot put), Isaac Schmiesing (shot put) and Lindsey Bernardy (400) will all compete on Friday, while Carl Swedzinski (discus) will compete Saturday.

Taylor and Bernardy will run in the prelims on Friday for a chance to compete Saturday in the finals.

Taylor made it to state in 2017 as a junior in the 4×100-meter relay and the 400. He holds a share of the school record in the 4×100 with Zeug and finished ninth in the 400 last year at state.

He also was section runner-up in the 400 this year and his best time in the 400 this year is 51.68.

Taylor will have a busy few days ahead of him as he is also a member of the Wabasso baseball team, a team that is competing in the Section 3A title game against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg at 5 p.m. today in Milroy. KMS will have to win two games today against Wabasso to advance to state, whereas the Rabbits will only have to win one.

Taylor said that it will be a day-of decision on Thursday whether he joins his baseball team to take on KMS or takes the bus up to St. Paul with his track and field team instead. He said that the decision won’t be an easy one, but he does want to make sure he’s well rested for state track and field.

“I’d say this is probably the most difficult [week],” Taylor said. “Just because it’s a huge game and I want to be there, but it’s also state track. My track coach [Cody Kittelson] told me he thinks I should go to baseball, but he said it’s totally up to me. I feel like last year I wasn’t well-rested enough at the state track meet. I got up there and I felt like I should have rested a little bit ahead of time. I just don’t want the same thing to happen like last year.”

Taylor said that regardless of the decision he makes for Thursday, it would be ideal for the Wabasso baseball team to take home the section title so he can play with them at state next week without any distractions or conflicting schedules.

Taylor said that nutrition has played a huge role in his success so far this year.

“Basically, this whole year I’ve been watching what I eat and I’ve been hydrating days before,” Taylor said. “Usually, two days before I’d carb up and eat a lot, and the day before I’d go light. Also, two days before, I’d make sure I’m hydrating very well and the day of I’d go light.”

Bernardy made it to state in 2016 as part of the 4×400 relay team as a sophomore and was the section runner up in the 400 this year. Her best time this season is 60.64.

Zeug returns to state after 2017, where he was section runner-up and part of the 4×100 relay team. A senior this year, Zeug was the section champion in the shot put and broke the school record in the shot put this year with a throw of 53-feet, 2 inches.

Schmiesing is a senior that will be making his first appearance at state this year in his second year of track and field. He was the section runner-up in the shot put to his teammate Zeug. His best distance this year was a throw of 46-feet, 7 1/4 inches.

Finally for Wabasso, Swedzinski is a junior who was the section runner-up this year in the discus. He will make his first appearance at state this year. Swedzinski has only been able to power throw the discus this year after a knee surgery this past winter.

A PAIR OF THUNDERBIRDS FLY TO STATE

Heading to state for the GFW boys will be Javier Victorino. Victorino is a senior who will compete in the 3,200-meter run in the finals on Friday evening after finishing section runner-up with a time of 9:47.45 last Friday.

He broke Sam Stresemann’s school record of 9:57.0 that was set a year ago and will be making his first appearance at state.

Representing the GFW girls will be freshman Grace Feder in the 1,600. The first-time state athlete qualified with a time of 5:20.66 last Friday at sections, which was her best time and a school record. She also owned the previous school record in the 1,600 with a time of 5:31.39, set a year ago.

Feder will compete in the finals on Saturday evening.

“Both athletes have worked year round and are really hard workers,” GFW head coach Roger Rogotzke said. “And they’re being rewarded for their hard work.”