MENOMONIE – The collegiate indoor track and field season started off with a smattering of meets in December, but the season gets going in earnest in January and Menomonie High School is well represented at the collegiate level.
Josh Boyette and Alexis Anderson are members of the UW-Stout men’s and women’s track and field teams, respectively.
As a freshman at Stout last season, Boyette competed in the multi-events, the heptathlon (seven events) indoors and the decathlon (10 events) outdoors. Boyette, the 2022 Big Rivers Conference pole vault champion while in high school, placed 13th for the Blue Devils in the heptathlon at the 2024 WIAC indoor championship, and 15th in the decathlon at the WIAC outdoor championship.
Anderson, a junior this year at Stout, set the school pole vault record at Menomonie and qualified to the Wisconsin state meet during her junior season. Anderson has competed in the pole vault both her freshman and sophomore season, last season setting a personal-best with a vault of 10-feet. 2.5-inches at the Eagle Open at UW-La Crosse.
The Blue Devils will open the 2025 season with the Steve Terry Alumni Meet, Saturday, Jan. 18. The Blue Devils will be at the UW-La Crosse Pat Healy Classic, Saturday, Jan. 25, then will host the Warren Bowlus Open, Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1.
Alexis Anderson’s career stats
Brooklyn Hoff competes for UW-Stevens Point. As a freshman, Hoff was one of the Pointers’ top cross country runners last fall, finishing 43rd overall at the WIAC meet where she marked a career-best time of 23:09.2 and 45th overall at the regional meet with her second best time (23:20.5). Hoff was the 3200m Big Rivers Conference champion in 2023 and was a member of the BRC 4×800-relay in 2024. The Pointers will open their track and field season with the UW-Stevens Point Alumni Meet, Saturday, Jan. 18. The Pointers will get the competitive season underway Saturday, Jan. 25 at a triangular at UW-Platteville.
Madeline Palmer competes for Winona State University. Palmer, a junior, is coming off a cross country season that saw her compete at the NCAA Divison II Women’s Cross Country Championship and, individually, she finished 37th overall of the NSIC Championship. A junior this season, Palmer has competed in the mile run, 3000m and the 5000m indoors, and the 1500m, the 5000m and the 10,000m during the outdoor season. During the 2024 NSIC outdoor championship, Palmer placed ninth, just three weeks after running a career-best time of 37-minutes, 0.27-seconds.
The NCAA Division II Warriors opened their season Dec. 7 at Chuck Peterson Open at Minnesota State, Mankato and will return to Mankato to compete in the Bearson/Gathje Classic Friday, Jan. 17.
Madeline Palmer’s career stats
Madison Lehman competes for UW-Eau Claire. A freshman, Lehman competed with the Blugold cross country team in the fall, competing in five meets, setting a personal-best time of 24:34.2 at the Luther College Saga Cup, Nov. 8. At Menomonie, Lehman was a member of the 2024 Big Rivers Conference champion 4×800-meter relay team, along with Brooklyn Hoff. The 4×800 relay team also qualified to the state meet. The Blugolds open their 2025 season Saturday, Jan. 18 when they host UW-River Falls in a dual meet, as well as simultaneously host their alumni meet.
Madison Lehman’s career stats.
Gaby Skorczewski competes for Lawrence University in Appleton. Skorczewski is in her second track and field season at Lawrence and last season ran in the 400- and 800-meter runs and as a member of several relay teams. Skorczewski is also a member of the Vikings’ cross country team, a program that captured the Midwest Conference title last fall. The Vikings got their indoor track and field season underway on a limited basis Jan. 10 at North Central College. The Vikings return to action Saturday, Jan. 18 at an invitational at UW-Oshkosh.
Gaby Skorczewski’s career stats
Freshmen Ryan Dingwall and Kody Kazmarek compete for UW-River Falls. Dingwall has opened his collegiate career, competing at the Falcons’ first meet of the season at St. Scholastica, Dec. 14, placing 10th in the weight throw, an event not competed at the high school level, and 11th in the shot put. While at Menomonie, Dingwall placed seventh in the shot put at the 2024 Big Rivers Conference meet and Kazmarek placed 11th. The Falcons return to action Saturday, Jan. 18 in a dual meet at UW-Eau Claire. The Falcons will compete in Menomonie when they are scheduled to compete at UW-Stout’s 35th annual Warren Bowlus Open, Saturday, Feb. 1.
David Brown is a sophomore at NCAA Division II Anderson University in Anderson, S. C., and competes in the multi-events. Last season, Brown, who homeschooled but ran track and field at Menomonie High School, had a pair of fifth place finishes at the indoor and outdoor South Atlantic Conference championship meets. At the indoor meet in February, 2024, Brown tallied a collegiate-best 3792 point in the heptathlon and and at the outdoor meet in May, 2024, notched a collegiate-best 5074 points in the decathlon. Anderson kicked off the 2024-25 indoor season Dec. 7, 2024, when they split their squads to compete in three different meets. Brown competed in the 60-meter and the pole vault at the Visit Winston-Salem Kick-off. The Trojans return to action, Jan. 24-25, at the Orange and Purple Classic at Clemson University.
Bella Jacobsen competes at the University of Wisconsin. Jacobsen is listed as a red-shirt sophomore on the Badgers’ roster. A distance runner, Jacobsen competed in the 2023 and 2024 indoor and the 2024 outdoor seasons. Jacobsen red-shirted during the 2023 outdoor season. In high school, Jacobsen was a two-time conference champion in the 3200 (2021, 2022) and the 1600m (2022).
Layne Pitt is the retired UW-Stout sports information director and also worked more than a decade at The Dunn County News.
Menomonie Collegians is a regular feature of Menomonie News Net. The column is not limited to student-athletes, but may be a former Menomonie area student in a play, forensics, music or any type of collegiate competition. If you know of a Menomonie Collegian, please email [email protected].
The column Menomonie Collegians by Layne Pitt is licensed under a CC BY SA 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/