EUGENE, Oregon — The Frankfort girls track and field team capped a historic season at Nike Outdoor Nationals last week at Hayward Field in Oregon, as four relay teams and several individuals competed on the national stage, and a pair of school records fell along the way.
“We experienced the end of an era in sprint relays for our team,” Frankfort coach Ed Schindler said. “These ladies will go down in history for all their accomplishments. We will continue to excel at Frankfort in track and field, but these ladies will go down in history for all their accomplishments.”
Seven Frankfort athletes qualified for the meet, including individual qualifiers Kade MacDonald in high jump and Sofia Alaimo Schindler in the 100-meter dash.
The meet spanned four days at Hayward Field, one of the most celebrated track and field venues in the country. GameAbove sponsored the athletes’ travel to Eugene.
The Panthers biggest moment came in the 4×100 relay, where the team of Alice Luther, Riley LaVack, Sofia Alaimo Schindler, and Addison Jarosz won their preliminary heat against 36 schools and broke the school record with a time of 49.51 seconds. In the finals, the race came down to a photo finish — Frankfort crossed the line second by .01 of a second in the emerging elite division.
The 4×200 team, consisting of the same four, competed in the championship division and finished 11th with a time of 4:09, earning second-team All-American honors.
For Jarosz, competing at Hayward Field carried meaning beyond the results.
“It was really honoring and special,” Jarosz said. “It almost feels magical … It’s like a dream come true because it was my grandpa’s dream to go there. He always wanted to go out to Hayward Field to visit and see it himself. So I got to do that for him.”
Jarosz said the stadium’s scale and atmosphere made every other track feel small by comparison.
“The stadium feels huge and just so wide open,” she said. “It was my second time going, but it was still just as awe-inspiring as the first time.”
The 4×400 squad of Luther, Alaimo Schindler, senior Willa Roth and Jarosz also broke the school record, clocking a 4:10.62. The Panthers also ran the sprint medley relay, which consists of legs of 200, 200, 400, and 800 meters. Frankfort finished seventh overall and second in their heat with a new school record of 4:23.72.
Roth, who ran the 400 leg of the sprint medley and also competed in the 4×400-meter relay, admits the environment at Hayward Field had a way of keeping athletes locked in.
“You get all warmed up, and then you kind of wait down there for a little bit, but you’re not even getting cooled down,” Roth said. “You’re still warmed up just because you’re so hyped to be running in the stadium. The adrenaline is so high.”
Roth said competing at nationals for the second time brought a sense of belonging she didn’t fully feel as a first-year qualifier.
“Everybody there is also high schoolers … I didn’t feel as out of place,” Roth said. “I’m grateful for everything that’s been given to me,” she said. “This is amazing, it’s something like this to finish off my career.”
Alaimo Schindler finishes her high school career with school records in the 100, 200, 400, 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400.
Both Alaimo Schindler and Jarosz will run at Hope College next year.
The Panthers also closed out six consecutive state championships in the 4×100, along with state records in the 4×100 and 4×200 and school records across all three sprint relays.
For the Frankfort boys, senior Kade MacDonald stormed his way to nationals in high jump and finished 33rd overall.
Traverse City Central junior Lorelai Zielinski has been looking for her moment to compete at Nike Nationals all year. By the time she left last week, she had four medals to show for it.
“I was very consistent all weekend,” Zielinski said. “This year I got to come home with four medals instead of three like last year.”
Zielinski competed across three days at Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oregon, finishing on the podium in both shot put and discus in two separate competitions — the under-20 division and the open Nike nationals field.
Zielinski opened the meet Thursday in U20 discus, admittedly her most nerve-wracking event of the weekend. She responded by throwing a 168’3″ personal record on her fifth attempt to finish fourth. She also threw the World U20 standard.
“I had a lot of adrenaline and a lot of nerves, but thankfully I was able to hone those in and use it as fuel to throw further,” Zielinski said.
On Friday, she turned to U20 shot put, where she threw 50 feet, two inches and again finished fourth. The margin between second and fourth place was just two inches. She threw the World U20 standard in that event as well.
Saturday brought two more events. In shot put, Zielinski threw 48 feet, 11 inches and placed sixth in a field where only four inches separated second through sixth place.
“Three girls out of the eight on the podium were from Michigan,” she said. “That was awesome.”
Later that afternoon, she closed her nationals meet with a discus of 167 feet, 2 inches, good for fourth place.
Throwing the World U20 standard in both events put Zielinski in the conversation for the U20 World Championships. Finishing in the top two would have earned her a spot on the U20 World team — she finished fourth in both — but throwing the standard leaves her as a potential alternate if a roster spot opens. Now in her third year at Nike nationals and second at U20s, Zielinski said the familiar setting helped her stay composed.
Missing the top-two cut only sharpened her focus heading into her senior year.
“It most definitely leaves something on the table for me for next year. A big goal for me is to take the top two and compete at U20 Worlds,” Zielinski said. “I really just got too weak, those little things and get everything right for that one big throw.”
Zielinski will return to Eugene soon after being selected for the Nike Elite athlete program, under which she will compete at national events like this going forward.