Depth challenge takes a track toll

Port Washington and Grafton high schools’ track and field teams hung in there with the bigger teams in the new North Shore Conference at the relay meet at Cedarburg last week, but depth eventually won out.

The Pirate boys took sixth place with 50.4 points, and the Grafton boys took eighth with 35.

Slinger won the meet with 111.92 points. Port coach Mark Pasten pointed out that four of the top five teams were new to the conference this season. West Bend West was second with 80.42 points, West

Bend East third with 79.44 and Hartford fifth with 58.94.

But Pasten was pleased with his team’s performance.

“I thought we overall did pretty well. I was happy we were one of two teams to score in each event,” he said.

Port’s highest finish came in the triple jump, a second place. Jake Lippe had a leap of 39 feet, 2.5 inches — second best overall — and William Handziak had a 38-4.5 and Will Stopczynski had a 38-2.5.

“It was a little bit surprising. Triple jump is one of those events not many teams have depth in,” Pasten said.

“It’s a different event. We don’t do it indoors very often. We’ve got some pretty talented kids there.”

With Lippe being a junior and Handziak and Stopcyznski both sophomores, Port’s future in the event looks bright.

The Pirates’ next highest finish was third in pole vault.

Michael Murphy cleared 11-6, Sam Fritsch 11-0 and Josh Holtebeck 10-6.

“I think all three guys were six inches below their best vault of the year, but they were still strong enough to finish third,” Pasten said.

Port took fourth in the long jump. Lippe had a 20-4.5, Stopczynski 19-4.5 and Mitchell Niemeyer 18-8.75.

“All three guys jumped close to their best of the year,” Pasten said.

The Pirates tied for fourth in the high jump. Lippe cleared 5-8, and George Klassen and Handziak 5 feet each.

The Pirates took seventh place in both shot put and discus.

In shot put, freshman Shem Castillo threw 35-7. Murphy threw 34-7 and Jason Goebel 32-1.

Castillo led in discus with a personal record of 91-3. Murphy had a 91-2, and Goebel had a 78-4.

Pasten said he was impressed since Murphy, filling in for his top thrower, hadn’t practiced either event all season, and Castillo hadn’t tried either event until this year.

The 3,200-meter relay team of Zach Miller, Zach Gephart, tony Cook an Zach Wehner took fifth in 8:45.64.

Miller equaled his best time of the year, Gephart and Cook each had PRs and Wehner had a season-best time, Pasten said.

The 6,400 relay team of Wehner, Gephart, Ben Pasten and Brett Grisar was fifth in 19:46.12.

Miller, Gephart and Pasten all ran PRs — Pasten’s by nine seconds. Grisar didn’t PR but he ran the 1,600 earlier in the meet.

“That was a good finish for that group. Distance on the boys side is really strong in the conference this year, so I was really happy with that,” coach Pasten said.

Port was fifth in the 300 hurdles behind three PRs. Stopczynski ran a 43.57, Klassen a 45.79 and Handziak a 46.39.

Grafton’s highest finish was second in the sprint medley relay. The team of Ethan Lang, John Kluck, Joey Giorgi and Caden Knauer finished in 1:37.82.

The 3,200 relay team of Gordy Thompson, Sam Peters, Zander Lichosik and Jonathon Weinhold was fourth in 8:43.8.

The 800 relay team of Jordan Abts, Knauer, Mason Hunt-Olkowski and Kluck was fourth in 1:34.88.

The lady Pirates took seventh with 43.29 points. Grafton was ninth with 36.96. West Bend West won with 115.41.

“Kids performed well in their events. A lot of them were very busy. They did a nice job,” coach Joe Adamak said.

The Pirates won the 6,400 relay of Emma Meyer, Alexis Reichardt, Jill Cavanaugh and Bethany Stacey won in 23:12.96. Second place was 15 seconds behind.

“We knew going in we had a good shot at that one. It wasn’t very close,” Adamak said.

The Pirates were in a three-way tie for second in the high jump. Reichardt cleared 5-2 and Jose DeMerit and Julia Greisch each 4-8.

Port took third in the 300 hurdles. Jane Kautz ran a 51.53, Grace Schumacher a 56.23 and Abby Fritsch a 56.67, the latter two PRs from freshmen.

Port took third in the 3,200 relay. The team of Reichardt, Meyer, Cavanaugh and Emma Goodman finished in 10:22.08.

Grafton took second in the sprint medley relay. The team of Kate Senczyszyn, Abby Cibulka, Delaney Reindl and Jaden Mirek finished in 1:53.82.

The Hawks took third in the 800 relay. Reindl, Mirek, Lizbeth Huertas and Senczyszyn finished in 1:47.69.

The 400 relay team of Reindl, Mirek, Huertas and Cibulka was fourth in 51.1.

Grafton was scheduled to compete at Hart Park in Wauwatosa on Tuesday and host an invite on Friday.

The Port boys were to compete Tuesday at Menomonee Falls and Thursday at Cedarburg. The girls compete at Grafton on Friday.