It’s relay time for Grafton girls track

Grafton High School made a little school history at the Division 2 track and field sectional last Thursday at Wisconsin Lutheran.

Of the Black Hawks’ five entries that qualified for the state meet in La Crosse this week, one is the 3,200-meter relay.

That, coach Kevin Kriegel said, is the first time the school is sending the 3,200 relay to state.

The team of senior Julia Wille, freshman Maddy Wille, senior Elise Lueck and sophomore Morgan Ruona took third in 10 minutes, 2.67 seconds.

The top four entries qualify for state.

Two other relays join the 3,200. The 1,600 team of junior Delaney Reindl, Maddy Wille, Ruona and senior Kate Senczyszyn won by .13 of a second over Shorewood in 4:09.44.

The 800 relay team of Reindl, Ruona junior Kirsten Van Ryzin and freshman Ava Wilmanns was third in 1:48.09.

Julia Wille took fourth in the 3,200 in 12:07.76, and senior Taylor Weiss was third in shot put with a throw of 35 feet, 9.25 inches.

“It was great to see both those individuals qualify for state in their senior year,” Kriegel said.

The Black Hawks scored 43.5 points and finished sixth of 25 teams.

Wisconsin Lutheran won with 131 points. Shorewood was second with 51.

“Overall, the girls stepped up at the end of the year and had a great sectional meet.”

Weiss tok fifth in the discus with a throw of 96, just two inches from fouth. Junior Grace Gasser missed advancing by tying for fifth in the high jump by clearing 4-10.

The Port Washington girls scored 19.5 points for 14th place and are sending two events to La Crosse.

Sophomore star Bethany Stacey took second in the 3,200 in 11:53.38 after backing off a little at the end.

“With Bethany, we were definitely confident (in advancing) in the two-mile,” coach Joe Adamak said. “It was a two-person race.”

Alexa Schwalenberg won in 11:40.24. Lexi Keppler of University School of Milwaukee was third in 12:04.98, three seconds ahead of Wille.

The Pirates’ 3,200 relay team of sophomores Emma Goodman and Grace Schumacher, senior Jill Cavanaugh and Stacey took fourth behind their Black Hawk competitors in 10:10.68.

It had to drop half a minute in four days to make it to state.

Adamak put Stacey in the lineup to help.

“We knew we’d get 15 seconds just by inserting Bethany, but Emma and Grace had to run a lot faster,” he said.

Adamak pointed out that the relay team finished last at the North Shore Conference meet — Port is one of the two smallest schools in the meet — and is now heading to state.

“We don’t place a lot of emphasis on that conference meet. We’ll get ready for the end of the year when the meets really count,” he said.

Lichosik, Mursch headed to La Crosse

Grafton’s boys scored 26 points for 12th place of 26 teams and are sending two entries to the state meet.

Senior Zander Lichosik took second in the 3,200 in 9:52.2, barely a second out of first.

Senior Dylan Mursch took third in discus with a throw of 131-11.

“It’s  nice way to end their careers,” Kriegel said.

“There were a number of other season bests by the team, but just came up short of qualifying for state. Overall, the boys finished very well with some nice momentum heading into the next few years.”

The 3,200 relay team of junior Victor Geiser, senior Sam Peters, sophomore Nathan Baker and senior Jake Neperud was fifth in 8:34.19, three seconds from fourth.

Port’s boys didn’t qualify in any events with a couple of near misses.

Senior Jake Lippe took fifth in the triple jump with a season-best 40-9.25, seven inches from fourth place.

“Jake did an outstanding job of competing and pushing himself to the limit,” coach Mark Pasten said.

Will Stopczynski took sxith in the 300 hurdles with a season-best 42.71, barely half a second out of fourth.

The 3,200 relay team of freshman Mason Raasch, junior Isaac Bensen, junior Ben  Pasten and senior Brett Grisar finished in sixth with a season-best 8:34.41, three seconds out of fifth.

CG-Belgium runs into tough competition

Cedar Grove-Belgium, one of the smallest schools in Division 2, didn’t qualify anyone for state.

The Rocket boys and girls each scored two points and took last place in the sectional.

The boys’ 3,200 relay team of senior Elliot Depies, freshman Nathanael Bruhn, senior Bryce Ketterhagen and sophomore Logan Ketterhagen took seventh in 8:36.84, five seconds from fourth.

For the girls, Karen Ibarra finished seventh in the 800 in 2:32.46, seven seconds from fourth.