Rockets’ Lavey races to 3rd in 3,200 final

Cedar Grove-Belgium’s Stephen Lavey came home from the WIAA Division 2 boys’ state track and field meet at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse last weekend with a piece of hardware and a school record.

Lavey ran the 3,200-meter race in 9 minutes, 24.49 seconds, good for third place and less than three seconds out of first.

That broke the senior’s own school record by 13 seconds.

“That was just a really fun race. After the first lap, I moved up into the front of the pack so I would avoid getting boxed in like the 1,600,” Lavey said.

Lavey got boxed in early but recovered quickly and moved up front with the lead group. The group thinned out toward the middle of the race, and the final lap was just a sprint.

“I think he surprised himself, especially with that time. He wanted podium,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Eric Teunissen said.

In the 1,600, Lavey took seventh in 4:25.15, less than five seconds out of first.

He got boxed in early.

“I had a strong finish in that race. I just didn’t get to the front quick enough,” he said.

Lavey said he was happy to qualify in both events.

“After four years of work, I’m just really happy it all came together in track season,” he said.

Port Washington senior Alexis Reichardt finished 21st in the 800 run (2:22.46) and 22nd in the 1,600 run (5:23.42) in the Division 1 girls’ state meet.

“State culminated an outstanding high school career,” Port coach Joe Adamak said.

Reichardt will compete in the senior spotlight in Iowa this weekend and in cross country and track and field while attending UW-Oshkosh.

Also in the Division 1 girls’ state meet, Grafton’s Abby Cibulka took 14th in the long jump with a personal-best effort of 17 feet, .25 inches and teammate Julia Wille was 23rd in the 3,200 run (12:36.1).

Grafton’s two other state qualifiers — the 800 relay of Delaney Reindl, Jaden Mirek, Lizbeth Huertes and Cibulka, and the 1,600 relay of Reindl, Cibulka, Mirek and Kate Senczyszyn — didn’t reach the finals.