May 24, 2019 at 3:24 p.m.
Moving on to state
Hodag 4x100, 4x200 relays & Lawrence make it to La Crosse
Moving on to state
Rhinelander made it to state first with the 4x200-meter relay as the team of Nick Kriesel, Josh Francisco, Caleb Olcikas and Anthony Kowalski took the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot in the event with a time of 1 minute, 33.04 seconds. The Hodags had a little more of a cushion later in the 4x100 as Kriesel, Francisco, AJ Kopplin and Kowalski qualified by finishing third with their second sub-44 second time of the season (43.91).
"When we set those relays up at the beginning of the year, we knew we had something special," coach Aaron Kraemer said. "Then at the Otto Bacher it was confirmed we had something special (when the team broke school records in the 4x100 and 4x200). They've earned it. They've been working all year and pushing themselves to be better every single meet. Today, they made it to state."
The 4x100 was the less stressful of the two events, as the Hodags were the top qualifier in the sectional and cruised to a third-place finish, roughly four-tenths of a second behind Rice Lake, and nearly three quarters of a second ahead of fifth-place finishing Northwestern.
Rhinelander had its work cut out for itself in the 4x200, seeded seventh after barely winning the regional title in the event Monday at Lakeland. Running from the inside lane, the Hodags had to play catch up most of the way before Kowalski put down the hammer on the home stretch and raced his way into fourth, two-tenths of a second ahead of fifth-place St. Croix Central.
"It just shows you the margin between success and failure in this sport, and when you look at the other events today, they margin of success and failure are razor thin and you have to be at your best regardless of the circumstances," Kraemer said.
Lawrence sneaks in
In no event was the margin closer than in girls' high jump where sophomore Rebecca Lawrence was in the state meet, out on a technicality, and back in again.
There was some confusion in the administration of a tiebreaker in the high jump Thursday. According to Kraemer, meet officials told Lawrence she finished fourth and had qualified for state, only to be bumped to fifth and out of the state meet due to a clerical error made in the initial calculations.
Lawrence, Rice Lake's Jasmine Mlejnek and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau's Rachel Amoth all successfully cleared 5 feet, 2 inches, before going out at 5-3. At issue was the tie-breaking procedure used to distinguish third, fourth and fifth place. Officials initially mistakenly used total number of jumps overall to break the tie, which favored Lawrence. However Mlejnek and Amoth both needed fewer attempts to clear 5-2 than Lawrence, who made the height on her final try. That criteria ultimately dropped Lawrence to fifth.
"The rule is clear, but it was unfortunate that they told her that she was going to state and then to have the rug pulled out from under her was disheartening," Kraemer said following Thursday's sectional. "I did have words with the officials to make sure they knew it's just not fair to tell somebody - especially in this day and age of technology when you can get ahold of people right away and say, 'Hey, I'm going to state.' Now she has to explain to everybody that on a rule, on a technicality, she's not going.
"It's heartbreaking as a coach to have to watch somebody to go through that, and to wait as long as we did for the results, I just think there was something going on. I'm not happy about it at this moment."
Fortunately for Lawrence, a stipulation in the WIAA rules allowed her to still qualify for state because her performance was among the eight best performances state-wide. Only four athletes in Division 2 posted marks better than 5-2 at sectionals, giving Lawrence a spot in the state high jump field as an extra qualifier.
Standards for extra state qualifiers were set to be posted by the WIAA Friday.
Kraemer said it was poetic justice.
"She made 5-2. She deserves it," he said. "Hopefully she can make it to state, jump a PR at 5-4 and then go for a school record (5-6)."
Near misses
Rhinelander also barely missed qualifying for state in three other individual events. Kowalski finished fifth in the 200 meters, Francisco was sixth in the 100, Peyton Erikson took sixth in the long jump and Calvin Schneider finished sixth in the boys' high jump.
Kowalski represented Rhinelander's last shot at a state qualifier, but he was nipped at the line by 0.10 seconds for the fourth and final qualifying spot in the 200.
"I know that he really wanted to make it, but we'll see if he makes it as the top eight in the rest of the state. It was really, really tight. We'll see," Kraemer said. "I'm just proud of the way he's finished this season. He's come a long way and I'm proud of the way he competes every single day. He got himself to state in two events and that's better than last year."
Francisco (11.26) was only 0.04 seconds out of fourth in the 100 and Erikson (20-8 3/4) missed fourth in the long jump by 2 1/4 inches, despite setting a personal record.
"Twenty feet, 8 inches, that's a heck of a jump for a junior of his stature," Kraemer said. "You look at the guys over there, you look at their length and how fast they're running down the track, I think that's where Peyton can sometimes get outleveraged a little bit. This summer, we're going to work on speed."
Schneider cleared 5-10 in the high jump, four inches lower than his regional performance. Six feet ended up being the qualifying mark.
None of those performances were good enough to earn an at-large bid to the state meet.
Other performances
Drake Martin reached the finals in the shot put, placing eighth overall with a toss of 45-8. He finished 10th in the triple jump (41-2 1/2) and 12th in the long jump (20-3 3/4).
Kopplin finished 10th in high jump (5-8), while freshman Cole Worrall barely missed the finals in the 110 hurdles. He placed 10th overall in that event (16.73) and finished 12th in the 300 hurdles (43.92). Sage Flory finished 15th in the 200 (27.78), the girls' 4x100 relay team of Flory, Megan Brown, Isabella Anderson and Samantha Siefert finished 15th (53.31) and sophomore Alex Olson finished 16th in the boys' discus (108-3).
Kraemer said, for most of the athletes, simply experiencing a high-profile meet like sectionals was worth the trip.
"I really enjoy the fact that they've been together all season and there's a group of kids that really, really want to win," he said. "We do graduate a bunch of senior sprinters, but there's a lot of speed coming behind this."
The WIAA state track meet will be held next Friday and Saturday in La Crosse.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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