May 31, 2022 at 6:09 a.m.
Track: Worrall qualifies for state in two events
Olcikas, Beske suffer near-misses
Track: Worrall qualifies for state in two events
"I kind of thought to myself, it's been a good four years," he said. "Regardless of what the outcome is, I've come a long way and, hopefully we can make it not be the last meet."
Luckily for Worrall, what followed were two of his best runs, and the opportunity to finish off his high school career on the state's biggest stage.
Worrall finished as the runner-up in both the 110-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash in a WIAA Division 1 sectional in Marshfield, punching his ticket to the state meet to be held later this week in La Crosse.
It marks the second straight year that Worrall, a UW-Whitewater recruit, has qualified for state in multiple events. This time, however, he'll be making the trip to La Crosse solo as none of his three other Hodags teammate who qualified for sectionals moved on.
"I said to his parents today, 'He's about the surest thing we've got.' I'm just really, really proud of the way that he races," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said.
Worrall went 0.01 second faster than his sectional-championship time in the 110s last year, clocking in with a time of 15.17 seconds. Though he lost out to Chippewa Falls' Brayden Warwick this time by 0.11 seconds Thursday, he was still fast enough to be among the top three and punch his ticket to state.
"I don't think I've raced that fast this year," Worrall said. "The only thing that was a little troubling was my trail leg hit a few hurdles, which is good because that means I'm getting low. A low approach means I'm quicker. I've been doing really good with that the last two weeks."
Worrall missed a chance to repeat his state berth in the 300 hurdles, taking eighth at sectionals on Thursday. Following a short rest, he was right back on the track for the 200, where he put down a season-best effort of 22.42 seconds to finish second again.
Both Worrall and Kraemer said it took a second-half surge in that race to secure a qualifying spot.
"When people started to fade off at the 80-meter mark, 70-meter mark, 60-meter mark, he was like the Little Engine that Could and just kept going," Kraemer said.
Added Worrall, "You get to see the last three or four people that were in front of you and you know those are the two or three people you need to beat in order to make it on. That's when something just clicks inside my head and I just keep going faster and faster."
By the slimmest of margins, Rhinelander missed having a pair of teammates join Worrall at state. Caleb Olcikas finished fourth in the 100-meter dash and Jaden Beske lost out on a tiebreaker for the final qualifying spot in the high jump.
Olcikas ran a lifetime-best of 11.28 seconds in the 100, but came up 0.02 seconds short of advancing in a highly competitive race. The entire field of eight sectional qualifiers was separated by only two-tenths of a second at the finish line.
"It's sad that he's not going to have that full-circle moment, getting there as a freshman and getting back there as a senior, but that was a whole different league back then," Kraemer said, alluding to Olcikas' appearance at state in Division 2 in the 4x200 relay in 2019. "We're in the big leagues now. For him to be that close to a state berth in the fastest races on the planet, that's pretty impressive.
"I know how he feels right now. Sometimes it's even worse to take fourth than it is to take seventh or eighth. I think he feels that sentiment too, but there's nothing he can say about his career that he didn't accomplish."
It was a similar story for Beske, a state qualifier in the high jump last year. After struggling to clear 5 feet, 8 inches and 5-10, he had to clear 6 feet to have a chance to move on. He didn't and he ended up seventh overall, last among the five jumpers tied at 5-10, based on the number of jumps it took him to clear the previous heights.
"In his 6-foot jump, he was literally slivers away on his first jump and his third jump. I think he's still a little bit in shock that the bar came down, and so am I," Kraemer said. "That's sometimes the luck that you have. The field events can be fickle that way, because it's one inch, one movement. A lot of times, it just happens that way. I'm sad that he's not going to be with us at state to compete but, at the same time, I know that he's going to have more opportunities moving forward, going to York (College) and competing in high jump."
Rhinelander's lone girls' sectional participant, Gussie Gruett, entered the day as a longshot to advance in the girls' 400 meters. She finished seventh, 3.70 seconds off a state qualifying spot, but completed her junior year with a personal-best time of 1:04.61 in the event.
"We're still trying to figure out what her best race is and today, 1:04 in the 400, that's eight seconds off of her beginning time of the year," Kraemer said. "In that race, it's pretty impressive. To be in the top eight girls in our section, in that race, that's really impressive. I'm very, very proud of her."
For Worrall, preliminaries in the 110 hurdles and 200 will take place Friday. Heat winners and the next seven fastest times will advance to Saturday's finals. Worrall placed 15th in the 110 hurdles last year in monsoon-like conditions at state.
"Regardless of how I do, I've made it this far and this is where I wanted to be. This was my goal for the year," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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