WIAA STATE T&F: RIB LAKE - Scott medals in 800; boys relay, Henderson in top 10

For distance runners at the WIAA state track and field championships, finding success often requires combination of talent and smarts. The competition alone often pulls runners and relay teams to their best times, but they also have to understand the pace they’re capable of and also know when they have to push it.

The Rib Lake Redmen balanced on that tightrope in two races at this past weekend’s championships at UW-La Crosse and came out with some solid results.

First, junior Kaleb Scott set a new school record and put himself on the awards podium Friday afternoon with a fourthplace finish in the Division 3 boys 800-meter run. What made that finish even more impressive was that he did it out of the first of the event’s two heats, often called the “slow heat.”

“For starters, all glory to God. I’monly here because He’s allowed me to be here,” Scott said. “I knew for one that slow heat was not going to be a slow heat. It was not going to be a slow heat at all.”

Secondly, as some light rain fell Saturday morning, the team of Jack Regier, Seamus Highfill, Henry Regier and Scott emptied their tanks and pushed themselves about as hard as they could go in the “fast heat” of the Division 3 3,200-meter. That heat truly was fast as the top seven teams filled the top seven spots overall and nine of them filled the top 10. Rib Lake was that ninth team, 0.94 seconds away from scoring, 8.89 seconds away from getting sixth place and a spot on the awards podium and three seconds away from a school record.

Additionally during the weekend, Jed Henderson placed ninth in the boys high jump, Maddie Rademacher was 13th in the girls high jump and Emma Tlusty finished 15th in the girls 100-meter high hurdles.

Scott’s time of 1:56.09 broke Rib Lake’s long-standing record of 1:58.87 set in 1996 by Eric Kauer. His game plan in the twolap race was centered on staying with Fennimore’s Isaac Henkel.

At the end of lap one in the heat, Scott was right on Henkel’s hip and was clocked at 57.39 seconds, 0.41 seconds behind. Iowa-Grant’s Bret Connolly was right there too at 58.0 seconds.

“I knew the second lap was where it was going to matter,” Scott said. “I knew the first lap is, in a sense, free. It kind of just depends on how you run it. I knew if I would’ve passed him at 56 (seconds) that’d be kind of stupid. That’s too hot, but I think I was almost perfect with a 56 open. (Connolly) I think he got too excited. I talked to him before the race and that was not his plan. For me, it was just wait for the Fennimore kid to make his move. When he made his move, it was time to roll.”

Henkel was not going to be caught. He finished the heat in 1:55.38 and wound up finishing second overall. Scott pulled away from Connolly and beat him by 1.29 seconds for second. Connolly wound up ninth overall at 1:57.38.

In heat two, Jacob Sturm of Madison’s Abundant Christian Life won in a speedy 1:52.46, just 0.49 seconds off the state meet record, while Cedar Grove-Belgium’s Jamison Velzke was second in the heat and third overall at 1:55.4. Jacob Hite of Necedah (1:56.46) and Colton Paczkowski of Owen-Withee (1:56.86) rounded out the medalists.

“I was like, ‘I know what I have to do and I know who I’m racing against,’” Scott said. “If he goes, I go, and if I can stay with him, the time will come. I was not expecting a 1:56, but I did know that my best, my complete best, is better than the kids I was racing against. That showed. Two kids in the slow heat placed in the top five overall and I had a great kid to race with. Absolutely amazing. (Henkel) just went 49.46 in the 400 like an hour before this. I know speed and he has a faster 400 than me, so I know he’s going to roll. If I can hang, I’m doing all right.”

Scott’s finish gave Rib Lake five team points for the meet, good for a 36th-place tie. Rib Lake’s Marawood Conference rival Marathon won the state championship with 48.5 points, while Coleman (38) took home the silver trophy.

Rib Lake held the 10th and lowest seed in the second heat of Saturday’s 3,200meter relay. Jack Regier, a senior, went all-out in his opening leg and was in first place after one lap at 59.62 seconds. He wasn’t quite able to hold that pace in lap two, but he still finished it in third place with a leg of 2:01.82.

Sophomore Seamus Highfill got the baton next. Jockeying back and forth with teams like Pardeeville, Kohler and Marathon, Highfill finished a leg of 2:04.19 by keeping Rib Lake in medal contention at fifth place.

Sophomore Henry Regier was third. Certainly one of Rib Lake’s best but also just back into the lineup after missing most of the season, Regier had an extremely fast first lap at 58.77 seconds but fell off in the second. Rib Lake was in eighth place going into Scott’s final leg, which he completed in 2:00.17.

In the heat, Rib Lake finished well ahead of Edgar (8:27.85) and Crivitz (8:38.76). Marawood Conference rival Phillips was second in heat one and finished 10th overall in 8:15.52. Unity won the first heat and placed eighth overall just ahead of Rib Lake in 8:12.66.

Abundant Life Christian won the state title in 7:59.62, 1.04 seconds ahead of Pardeeville, who shot up five places in that 1,600 meters. Marathon took third in 8:02.44, 0.27 seconds ahead of Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs.

Rest of the results

Henderson, a junior, came into state competition Friday morning intent on making amends for no-heighting last spring at La Crosse. As expected, he did much better this time around.

There were some tense moments in Henderson’s ninth place effort. He hit the opening height of 5 feet, 10 inches on his second attempt. Then at 6 feet, he missed twice before getting over the bar on try three.

Henderson did the same thing at 6-2, getting the jump he needed on attempt number three. At 6-4, which would’ve been his personal best, Henderson came up short, just grazing the bar enough to knock it down on his third jump.

When the final results were tabulated, Henderson had more misses overall than Marshall’s Daniel Nickel, who got the eighth-place point at 6-2. Three jumpers cleared 6 feet and four more cleared 5-10. All 16 jumpers at least cleared the opening height.

Ladysmith’s Ashton Clark won the state title in an intense competition with Onalaska Luther’s Jack Schmeling. Clark finally won it at 6-9, while Schmeling topped out at 6-8. Markesan’s Alex Richter hit 6-7 to place third.

Rademacher, competing on Saturday morning in her first state appearance, also made some pressure jumps. The sophomore missed her first two jumps at the opening height of 4-8 but nailed the third one. At 4-10, she did the same, getting over the bar on jump three. Then, at 5 feet, she did it again, getting off a perfect jump to earn a shot at 5-2.

Unfortunately, that’s where her luck ran out. Rademacher was one of seven jumpers to exit the competition at 5 feet. The misses added up, knocking her down to 13th place overall. The top two jumpers at 5 feet, Sheila Johnson of Melrose-Mindoro and Lindsay Vander Galien of Randolph/Cambria-Friesland, tied for seventh.

Eva Brooks of Lena-St. Thomas Aquinas hit 5-5 on her first try to clinch the state championship over the top seed, Evie Bates of Newman Catholic. Bates was one of three jumpers who failed to hit 5-5. Poynette’s Mercedi Lapacek and Deerfield’s Rylee Berryman were third and fourth at 5-4.

Junior Emma Tlusty came in as the 14th seed out of 17 qualifiers in the 100meter high hurdles. Her goal was to lower her sectional time of 16.52 seconds and simply see where it fell. Running in heat one, she placed seventh out of eight hurdlers at 17.17 seconds, beating Neillsville’s Gracie Schoengarth (17.42). After heat two was done, Tlusty was 15th overall, also ahead of Aria Wessel of Living Word Lutheran (17.21).

Cadott’s Iszy Sonnentag, who won three state championships during the weekend, won Saturday’s final in a new Division 3 record 14.48 seconds, while Audrey Arndt of Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran was second at 15.03 seconds and Elyse Bushman of McDonell Central (15.29) was third.