Greenfield's Garner Defends State Title in the Hurdles

La Crosse – Saturday was a day of polar opposites for Michelle Garner.

The Greenfield track star, who specializes in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, started off the second day at the WIAA State Track Meet in La Crosse in frustrating fashion, finishing tenth in the 100 finals in 16.13 seconds after qualifying with the sixth-best time Friday.

Turning all her attention to the 300 hurdles, where she was the defending champion, Garner turned in an eerily similar performance from the year before.

In 2010, Garner edged out Racine Case's Maya Carter by four one-hundredths of a second to take the title.

On Saturday, Garner and Carter were neck-and-neck down the stretch to the point where, when the race was over, neither knew who won.

“I had no clue,” the Greenfield junior said. “Just like last year, we crossed the finish line and just waited.”

As it turned out, Garner defended her title, this time edging out her rival by a mere one one-hundredth of a second in 44.05 seconds.

“Coming down (the stretch) I thought she (Carter) had me by a step,” Garner said. “But once I saw the finish line I just reached and stretched my foot out.

“It feels good. I was scared at first because Maya’s been my competitor all year but I’m so happy.”

In other area events, Whitnall’s girls 3,200 relay of senior Mary Erickson, junior Danika Johnson, junior Carrie Ingish, and senior Katherine Crivello finished 10th.

, the Falcons’ girls finished with an overall score of 14 points, good enough for 14th-place in the D1 standings.

Greenfield finished 19th with 10 points.