Sports
Track Teams Claim Multiple State Berths With Sectional Efforts
Greenfield, Whitnall athletes qualify in 12 events for next weeks season finale.
Greenfield junior Michelle Garner took another step toward defending her state title by qualifying for both hurdle events at the Mukwonago Sectional on Thursday.
Garner, the reigning Division 1 champion in the 300-meter hurdles, won that event Thursday in 44.87 seconds. She also finished third in the 100 hurdles in 15.72.
Garner was one of many local athletes to qualify for the WIAA State Track Meet, to be held June 3-4 in La Crosse, by finishing in the top three of their respective events.
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Whitnall’s Mary Erickson claimed a pair of individual state bids by winning the 800 run in 2:19.44 and the 1,600 in 5:32.10.
Whitnall also picked up a win in the triple jump as Rachel Stave won with a distance of 36 feet-7 inches, five inches better than South Milwaukee’s Corissa Myers’ runner-up effort of 36-2.
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Stave also earned a berth in the 400 dash by running second in 1:00.40. Other seconds came from the Whitnall’s girls 3,200 relay, Greenfield’s boys 800 relay and Whitnall’s girls 1,600 relay, a race in which the top three slots were decided by approximately three-tenths of a second.
Thirds came from Whitnall’s Meredith Heller in the 300 hurdles (46.29), Matt Brendemihl in the triple jump (42-11) and Ryan Manzuk in the 300 hurdles (40.36). Manzuk also just missed a slot in the 110 hurdles; he was fourth.
The Falcons just missed out on a pair of other berths with fourth-place finishes from Eric Windt in the 3,200 (10:11.69) and Pablo Bras in the long jump (20-0 ½).
Whitnall finished fourth in the girls team standings with 65 points, 20 behind champion Racine Case. Greenfield was 12th with 23.
The Greenfield boys were eighth with 40 points; Whitnall was 13th with 14.
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