Falcons claim title of Woodland's best
Erickson among victors in narrow win over Tosa West
Whitnall's Scott Erickson competes in the Shot Put event of her teams Woodland Conference Outdoor track and field meet held at South Milwaukee High School Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in South Milwaukee, Wis. Photo By Peter Zuzga
Scott Erickson's reign as the Woodland Conference's best performer in the shot put ended at the league meet at South Milwaukee on Tuesday. But the Whitnall senior repeated in the discus throw to help the Falcons to a five-point win over second-place Wauwatosa West in the 13-team meet.
After winning the league outdoor title in the shot put as both a sophomore and junior, Erickson was upended by Pewaukee's Derek Watt in the finals Tuesday. Watt's second effort in the finals was his best, a distance of 54 feet, 4½ inches. Erickson, who had the final two throws of the competition, managed a 53-9 in his second-to-last toss before scratching on his final attempt. He finished second.
Shorter shots
Earlier this season, Erickson turned in a 55-8¾ to win the league indoor meet, the eighth-best throw statewide (all divisions) this spring, as of Tuesday. But he has been unable to duplicate that mark since, and Watt surpassed him Tuesday.
"I wanted to push myself because I'm not as good at outdoor shot as I usually am at indoor shot," Erickson said following his final throw. "My goal was to push him today and we battled it out, but I look forward to getting him in disc."
A new spin on discus
Erickson did just that. In his preferred event, the athletic big man won with a 159-3, better than Watt's second-place distance of 144-9.
Entering the meet, Erickson owned the state's 17th-best distance statewide at 161-10, the 12th-best effort among Division 1 athletes. Erickson set his mark at a meet at Wauwatosa East on May 13.
"I just visited with the coaches from UW-Milwaukee and they showed me a few tricks to help me out and discus has been going better since then," Erickson said.
Erickson has had his sights set on breaking the school record in either throw - he'd need 60 feet in the shot and 175 in the discus - and hopes to finish his standout high school career on the medal-winners stand at the WIAA state meet in La Crosse on June 5.
Also flying high
Erickson wasn't the only Falcon to enjoy success at Tuesday's league meet as the Falcons tallied a meet-best 148 points to Wauwatosa West's 143 second-place points. West edged Whitnall at the league relays earlier this month.
The Falcons picked up wins in two jumps. Jake Streim won the long jump with an effort of 20-1½ and Pablo Bras, who was fourth in the long jump, won the triple jump at 41-9½.
Whitnall's Nikolai Miskov and Bob Grim ran second and third in the 100-meter dash in 11.29 and 11.42 seconds. Also finishing second were Jake Lehmann in both the 400 (51.63) and the 800 (1:58.78) and Joel Stave in the high jump (6-2), as well as three relays: the 800 (1:33.66), the 400 (45.02) and the 1,600 (3:32.61).
For the Whitnall girls, who were fifth with 77.33 points, Rachel Stave won the 400 in 59.95, the only sub-one-minute time in the field. She was also second in the 200 in 27.23, behind only Brown Deer's Ariel Kinlow's 26.81, and the triple jump with a 34-6.
Also second were Mary Erickson in the 800 (2:26.33) and the 3,200 relay (10:02.30).
Wauwatosa West won the girls meet with 112.5 points.
The young Greendale Panthers struggled - the boys were seventh and the girls 11th - but did pick up a win in the pole vault, in which Tim Davis had a meet-best 13-0.
Also, Jordan Dominiak was third in the shot put (47-5), as were Gaelan Seibold in the high jump (6-0) and the 400 relay (45.60).
Up next
WHITNALL: The Falcons will compete in the Wisconsin Lutheran Regional at 3:30 p.m. Monday along with Mukwonago, Muskego, Pius XI, Racine Case, Racine Horlick, Racine Park, Union Grove and the host school.
GREENDALE: The Panthers will compete in the South Milwaukee Regional at 3 p.m. Monday along with Cudahy, Franklin, Greenfield, Bay View, Milwaukee Hamilton, Milwaukee Pulaski, Oak Creek and the host school.
MOVING ON: The first four finishers in each even at all regionals qualify for the sectional competition. Greendale and Whitnall qualifiers will advance to the Mukwonago Sectional held at 4 p.m. May 27.
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