Falcons claim title of Woodland's best

Greenfield — 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 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.

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."

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 in Division 1. Erickson set his mark at a meet at Wauwatosa East on May 13.

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.

Erickson wasn't the only Falcon to enjoy success at Tuesday's league meet as the Falcons tallied a meet-best 148 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).

For the undermanned Greenfield Hustlin' Hawks, Kevin Hanneken won both the 110 hurdles in 14.90 and the 300 hurdles in 39.09, the only sub-40-second time at the meet, and Michelle Garner won the 300 hurdles in 45.45 after getting edged in the 100s by Brown Deer's Asia Cheeks, 15.78 to 16.31.

Regional results

The following area athletes moved on to Thursday's sectionals by placing fourth or better in their respective events at regionals Monday.

GREENFIELD*: Boys: Kevin Hanneken, first, 110 hurdles, 15.26; Hanneken, first, 300 hurdles, 39.45; Davonte Wilson, first, long jump, 20-0; Ryan Manzuk, second, 110 hurdles, 17.04; 400 relay (Wilson, Richard Kusisto, Reggie Blakely, Arnell Howard) second, 45.03; Blakely, third, long jump, 19-9; Howard, third, 200, 23.04; Manzuk, fourth, 300 hurdles, 43.37. Girls: Michelle Garner, first, 100 hurdles, 16.33; Garner, first, 300 hurdles, 44.96; 800 relay (Camera Gregory, Jill Dworshack, Tania Alvarez, Ella Skillings), second, 1:52.18; Tiann Nelson-Luck, third, shot put, 29-6¾; Heba Mohammad, third, discus, 106-0; 400 relay (Skillings, Dworshack, Gregory, Alvarez), third, 53.66; Skillings, fourth, 200, 28.21; Skillings, fourth, long jump, 16-0.

WEST ALLIS HALE^: Boys: Martin Shaw, first, long jump, 20-3; Shaw, first, triple jump, 44-7; Ben Koeppen, second, long jump, 20-1; Koeppen, second, 300 hurdles, 41.76; Jeff Sczerzen, second, discus, 152-4; Chad Loberg, second, shot put, 46-1; 3,200 relay, second, 8:39.33; Brandon Willis, third, 110 hurdles, 16.31; Willis, third, 30 hurdles, 42.24; 1,600 relay, third, 3:29.76; Jonathan Abernathy, fourth, 100, 11.64; Jason King, fourth, 400, 50.46; Sczerzen, fourth, shot put, 45-2 ½; Mike Braunreiter, fourth, 300 hurdles, 42.62. Girls: Kayla Potter, first, discus, 92-4; Brenna Tomczak, first, 100 hurdles, 16.53; Tomczak, first, long jump, 16-7½; Kayla Pasko, second, 1,600, 5:37.45; Emily Zelten, third, 1,600, 5:39.83; Elizabeth Elliot, third, pole vault, 8-9; Jessica Fritz, third, high jump, 5-0; Tomczak, third, triple jump, 33-1 ½; 400 relay, third, 51.13; Fritz, fourth, triple jump, 32-2½; Lindsey Dickhut, fourth, discus, 84-8½; Kayla Jones, fourth, 200, 26.13.

WEST ALLIS CENTRAL^: Boys: Derek Sadler, first, pole vault, 13-0; Dan Diebitz, second, pole vault, 13-0; Casey Muszytowski, second, 800, 2:02.34; Joey Fogl, third, shot put, 45-9½; Chris Redman, fourth, long jump, 19-11; Jesse Rodriguez, fourth, discus, 131-10; Alex Gonzales, fourth, 3,200, 10:06.79. Girls: Nicole Larson, first, pole vault, 10-3; Ashley Sturm, second, shot put, 28-1½; Abby Pranghofer, second, 3,200, 12:46.12; Cali Schmidt, second, pole vault, 9-6; 3,200 relay, third, 12:02.38; Kiki Poore, fourth, 100, 13.25; Michaela Hubmann, fourth, 300 hurdles, 52.74; Larson, fourth, 1,600, 5:41.18.

WHITNALL#: Boys: Scott Erickson, first, shot put, 51-4; Erickson, first, discus, 164-9; 1,600 relay (Nikolai Miskov, Ben Schaefer, Sawyer Nelson, Jake Lehmann), first, 3:27.20; Nelson, second, 400, 52.65; 400 relay (Bob Grim, Schaefer, Jake Streim, Miskov), third, 44.24; Lehmann, third, 800, 2:00.61; 800 relay (Grim, Schaefer, Streim, Miskov), fourth, 1:32.29. Girls: Rachel Stave, first, triple jump, 34-9¾; Stave, first, 400, 1:01.45; Danika Johnson, third, 400, 1:05.73; 3,200 relay (Leah Windt, Johnson, Katherine Crivello, Mary Erickson), fourth, 10:32.99; Meredith Heller, fourth, long jump, 16-4¼.

* at South Milwaukee  ^ at West Allis Hale  # at Wisconsin Lutheran