Area athletes head to state in track & field

Behind the double distance wins of senior Lindsay Fons, the Franklin girls track team advanced individuals in seven events and one relay team to the WIAA state meet as they earned a close second in the Mukwonago sectional May 27.

"It was a great sectional meet," Sabers coach Regina Schindel said.

It was a show-stopping effort as the Sabers finished second only to Wisconsin Lutheran (95-91).

Fons led the way, taking the 1,600-meter in 5 minutes, 11.39 seconds and the 3,200 in 11:15.65.

Jessica Zeman qualified by coming in first in the pole vault (9 feet, 9 inches), and Casey Schott was a double qualifier, taking third in the 100 (13.02) and 200 (26.37).

Others heading to state are Katelyn Thomas, who took third in the triple jump (34-6 ½), the 3,200 relay of Atalee Paremski, El Walman, Fons and Jenny Eickhorst, which came in third (9:47.99), and Eickhorst in the 400, in which she came in third (1:01.54).

Fons earned special praise for her leg of the relay; all four runners had personal-best splits.

Meanwhile, the Sabers boys team will advance John Janicek in the 400 meter and the 1,600 relay team of Lance Baretz, Derek McElroy, Takuto Kobayashi and Janicek.

The Janicek-anchored 1,600 relay took close to five seconds off its best time, winning in 3:25.53. The Sabers led from the first leg on.

Janicek was second in the open 400 (51.35).

The Sabers boys were ninth in the sectional with 37 points.

State Division I events will be held Friday and Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Oak Creek

The Oak Creek girls will advance five individuals and a relay team to state, and the boys will send double sectional champion Rafael Saez in the shot put and the discus and Zak Lenski in the high jump.

The Knights had a one-two finish in the girls 100-meter thanks to Lauren Carranza (12.93) and Carley Fehler (12.99). Fehler also advanced with a third-place finish in the long jump (16-8 ¾ ).

Both also contributed to the third-place 400 relay team (season best 50.67), which also included freshmen Alyssa Parker and Cassandra Grant. Parker also earned a berth at state in the high jump (5-1) and Sam Roehr picked up a slot with a third in the discus (104-0).

The team took third in the sectional with 80 points.

For the Knights boys, Saez will be seeded second in the discus (167-10) and third in the shot put (56-10), and he will be joined by Lenski, who was second in the high jump (5-10).

The boys also finished third (66) in the sectional.

Whitnall

The Whitnall Falcons boys will send three individuals and three relays to state, joined on the girls' side by two-time freshman qualifier Rachel Stave (triple jump and the 400 meters) and the 3,200 relay team.

Scott Erickson, who was third in the shot put (50- ¼ ) and second in the discus (161-10), will pave the way for the Whitnall boys, who were fourth out of 16 teams at sectional.

Jake Lehman qualified in the 800, coming in second in 1:58.67.

But it was in the relays that the Falcons put their emphasis, and it paid off in a big way. Bob Grim, Ben Schaefer, Jake Streim and Nikolai Miskov teamed together to drop more than two seconds from their collective season best to record a win in the 800 relay (1:30.02). Just a short time later, they dropped close to a second in taking the 400 relay (43.31).

The 800 unit was 19th and the 400 team 13th at state last season.

And at the end of the day, Miskov and Schaefer joined with Sawyer Nelson and Lehman to record a season best by more than a second in taking second in the 1,600 relay (3:25.95).

Those efforts led the Falcons to a 54-point total. The host Indians won with 107.

The girls' Stave continued her stellar first season of varsity track by winning the 400 by more than a second (1:00.14) and then by taking second in the triple jump (36-1).

She will be joined by the all-underclassmen 3,200 relay team of Leah Windt, Danika Johnson, Katherine Crivello and Mary Erickson, which took 49 seconds off its regional time with a runner-up showing of 9:44.88.

Those efforts led the Falcons to a ninth-place showing in the girls sectional (30).

Greendale

The Greendale program failed to advance anyone.