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Going gets tough at state track meet
By Jim den Hollander
By Jim den Hollander Events Sports Editor Reaching the WIAA Division 2 state track and field championships is a great accomplishment. Yesterday, the Wisconsin Dells High School varsity track and field team was well represented by a huge contingent. For the most part, the opening day was a day of heats with top competitors returning Saturday for finals. Here is a quick look at some of the early results as it came across the wire at the Events sports desk Friday. Hickey 12th in 1600 Junior Taylor Hickey was the first local on the track, taking part in the open 1,600m race at UW- La Crosse on Friday morning. Hickey entered the event seeded 12th and that is exactly where she finished in her time final, crossing the line in a personal record time of 5:16.94. Osceola's Brea Tinney, who entered the event with a seed time similar to Hickey's had the race of her life, taking the state gold medal with a time of 5:01.69. Podoll just misses Kasey Podoll, another Dells junior, set himself a goal of qualifying for finals at the state meet and going under 15-seconds, but as the 13th seed of 16 competitor he knew it would be tough. The speedy Podoll nearly pulled it off though in a couple of preliminaries that included just one time under the 15-second barrier. That time was set by conference rival, Jared Aberderis of Wautoma , an athlete Wisconsin Dells residents are already familiar with as he played a key role on the state championship Wautoma football team last fall as well. Podoll, running in the same heat as Aberderis, wound up sixth in the quicker of the two heats in 15.54 seconds. The top five finishers in the heat race qualified for Saturday's final, Podoll missing by a mere .16 of a second, giving him an early target for his senior season. Gregerson 10th in vault Jake Gregerson, the lone senior on the trek to La Crosse this season made the trip to state as the third seed, but ultimately picked up a 10th place overall finish in his final vaults and first on the state stage. The Dells vaulter reached 12'6", good enough to tie him for 10th overall in an event won by River Valley's Scott Liegel with a vault of 14'3". Sprint relay misses Another team that wrapped up its state run was the 4 X 100m relay team made up of Kirstie Pikorz, Janelle Julson, Tess Myklebust and Heather Conroy along with alternates, Rhianyn Foth and Mackenzie Morse. The team qualified with a seed time of 51.9 seconds and while the Chiefs missed matching its best, the 52.11 second time was enough to move the Chiefs up from its 15th seed to 13th overall. The Chiefs were sixth in its eight-team heat won by Milwaukee Lutheran, one of only two schools to go under 50 seconds. Catholic Memorial was next in 50:58 followed by Xavier in 50.77. Fourth place Sheboygan Falls also qualified for finals in 51.38 seconds. The final cutoff was 51.78 seconds for Mishcicott, just .33 of a second faster than the Chiefs's squad. The varsity girls 4 X 400m team took its shot at qualifying for Saturday's finals after press time Friday and the 4 X 800m varsity girls team will take part in its timed finals on Saturday as well. More information on the state meet will be included in the Wednesday Events.
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