Heather would have loved it
David Sikorski (right) blasts out of the blocks in his heat of the 100m dash at the Heather Johnson Invitational held at WDHS Friday. Sikorski had the fastest preliminary time at 11.1 seconds and ran 11.2 to win the final as well while teammate Wilson Nock was fourth in 11.5.
By Jim den Hollander
hool varsity track team had just one chance to compete in front of friendly fans this season and did they ever make the most of it. Personal records, school records and meet records were shattered as the Chiefs played miserable hosts and dominated the day at the third annual Heather Johnson Invitational, formerly known as the Wisconsin Dells Invite. For the girls, the overall meet win run its current string to five straight meet victories and more importantly, gave them the win at the Wisconsin Dells Heather Johnson Invitational for the first time - ever. The boys team also enjoyed by far its best day of the season. Having successfully moved from near the bottom to the middle of the pack in most meets this season, the Chiefs exploded for 97 point total on the home track, good enough for third spot overall, just eight points behind DeForest in the runner up position. Sophomore Taylor Hickey realized a season long goal, beating teammate Stacey Swatek in the 1,600 and in doing so, holds the school record in the event with a time of 5:19.7, an improvement of some 6-7 seconds on her personal best. Both Hickey and freshman Swatek have broken what was a 15-year-old record of about 5:30 so many times this season that it now would be considered a bad race to even come close to that time. Swatek also took a nice three second chunk out of her own personal best, finishing a half second behind Hickey. Placing a distant third was Mauston rival Keely Rubash in 5:30.8. Runs like that as well as personal records off the track as well helped the girls to an amazing 142.5 point total, obliterating the field of 11 teams. Second place Ripon finished at 116 points while Mauston was third at 105. The Lady Chiefs looked to carry the momentum built from this meet into the SCC conference championship meet at Wautoma yesterday (after press time) and turn it into a six-pack of consecutive meet wins and its first ever conference title. On the boys side, the 4 X 100m relay team was one of many highlights on the day as junior Zach Batchelor ran the opening leg followed by seniors Wilson Nock, Matt Reichoff and David Sikorski. The result was a new school record time of 44.2, and an edge of 7/10 of a second in front of second place Portage. Girls The Lady Chiefs collected four event wins and a dozen top three finishes on the day to rack up its point total. Swatek and Hickey went head-to-head once again in the 800m, this time Swatek pulling out the win with a time of 2:24.8, a couple of seconds in front of Hickey, Leah Hauck of Mauston third, another two seconds back. Boys Along with running in the 4 X 100m, David Sikorski picked up another first place finish for the Chiefs in the open 100m sprint, a season best 11.1 seconds giving him a 4/10 of a second margin over Portage's Ben Hartman. Nock was fourth in the event in 11.5 seconds. The Chiefs also enjoyed a 1-2 finish in the pole vault where junior Jake Gregerson cleared the bar at 11'6" to top the field, Ethan Weber tied for second just six inches behind him. The team's other event win came in the shot put, where Phillip Kacmar gave the Chiefs a girls/boys exacta with a winning distance of 48'9". The Chiefs also had two other second place finishers and another two third place showings. Among the second place finishers: Sikorski in the 200m sprint, his 22.8 second finish putting him behind only Drew Simmons of DeForest. Nock was fourth in the event in 23.6 seconds, but also picked up a second place showing in the long jump. After topping the field in preliminaries with a 19'9" leap, Nock was unable to better his total in finals while Ben Fargo of Mount Horeb sprung a 20-footer. The 4 X 400m relay team of senior Matthew Millson, freshman Tom Sosinsky, freshman Ryan Stroede and sophomore Kasey Podoll ranked third with a time of 3:38.4, a couple of seconds behind second place Mount Horeb. Podoll also collected a third place finish in the 300m hurdles, finishing in 42.4 second, 1/10 of a tick behind second place Caleb Rabe of Medford. Junior Becky Madsen, a winner in every outdoor meet she has attended so far, added two feet to her shot put total and crossed the 35-foot line for the first time, reaching 36'5.5" with her best and beating her old personal best in the 34 foot range with every throw. The team's other win came in the 400m event, where freshman Heather Conroy led the field in 1:03.1, exactly one second in front of Mauston's Katie Barber. Janelle Julson was sixth overall in the same event. Conroy also has been showing a great deal of improvement in the shot put and just missed a top three finish in the event, her 30'10" throw good enough for fourth. Just 10 minutes after running in the 800m event, Swatek turned in a gutsy performance in the 3,200m. Looking to collect the Chiefs some valuable points, she stayed in a three-way battle with Rubash of Mauston and Ripon's Abby Yeomans for the first half of the race, ultimately collecting a half dozen points for the squad with a third place time of 12:13.5. Meanwhile, Kiersten Norgard collected another three for the locals with a personal record time of 13:22.1 and a sixth place showing. Other second place finishers for the Chiefs included: the 4 X 200m relay team of freshman Rhianyn Foth, freshman Kirstie Pikorz, senior Alicia Johnson and sophomore Nicole Gantz with a time of 1:52.3, just 7/10 of a tick behind race winning Bangor; The 4 X 400m team of Conroy, Johnson, Hickey and senior Allie Swatek finished in 4:16.8, a couple of seconds behind Ripon and a comfortable six seconds in front of third place Mauston; Kelsey Myklebust in the triple jump, her 32'5" effort behind only Alida Mau of DeForest and Madsen in the discus, where another personal best of 98' ranked her behind only Deidre Erickson of Ripon. Third place finishers included: The girls 4 X 100m relay team of freshman Carley Heller, sophomore Tess Myklebust, freshman Pikorz and senior Johnson, finishing in 53.7 seconds, just 1.3 behind racing winning DeForest and actually with the same time as second place Medford; Conroy in the 200m dash, her 27.7 second time in the final, an improvement of nearly a half second on her qualifying heat tie and just 3/10 of a tick behind race winner Katie Peterson of Adams-Friendship. Kelsey Myklebust who cleared the bar at 4'10", even with second place finisher TeAnn Harms of Reedsburg and just 2 inches off the winning height recorded by Nish Rubash of Mauston.