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Area teams litter D3 with state qualifiers
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BANGOR - Even before the season began, the Darlington Redbirds were favorites to be among the top teams in both boys and girls track and field. On Thursday, they didn't disappoint, as both teams finished second at the Division 3 Sectional at Bangor.

Darlington's girls took second place with 55 1/2 points behind Cashton (66). Albany finished ninth with 38 points, Black Hawk was 11th (32) and Pecatonica-Argyle came in 17th (15). On the boys side, Whitehall was the sectional champion with 70 points followed by Darlington with 54 points. Pecatonica-Argyle finished in eighth (40), Black Hawk was ninth (29), and Albany 11th (23.5).

In the girls competition, eight Individuals and four relay teams, including three from Darlington, became state qualifiers from the area. To advance, an individual or relay needs to finish in the top four in the event.

In the 100 meter dash, Jen Wellnitz of Black Hawk came in first with a time of 13.15 seconds. Senior teammate Rachel Rygh placed third.

The 1,600 meter run found Pecatonica-Argyle's Kendra Sigg taking the top spot with a finals time of 5:34.16. Second place went to Albany's Bailey Hlavacheck. Albany's Rosy Bauman finished second in the 3,200 meter run.

In the field events, Chelsea Fortin of Darlington qualified for state in the pole vault with a third-place finish, while Hillary Best of Albany took second place in the discus. Darlington's McKenzie Pickett was fourth in the shot put.

Relay teams that became state qualifiers include Black Hawk's 400 meter relay team of Alyssa Pieffer, Taylor Werren, Jen Wellnitz, and Rachel Rygh; Darlington's 800 relay team (Cassidy Chambers, Kayla Lange, Chayse Hermanson, and Hannah Huffman); Darlington's 1,600 relay (Hermanson, Lange, Claire Scott, and Huffman); Darlington's 3,200 relay team (Amy Jorgenson, Tatum Evenstad, Cheyenne Wolfe, and Claire Cullen).

The boys competition garnered nine individuals and seven relay teams from the area advancing to the state meet.

Monticello's Reid Zanoya was the sectional champion in the 400 meter dash in 50.69 seconds, followed by senior Lucas Stoehr of Pecatonica-Argyle. Albany's Reece Whitehead took third place in the 800. Pec-Argyle's Wyatt Massey was a third-place finisher in the 1,600.

The 3,200 meter run was nearly all qualifiers from southwest Wisconsin as Darlington's Tyson Miehe took first place in 9:45.48. Drew Mather of Albany was third in 10:06.19 and Darlington's Connor Roche was fourth in 10:11.16.

In the long jump, two Six Rivers Conference athletes claimed the top two spots. Shullsburg's Nate Carrier was first (21 feet, one inch) with Black Hawk's Jake Meier taking second. Black Hawk's Michael Wolff was third in the triple jump.

The relay teams that qualified include Black Hawk's 400 meter relay team (Meier, D.J. Warrell, Jayden Rufenacht, and Jace Johnsrud) with a fourth place finish; Darlington's 800 relay team took fourth (Mitchell Langkamp, Cedric Flesher, Matt McDaniel, and Alex Erickson); Darlington's 1,600 relay team (Erickson, McDaniel, Flesher, and Langkamp) was second; Pecatonica-Argyle's 1600 relay team (Kyle Zwicker, Marcus Rubio, Nathan Loyd, and Lucas Stoehr) came in fourth. In the 3,200 relay, three teams finished 1-2-3: Albany (Chad Helland, Drew Mather, Jose Ramirez, Reece Whithead), Darlington (Kent Miehe, Tyson Miehe, Connor Roche, Destin Komprood) and Pecatonica-Argyle (Chris Jame, Marcus Rubio, Cameron Colson, Wyatt Massey).

The state track and field meet will be held June 3 and June 4 at Veterans Memorial Stadium at UW-La Crosse.