WHITEWATER - So close, yet so far.
A couple of near-misses at gold and some upstart performances landed both Brodhead-Juda Cardinal squads in the middle of their respective packs at the Rock Valley Conference track and field meet at Whitewater High School Saturday.
The Brodhead-Juda boys scored 41.50 points, which put them seventh out of 12 squads. While they were just 38 points away from second place, Whitewater ran away with the competition with 170 points. For the second straight year, the Whippets doubled up the second- and third-place teams' combined point total. McFarland and Clinton tied for second with 79.75.
The Lady Cardinals finished eighth with 34.50 points. East Troy's 119.50 edged Whitewater's 108.50 for the title.
Both Cardinal squads took silver in the 1,600-meter relay, with the girls clocking a time of 4:20.37, more than 2 seconds behind East Troy's 4:18.23. The boys nearly defended their title, if not for a breathtaking finish by Beloit Turner's anchor, junior Ben Sagona. The Cardinals led from the gun until the final 100 meters, when Sagona closed a 10-meter gap and overtook Brodhead sophomore David Earleywine, clipping him by two-hundredths of a second at 3:31.33.
"That Turner kid is tough and he probably would've placed top two or three in the open 400, but he scratched," said sophomore Trent Jordan who, along with seniors Josh Wilkins (leadoff) and Mitch Wiesenberg (second leg), built the lead in the relay. "But I couldn't be more proud of David. He ran well."
Earleywine also picked up a point with eighth in the 800 (2:09.68). His classmate Jordan took fourth in the 400 (52.67) with his brother, Joey, placing sixth (54.97). Whitewater senior Tony Floyd took the gold (50.76). Floyd, the defending champ in both hurdles events, also came back from a near spill in the 110 to take second before defending his title in the 300.
"I don't even know how I kept my feet ... it's kind of luck and it happened so quick," Floyd said. "Of course I was pretty angry, but I definitely used it as motivation."
Floyd's classmate, Jacob Dennis-Oehling, who owns the sixth-fastest time in the 200, delivered gold in the dash while Jordan took fourth (23.81).
Daniel Drewes was the boys' only other top-five finisher in running events, placing fifth in the 3200 (10:51.34) by outlasting Denhart Chandler of East Troy by one-tenth of a second.
Mitch Wiesenberg led the boys' charge in the field events with a silver-worthy pole vault of 11 feet, 6 inches. Brent Samuelson of Edgerton cleared 14 feet for the gold. Brodhead junior Michael Peterson, in his first track and field season, took fourth in the triple jump (41-4) and leapt to sixth in the high jump (5-6)
"During the basketball season, (jumpers coach) Lance Douglas was always talking to me, trying to convince me to go out for track," Peterson said.
"He's been great; he's really helped us out and I think he's enjoying himself and having some success," boys head coach Steve Wallace said. "That all adds up."
Back on the girls' side, junior Shannon Klein set a personal record in the 400 at 59.63, shaving nearly 2 seconds of her previous mark, but couldn't beat out East Troy's dynamic senior duo of Jasmine Haines and Tia Nowak. Nowak lunged to beat Klein by an eyelash at 59.62, while Haines' 59.08 was good for the gold.
Klein, who burst onto the running scene in cross-country as a freshman before having hip surgery last summer, says busting it for 400 meters is just as exhausting as a 4-kilometer jaunt.
"It's just as hard on your legs. Sometimes you've just got to pretend to feel your legs, even if you don't - just pretend they're there, I guess," Klein said, laughing. "I was very proud; I used up all the energy I had," Klein said.
"She said she felt like she was done at about the 200 mark, but she decided she was gonna do it and really came back," girls coach Ken Peterson said.
The fleet-footed Haines swept the 100 (12.50), 200 (26.28) and 400. Admittedly not the quickest out of the blocks, Haines used her devastating late kick and a mind-over-matter mentality.
"You just gotta go," Haines said. "The faster you run, the sooner it's done. My legs already hurt; they can't hurt any more."
Klein also took bronze in the 200 (26.95) behind Haines (26.28) and Clinton's Laura Popanz (26.44).
Seniors Amanda Johnson and Larissa Klemm, along with Janessa Arnsmeier and freshman Mariah Ahrens, comprised the Cardinals' second-place 4x400 quartet. Ahrens also took bronze in the high jump (4-10).
"We were very pleased with her," Peterson said. "She hadn't made 4-10 in quite a while and really came through today. She only had one miss today."
Senior Rachel Nolte pole vaulted to fifth (8-6) and sophomore Heather Clankie took the defending discus champ, Whitewater sophomore Molly Griep, down to the wire in the finals. They both threw 117-8, but Griep's second-longest throw was good enough to seal up the gold.
Clankie, who also took fifth in the shot put (34-5.5), was proud to hang with Griep, but is far from satisfied as regionals loom.
"I had one 130 (in discus) this year, but I haven't hit it since," Clankie said. "I'm in that 120 range, but I'm always chasing after 130."
A couple of near-misses at gold and some upstart performances landed both Brodhead-Juda Cardinal squads in the middle of their respective packs at the Rock Valley Conference track and field meet at Whitewater High School Saturday.
The Brodhead-Juda boys scored 41.50 points, which put them seventh out of 12 squads. While they were just 38 points away from second place, Whitewater ran away with the competition with 170 points. For the second straight year, the Whippets doubled up the second- and third-place teams' combined point total. McFarland and Clinton tied for second with 79.75.
The Lady Cardinals finished eighth with 34.50 points. East Troy's 119.50 edged Whitewater's 108.50 for the title.
Both Cardinal squads took silver in the 1,600-meter relay, with the girls clocking a time of 4:20.37, more than 2 seconds behind East Troy's 4:18.23. The boys nearly defended their title, if not for a breathtaking finish by Beloit Turner's anchor, junior Ben Sagona. The Cardinals led from the gun until the final 100 meters, when Sagona closed a 10-meter gap and overtook Brodhead sophomore David Earleywine, clipping him by two-hundredths of a second at 3:31.33.
"That Turner kid is tough and he probably would've placed top two or three in the open 400, but he scratched," said sophomore Trent Jordan who, along with seniors Josh Wilkins (leadoff) and Mitch Wiesenberg (second leg), built the lead in the relay. "But I couldn't be more proud of David. He ran well."
Earleywine also picked up a point with eighth in the 800 (2:09.68). His classmate Jordan took fourth in the 400 (52.67) with his brother, Joey, placing sixth (54.97). Whitewater senior Tony Floyd took the gold (50.76). Floyd, the defending champ in both hurdles events, also came back from a near spill in the 110 to take second before defending his title in the 300.
"I don't even know how I kept my feet ... it's kind of luck and it happened so quick," Floyd said. "Of course I was pretty angry, but I definitely used it as motivation."
Floyd's classmate, Jacob Dennis-Oehling, who owns the sixth-fastest time in the 200, delivered gold in the dash while Jordan took fourth (23.81).
Daniel Drewes was the boys' only other top-five finisher in running events, placing fifth in the 3200 (10:51.34) by outlasting Denhart Chandler of East Troy by one-tenth of a second.
Mitch Wiesenberg led the boys' charge in the field events with a silver-worthy pole vault of 11 feet, 6 inches. Brent Samuelson of Edgerton cleared 14 feet for the gold. Brodhead junior Michael Peterson, in his first track and field season, took fourth in the triple jump (41-4) and leapt to sixth in the high jump (5-6)
"During the basketball season, (jumpers coach) Lance Douglas was always talking to me, trying to convince me to go out for track," Peterson said.
"He's been great; he's really helped us out and I think he's enjoying himself and having some success," boys head coach Steve Wallace said. "That all adds up."
Back on the girls' side, junior Shannon Klein set a personal record in the 400 at 59.63, shaving nearly 2 seconds of her previous mark, but couldn't beat out East Troy's dynamic senior duo of Jasmine Haines and Tia Nowak. Nowak lunged to beat Klein by an eyelash at 59.62, while Haines' 59.08 was good for the gold.
Klein, who burst onto the running scene in cross-country as a freshman before having hip surgery last summer, says busting it for 400 meters is just as exhausting as a 4-kilometer jaunt.
"It's just as hard on your legs. Sometimes you've just got to pretend to feel your legs, even if you don't - just pretend they're there, I guess," Klein said, laughing. "I was very proud; I used up all the energy I had," Klein said.
"She said she felt like she was done at about the 200 mark, but she decided she was gonna do it and really came back," girls coach Ken Peterson said.
The fleet-footed Haines swept the 100 (12.50), 200 (26.28) and 400. Admittedly not the quickest out of the blocks, Haines used her devastating late kick and a mind-over-matter mentality.
"You just gotta go," Haines said. "The faster you run, the sooner it's done. My legs already hurt; they can't hurt any more."
Klein also took bronze in the 200 (26.95) behind Haines (26.28) and Clinton's Laura Popanz (26.44).
Seniors Amanda Johnson and Larissa Klemm, along with Janessa Arnsmeier and freshman Mariah Ahrens, comprised the Cardinals' second-place 4x400 quartet. Ahrens also took bronze in the high jump (4-10).
"We were very pleased with her," Peterson said. "She hadn't made 4-10 in quite a while and really came through today. She only had one miss today."
Senior Rachel Nolte pole vaulted to fifth (8-6) and sophomore Heather Clankie took the defending discus champ, Whitewater sophomore Molly Griep, down to the wire in the finals. They both threw 117-8, but Griep's second-longest throw was good enough to seal up the gold.
Clankie, who also took fifth in the shot put (34-5.5), was proud to hang with Griep, but is far from satisfied as regionals loom.
"I had one 130 (in discus) this year, but I haven't hit it since," Clankie said. "I'm in that 120 range, but I'm always chasing after 130."
