MADISON — The Monroe boys track and field team won the Badger South Conference championship June 8 at Edgewood High School.

“I’ve been a part of other championship teams, but this one will stick out as one of the most memorable,” Monroe boys coach Scott Mosher said.

The Cheesemakers scored 116.5 points in the boys team rankings, besting Monona Grove by 5.5 points. Edgewood was third (105), followed by Oregon (87), Watertown (81), Fort Atkinson (79), Stoughton (74.5) and Milton (47).

Monroe had three individual conference champions and a championship relay team. Three Cheesemakers finished second, and another four were third.

“We scored points in all but two events and were such a well-rounded team. Sometimes a strength in one area carries a team, but we didn’t have that, instead we have contributors in every area, and that made all the difference,” Mosher said. He added that credit to the team title goes to both his athletes and his assistant coaches. “First and foremost the credit goes to the athletes for this achievement, but as the head coach I have to acknowledge what a phenomenal job the other coaches did this year teaching the skill events like throws, jumps, vault, and hurdles.”

The championship wasn’t expected, according to Mosher. There are just two seniors on the roster, and three of the program’s top seniors didn’t compete this spring to either early graduation or scheduling conflicts.

“That included our best hurdler, best distance runner, and best jumper,” Mosher said, referring to state high jump champion Cade Meyer, state hurdler Trevor Rodebaugh and long-distance runner Alex Henry. “Then throw in the lost season from COVID-19 last spring and we only have 5-6 athletes with any varsity experience. Just a couple weeks ago our athletes were still learning how to prepare and compete at a track meet. They were also learning how to train and the pain that goes with it. 

“The growth of these athletes has been unbelievable, because back in May there was no way the team back then could have put everything together to win a championship. Thankfully, and maybe because of their lack of experience, they didn’t know that. Monroe Track athletes have created a culture of expecting to be in contention to win conference every year,” Mosher said.

Mosher said that the 1,600-meter relay race is typically the most exciting event at each meet. This time, the race decided the Badger South team champion — because even in fourth place, Monroe scored 5 points, enough to ward off Monona Grove’s 3 points in fifth place. 

“Leading up to the championship we knew that if we were going to win, it would be close and this race would matter,” Mosher said. “There was so much energy all around the track from all teams knowing the final results came from this race.”

And they did it without one of their key cogs of the quartet. Jason Carpenter clipped the final hurdle in the 300-meter hurdles earlier in the meet — a race he won — but hurt himself diving across the finish line. “He was left pretty banged up and while he wanted to run in the relay he just couldn’t,” Mosher said.

In that final race, Monona Grove jumped out ahead of the Cheesemakers with their first runner, but Monroe junior JT Seagreaves brought the Cheesemakers back into the race. The third leg, run by freshman Jakar Broitzman, also helped bring Monroe closes to Monona Grove. The final baton went to junior Lucas Sathoff. 

“This was Lucas’ fourth event and he didn’t have much left in the tank, but he used everything he had and passed Monona Grove (and Stoughton) to beat MG by just about half a second,” Mosher said. 

Oregon won the race at 3:35.31, just 7/100ths of a second ahead of Fort Atkinson. Watertown (3:36.64) was third, followed by Monroe (3:37.55), Stoughton (3:37.59) and Monona Grove (3:38.12). “Following the race looked like the storming of a basketball court at a college game, and it was awesome scene,” Mosher said.

Seagreaves won both the 100- and 200-meter dash events by the narrowest of margins. His winning time of 11.40 seconds in the 100 edged out Monona Grove’s Brady Voss by 2/100ths of a second. In fact, the third (Cam Fane, Edgewood) and fourth (Logan Campbell, Oregon) all finished within 0.9 seconds of Seagreaves.

In the 200, Seagreaves (22.70) beat Edgewood’s Nick Gehring by 8/100ths of a second. He also finished third in the high jump at 6-feet, and was a part of the fourth-place 1,600-meter relay team.

“JT Seagreaves had the meet of the day,” Mosher said. The coach said his 6-6 junior looked tired in his early events, like in the high jump, where he barely made his opening height. “He is also playing basketball right now and attending football clinics so his legs aren’t terribly fresh. Some athletes would have used that as an excuse, but somehow JT managed to look better as the meet went on.” That included winning the two short sprint events, running a strong leg in the relay and coming within two inches of winning the high jump.

Carpenter won the 300-meter hurdles (41.98) by 1.2 seconds. He also finished second in the 110 hurdles (15.69) to Oregon’s Donovan Johnson (15.43).

“(Carpenter) also doesn’t give his legs much rest as he plays club soccer right now after track practices and on days we don’t have meets,” Mosher said. “He left everything on the track during the 300-hurdle race.”

Monroe’s other victory came in the 800-meter relay, where freshman Caden Blum and juniors Jake Blaser, Lucas Flom and Egor Sereda teamed up to post a winning time of 1:34.35, beating Watertown by a half a second.

Sathoff was second in the 400 (51.63), beating Gehring by 4/100ths of a second, and took silver in the long jump (19 feet, 9.5 inches). He also scored in the 800. 

“Lucas Sathoff scored 18 points and also anchored the 4-x-400 relay. He has a ton of versatility and could have scored points in anything from the 200 to the 1,600, and also long jumps,” Mosher said.

Brady Schuh was tied for third in the pole vault (11-6), setting a personal record. “This was his first year out and to do that well in probably the toughest event to learn is amazing,” Mosher said of Schuh.

Some of Monroe’s youth scored key points as well. Broitzman was eighth in the 400 (54.45), the only freshman that scored in the event. Brady Wyss scored points in both hurdle events, also the only freshman in the league to do so, finishing fifth in the 110 (17.96) and sixth in the 300 (47.26). 

In the field events, Monroe got scoring throws in the shot put from Caleb Bunker (4th, 43-04.25), Isaac Bunker (6th, 41-03.5) and Sean Rufenacht (8th, 40-08). In the discus, Caleb was fourth (132-05) and Isaac took eighth (114-09).

“This is an area we haven’t had much success recently, but it’s now becoming a strength and an area with lots of depth.  Not only that, but they are a fun group who brings cohesiveness and a fun atmosphere to the team,” Mosher said of his throwers.