HORICON — Of the four Darlington girls relays that qualified for the Division 3 sectional meet at Horicon in Thursday, May 25, three of them advanced to the state meet at UW-La Crosse the first weekend of June.
The 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams took second with times of 1:50.31 and 4:12.20 respectively. The 4x800 relay team nabbed the final qualifying spot with a time of 9:59.14. The 4x100 relay team missed out on state by 0.27 seconds with a time of 51.81.
The boys 4x400 relay team also qualified for state with a time of 3:35.39, edging fifth-place Horicon by 0.01 seconds.
Three Redbird individuals will also compete at UW-La Crosse. George West won the 400-meter run with a time of 51.61. Carver Fitzsimons recorded a height of 5-10.00 in the high jump for fourth place, and Adalee Berget took fourth in the 3200-meter with a time of 11:44.49.
Black Hawk, which had six individuals and one relay at the meet, qualified three individuals for state and the boys 4x100 relay.
Raylin Peterson and Jaliyah Collins had off nights, but still did well enough to continue. Peterson threw 38-10.00 in the shot put, and Collins chucked the disc 113-5.00.
“She [Peterson] is a very good thrower and had one of her rougher meets of the year. She is good enough that even that qualified her for state in the top flight of throwers,” Black Hawk head coach Eric Erickson said. “Similar to Raylin, she [Collins] didn’t have her best night but was still good enough to qualify for the state meet and make it into the top flight.”
Andrew Figi took fifth in the 100-meter dash prelims and took the last qualifying spot in the finals with a time of 11.51.
“Andrew ran a great final and was right in the thick of things,” Erickson said. “He was the surprise of the meet in terms of qualifying. I knew it was possible but Andrew brought his ‘A’ game and competed well.”
Despite Lucas Milz falling during the first handoff, the boys 4x100 relay team took fourth with a time of 44.70, breaking the school record. The former record, set in 2012 by Jayden Rufenacht, Hayden Schliem, Jace Johnsrud and DeeJay Warrell, was 44.80.
“They ran an outstanding race and made me go through the greatest peak and valley and peak again emotional set that could take place in under a minute,” Erickson said. “When the boys all saw it [the time], there was elation. It was fun to see them, their teammates, other conference school athletes and their families able to share that moment. It’s what track and field is all about.”
Pecatonica-Argyle continues its hurdling tradition, sending both Ridge Toay and Anna Tisch to the state meet for the second straight year. Toay won both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles with times of 15.72 and 40.09, respectively. Tisch took second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 47.65. She was one spot away from also qualifying in the 100-meter hurdles.
Bryce Hughes is the lone individual for Albany to move on. He won the high jump with a height of 6-00.00 and took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 20-05.75. Hughes was also part of the qualifying boys 4x400 relay team with Ethan Koss, Gage Roth and Jayden O’Bel. The team finished third with a time of 3:34.83.
Monticello’s two sectional participants, Alex Roe and Natalie Wahl, did not qualify for state.
