WHITEWATER — Regional and sectional track meets are known for lasting longer than most meets from the regular season. This year’s competitions on June 17 took even longer. Thunderstorms rolled in across southern Wisconsin, causing a delay in the Division 2 Whitewater sectional. The D3 sectional in Princeton needed to be finished the next day.

“It was a long sectionals meet,” Monroe boys coach Scott Mosher said. “We knew the storms could come through so were hoping the meet would go quickly, but there was an appeal that slowed things down about 45 minutes and then the lightning came right before the 100-meter dash finals. On the positive side, it was very hot and windy prior to the weather delay, and after it was much cooler and calm out.”

Not only was Monroe battling the weather, the Cheesemakers were competing in arguably the most competitive sectional in Wisconsin.

“Top to bottom we saw that this was going to be the toughest of the four sectionals to qualify for state. Sometimes there are weak events that we can sneak some qualifiers through, but not this year. In fact, in if you qualified for state out of this sectional you have a very good chance to making the podium (top 6) at state,” Mosher said. 

Overall the boys team took sixth place out of the 32 total teams and are sending nine athletes in five events to the state meet, slated for June 25 at UW-La Crosse’s Veteran’s Memorial Stadium. 

“We’ve sent more athletes in more events, but we are in the fast sectional and have a chance to earn a medal in each event, which isn’t always the case,” Mosher said. 

Junior Lucas Sathoff had the meet of the night for the Cheesemakers, according to Mosher. Sathoff reached state in three events — the 400-meter dash, the 800-meter relay and the 1,600-meter relay. 

The 800-relay team, which also includes Charlie Wiegel, Lucas Flom and JT Seagreaves, had a memorable performance all around. 

“I watched this race from the bleachers and when Sathoff got the baton he shot out like a cannon. Multiple spectators from other teams around me made comments like ‘wow, look at Monroe.’ He got the baton as our second runners and gave us a lead that we didn’t give back, and by the time JT got it as our anchor leg he was running down the back stretch alone.”

The quartet finished with a time of 1:31.46, winning by more than 7/10ths of a second. It was also the fastest time in the state that night of the four D2 sectionals, earning Monroe the prime position for the state meet.

“Early on in the season we knew this relay would be good, and now the goal is to bring home a state medal, hopefully a gold,” Mosher said.

Sathoff finished third in the 800 with a time of 2:00.91. Whitewater’s Trenten Zahn and Sawyer Thorp tied at 1:58.36 for first place.

“This is not his best or favorite event, which is the 400, but the 400 immediately follows the 4x200 and he decided that he’d rather be part of the team relay,” Mosher said. “With many strong 800 runners, we made a game plan to use his speed to his advantage and for Lucas to sit in fifth- to sixth-place until the final 100 meters. He was in sixth with 100 to go and ended up running a lifetime best. I again had people come up to me with comments like, “wow, where did he come from?”  It’s unusual to have an 800 runner with sub :23 second 200 speed. I couldn’t be happier for Lucas and was incredibly nervous for him going into the meet. No one on our team puts in more year-round training than Lucas, so it’s very exciting to see his hard work pay off by qualifying in three events.”

In the 1,600-relay race, Sathoff teamed with Seagreaves, Jason Carpenter and Jakar Broitzman. Mosher said that while the team ran well, it wasn’t a great race.

“Jakar was the third leg and looked well out of the top four when he got the baton. Jakar ran a gutsy race and brought us back into sixth place when he passed the baton to Sathoff,” Mosher said. “At sectionals rarely can an anchor leg make up a lot of ground because every team in the race puts their best runner last. It didn’t look good for us, even with 100 meters left Monroe was well out of fourth place. Somehow he found the energy to close and had a photo finish with Lake Mills.”

Sathoff crossed the finish line just in front of Jaxson Retrum, giving Monroe a time of 3:32.33 — 1/100th of a second ahead of Lake Mills for the last state qualifying spot.

Carpenter also qualified for state in the 300-meter hurdles, but that was a wait-and-see approach, as the WIAA released its Extra Qualifying Standards on June 18 after the delayed Fox Valley Lutheran sectional was completed.

“We knew the hurdles was probably the toughest event, with 2-3 of the top five in the state at this sectional. Jason ran a personal best time but came in fifth by .02 seconds,” Mosher said.

Also reaching the state meet was senior thrower Caleb Bunker, who finished tied for third in the shot put at 48-feet, 3-inches — a full 4-feet, 3-inches beyond his seed, and the largest improvement of all throwers in the meet. His throw was 2-inches further than Columbus senior Austin Rennhack.

“Caleb Bunker had an up and down meet, and ended up qualifying in the Shot Put with a lifetime best throw,” Mosher said. “I thought he had the better chance in the discus (11th place), so it was sad for that event to not go well. Caleb used that as motivation and had a big first throw that carried him all the way to the state meet.”

Bunker is one of just two seniors on the boys team, and the only one headed to state. 

“He’s really helped with the throws program by turning a weaker area on the team into a strength,” Mosher said.

While Monroe didn’t qualify in other events, there were some close calls. The 400-meter relay team was fifth place — one spot from qualifying. 

Seagreaves, which qualified as a part of two relays, missed out in the 200-meter dash by .17 of a second, and jumped 5-10 in the high jump — just three inches off the mark.

“JT Seagreaves had a very nice meet. He did this with very heavy legs due to his demanding schedule,” Mosher said, referencing Seagreaves’ mix of AAU basketball and football camp participation. He was recently offered a scholarship to play football at Wisconsin. “After the meet the coaches agreed he was probably around 75%, which makes what he accomplished all the more impressive.”