LA CROSSE - Black Hawk senior Jen Wellnitz wasn't feeling confident in the long jump before a 2-hour, 5-minute rain and lightning delay at the WIAA Division 3 state track meet Friday.
Maybe it was getting her steps down or the pressure of being at state and trying to medal in four events at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's Veterans Memorial Stadium.
"I wasn't feeling it in the long jump," Wellnitz said. "After the break, I felt really good."
Wellnitz saved her best for last with a leap of 17 feet, 3 1/4 inches, which clinched second place on her final jump.
"I thought I was going to get fourth," Wellnitz said. "My jumps weren't spectacular. I just told myself that this is the last time you will ever do this and give them hell. I ran as fast as I could and my last jump felt really good. It was enough for second."
Wellnitz will compete in three events in today's finals. She qualified for the 100-meter dash finals with the fastest time of 12.64 seconds. She also will run the 200 and triple jump. She took sixth in the preliminaries of the 200 (26.21). She's looking to repeat as the state champion in the 100.
"Hopefully, tomorrow I can give it my all because it will be my last time running," she said Friday.
Darlington senior Tyson Miehe, a University of Wisconsin-Madison recruit, finished third in the 1,600 with a time of 4 minutes, 20.71 seconds. McDonell Central senior Nick Zander won the 1,600 in a Division 3 state record time of 4:11.65. Zander broke Cambridge's Sean Currie's record (4:19.04) from 1993. Zander also repeated as the state champion in the 800 (1:54.93), just missing setting a state record by 0.3 seconds.
Miehe was a little indifferent about his finish in the 1,600.
"I'm not really happy or disappointed with how I did," Miehe said. "Going into the first quarter, we came in at 62 seconds. That may have been a little too fast. I just wanted to stick up with the leaders for as long as I could. I probably should have stayed back a little bit so I would have had more energy for that third lap. The third lap was the crucial one. It's easy after the race to second guess and say what I should have done."
Miehe will look to win two more medals with the Redbirds' 3,200 relay and in the 3,200 run.
"I have to forget about it and come back tomorrow," he said Friday.
Albany senior Logan Webb finished ninth in the discus (145-8).
The Darlington girls 3,200 relay team of Claire Cullen, Carly Langkamp, Johanna Meister and Paige Schilling finished sixth with a time of 10:05.29.
Darlington junior Kyle Johnson finished second in the preliminaries of the 110 high hurdles (15.40), which was just behind Loyal junior Morgan Malm (15.37). Langkamp took 10th in the preliminaries of the 400 (1:00.47) to qualify for the finals.
The Darlington girls 1,600 relay team of Meister, Carly Reilly, Cullen and Langkamp also qualified for the finals. The quartet took ninth in the preliminaries (4:10.26). Pecatonica-Argyle's 1,600 relay team took 11th in the preliminaries (4:12.04) and just missed qualifying for the finals.
Maybe it was getting her steps down or the pressure of being at state and trying to medal in four events at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's Veterans Memorial Stadium.
"I wasn't feeling it in the long jump," Wellnitz said. "After the break, I felt really good."
Wellnitz saved her best for last with a leap of 17 feet, 3 1/4 inches, which clinched second place on her final jump.
"I thought I was going to get fourth," Wellnitz said. "My jumps weren't spectacular. I just told myself that this is the last time you will ever do this and give them hell. I ran as fast as I could and my last jump felt really good. It was enough for second."
Wellnitz will compete in three events in today's finals. She qualified for the 100-meter dash finals with the fastest time of 12.64 seconds. She also will run the 200 and triple jump. She took sixth in the preliminaries of the 200 (26.21). She's looking to repeat as the state champion in the 100.
"Hopefully, tomorrow I can give it my all because it will be my last time running," she said Friday.
Darlington senior Tyson Miehe, a University of Wisconsin-Madison recruit, finished third in the 1,600 with a time of 4 minutes, 20.71 seconds. McDonell Central senior Nick Zander won the 1,600 in a Division 3 state record time of 4:11.65. Zander broke Cambridge's Sean Currie's record (4:19.04) from 1993. Zander also repeated as the state champion in the 800 (1:54.93), just missing setting a state record by 0.3 seconds.
Miehe was a little indifferent about his finish in the 1,600.
"I'm not really happy or disappointed with how I did," Miehe said. "Going into the first quarter, we came in at 62 seconds. That may have been a little too fast. I just wanted to stick up with the leaders for as long as I could. I probably should have stayed back a little bit so I would have had more energy for that third lap. The third lap was the crucial one. It's easy after the race to second guess and say what I should have done."
Miehe will look to win two more medals with the Redbirds' 3,200 relay and in the 3,200 run.
"I have to forget about it and come back tomorrow," he said Friday.
Albany senior Logan Webb finished ninth in the discus (145-8).
The Darlington girls 3,200 relay team of Claire Cullen, Carly Langkamp, Johanna Meister and Paige Schilling finished sixth with a time of 10:05.29.
Darlington junior Kyle Johnson finished second in the preliminaries of the 110 high hurdles (15.40), which was just behind Loyal junior Morgan Malm (15.37). Langkamp took 10th in the preliminaries of the 400 (1:00.47) to qualify for the finals.
The Darlington girls 1,600 relay team of Meister, Carly Reilly, Cullen and Langkamp also qualified for the finals. The quartet took ninth in the preliminaries (4:10.26). Pecatonica-Argyle's 1,600 relay team took 11th in the preliminaries (4:12.04) and just missed qualifying for the finals.
