The races never began.
The coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of the WIAA spring sports season, including the state track and field meet that had been held every year since 1944.
This weekend, the meet would have been held in La Crosse, but instead we are left thinking about the what-ifs as athletes across the state – many of them seniors – didn't get the opportunity to compete. Here are five storylines that we likely would have been following closely.
A pair of repeats?
The Muskego and Wisconsin Lutheran girls would have been seeking repeats as state champions in Divisions 1 and 2, respectively.
The Warriors featured a deep team that would have been anchored by junior distance runner Kate Sperka and versatile senior Savannah Balcerak. Last year, Sperka was fourth in the 1,600-meter run and fifth in the 3,200 and was part of the first-place 3,200 relay that returned three of its four members. Balcerak was second in the 400, eighth in the 200, ninth in the triple jump and ran on the fifth-place 1,600 relay that returned all four runners.
The Vikings also won last June with a young team that featured nine returning state qualifiers. Included in that group were Jaiah Hopf, winner of the triple jump and long jump, and Trinity Moore, who finished in the top six in four events.
Other contenders would have included Divine Savior Holy Angels, Milwaukee King and Franklin in Division 1, and Shorewood in Division 2.
Potential all-time greats
Very few athletes in state history have earned three gold medals in the 200, a feat Milwaukee King senior Amari Brown was hoping to accomplish this spring.
Brown also was within arm's reach of another historic achievement.
With two more state titles, Brown would have been tied for ninth in girls state history with seven.
DSHA senior Jadin O’Brien has won three of the school’s four all-time titles and would likely be looking to add three more this weekend. O’Brien won both the 100 high hurdles and 300 hurdles last year, and was also one of the state’s top long jumpers.
Big shoes to fill
A pair of two-event winners in boys Division 1 last year graduated, presumably leaving the doors wide open for the rest of the state.
Homestead’s Drew Bosley won the 1,600 and 3,200 for the second straight season –and nearly pulled off the rare distance trifecta with the 800, as well – and Milwaukee Washington’s Elijah Johnson sprinted his way to wins in the 100 and 200.
Those events were also senior-heavy at the top. Four of the top five finishers in the 1,600 and the top three in the 3,200 were seniors; so were the top five in the 100 and five of the top eight in the 200.
Arrowhead’s Jakob Pardun, Wauwatosa East’s Maxwell Radcliffe, Sussex Hamilton’s Gavin Kuhlenbeck, Oconomowoc’s Alex Vance, Muskego’s Erik Kain, Germantown’s Ben Schnoor, Slinger’s Cael Grotenhuis and West Allis Hale’s Josh Truchon were among the top distance returners.
Elkhorn’s Devon Davey, Franklin’s Elliott Harris and Germantown’s Connor Leffler were the highest returning sprint finishers at state.
Returning champions
Southeastern Wisconsin had four returning state champions this year.
Racine Case’s Jay Jay Rankins was the king of the jumps a year ago in his first year of track. He won the Division 1 high jump, took fifth in the long jump and was 10th in the triple jump.
Evan Schuster from Racine St. Catherine’s was one of the stars of the meet, winning both the 200 and 400 in Division 2. Add in a fourth-place finish in the long jump, an event that he led going into the final round, and there was a real chance for a trio of gold medals this year.
Wauwatosa East senior Chase Roberts won the 400 in Division 1, the first Red Raider to win a state title since 1988, and he was the only non-senior in the top four.
Joe Salamone of West Bend East took home the Division 1 110 high hurdles championship and was fifth in the 300 hurdles, an event he was also hoping to win this year.
The ‘surprise’ winners
Each year an athlete from the bottom of the heat sheets or the "slow" heat goes on to win a state championship.
We saw it last year with Oconomowoc’s Max Meyer, who won the pole vault after finishing third in sectionals, and Shorewood’s Felicity Hade, who claimed the Division 2 800 while watching from the sideline after posting the top time during the “slow” heat.
One of the big disappointments of having no state meet is there won’t be any unexpected victors this year.
Contact Curt Hogg at chogg@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @CyrtHogg.
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June 06, 2020 at 12:56AM
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State track and field would have been this weekend. Here are five storylines we would be following closely. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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