Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Thursday, June 05, 2008
Girls track will be busy again at state
Holmen High School's girls track and field team will again be a busy outfit at Friday and Saturday's Division 1 state meet at UW-La Crosse. Holmen qualified each of its three sprint relays, hurdlers Whitney Croell and Hanna Niccum and sprinter Cathryn Helmers to the meet.
The Vikings could do the most damage in the relays again this year. The top-seeded relay for HHS is the 4X100 team of Jessica Wakefield, Croell, Lauren Hicke and Leah Jagodzinski, who enter as the seventh seed off their sectional time of 50.28 seconds. Wakefield, Hicke and Jagodzinski were part of last year's state team in the event, with this year's team already owning the school record in the event.
The 4X200 team of Wakefield, Niccum, Hicke and Jagodzinski enter as the eighth seed off their sectional time of 1 minute, 45.42 seconds. That time also was good for a school record.
The 4X400 team of Martha Dibb, Croell, Helmers and Hicke enter as the 10th seed off their sectional time of 4:04.22. Last year's state team that included Helmers, Croell and Hicke failed to reach the finals.
“All the relays have a chance to reach the podium,” HHS head coach Paul Berge said. “The goal for each is to make the finals and then try for the podium.”
Helmers also is returning individually in the 400, where she failed to reach the finals a year ago. She enters as the 11th seed off her sectional time of 59.46 seconds.
“The experience from last year should help her,” Berge said. “I think she can make the finals.”
Berge said after last year's state meet that Helmers need to improve her starts. Helmers continues to battle a calf injury.
“She usually runs well when it matters,” Berge said. “She has gotten out faster on her starts this year. She ran her fastest split of the year in the 400 relay at sectionals, so that's a good sign.”
Croell enters as the 12th seed in the 100 hurdles off her sectional time of 15.66 seconds. Croell owns the school fully-automated time record, though Dee Dee Schultz, the mother of former sprint standout Joanna Schultz, posted a hand-held time of 15.3 seconds in the event in 1985. Berge said after last year's state meet, in which Croell failed to make the finals in the event, that she needed to run more consistently clean races.
“Whitney has been hurdling very well,” Berge said. “She has a realistic shot to reach the podium.”
Niccum enters as the 14th seed in the 300 hurdles off her sectional time of 46.85 seconds. She finished 12th in last year's state race in the event. The school record is owned by Stephanie Wiggert at 45.81 seconds from 1989.
“Hanna's coming off some real good practices in the last three or four days and is a very competitive kid,” Berge said. “I think she can drop another second and get to the podium. She's been in the 46s (seconds) and I think 45 will get her to the podium.”
Hicke came moderately close to qualifying in the high jump as well, clearing 4 feet, 10 inches at sectionals. Logan's Danielle Jorgensen was the final state qualifier from the sectional at 5-1.
Michaela Miller, Taber Holmes, Kali Johnson and Jesse Heiden were fifth in the 4X800 relay in 9:58.43, while Jen Buchner was fifth in the discus at 103-11. Emma Waffenschmidt was seventh after clearing 8 feet in the pole vault.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.