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Relays lead Lady Redbirds to sectional title
Darl GTF Merriam HJ color
DARLINGTON QUALIFIED 12 individuals and five relay teams for the state meet at Thursdays WIAA Division 3 Sectional Track and Field Meet held at Bangor High School. Junior Abigail Merriam (top) advanced to state in the girls high jump, and senior Levi Wedig (below) earned a berth in the boys pole vault.

    BANGOR – Strong thunderstorms delayed Thursday’s sectional meet late into the night, but area track and field athletes made all the waiting worthwhile by claiming 30 state berths in 23 events at the WIAA Division 3 Sectional held at Bangor High School on May 24.
    The Darlington girls’ team won four events on the way to earning the sectional team title with 78.5 points, while the boys’ team won three events to finish second overall with 71 points behind Whitehall with 86 points.
    Belmont finished seventh (39 points) and Black Hawk was 10th (31) in the girls’ standings. Black Hawk placed 17th (15) in the boys’ standings, while Shullsburg and Belmont tied for 27th (six) at the sectional meet.  
    The Lady Redbirds advanced five individuals and four relay teams to next weekend’s state meet, and the Redbirds moved seven individuals and one relay team on to state.
    Black Hawk advanced two athletes and one relay team to state, while Belmont advanced two athletes to state– both from their girls’ team– and Shullsburg advanced one from their boys’ team.
    It is the second year in a row all four area schools advanced at least one athlete to the state meet.
    The 2012 WIAA State Track and Field Meet will be held at UW-La Crosse’s Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday and Saturday, June 1-2. Competition in Division 3 begins at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon, and resumes on Saturday morning, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

GIRLS MEET
    Darlington junior Christa Wamsley won the 3,200-meter run (11:59.59) and joined with Tatum Evenstad, Hannah Robiolio and Amy Jorgenson to win the girls’ 4x800-meter relay in 10:08.94.
    Jorgenson teamed with Claire Scott, Hannah Huffman and Alison Wedig to win the 4x400 relay (4:16.51). Scott, Huffman and Wedig teamed with Carly Reilly to finish first in the 4x100 relay (:52.58), and that same trio teamed with Rebecca Mathias to finish fourth in the 4x200 relay (1:52.26) for another state berth.
    Belmont senior Kailee Kamps advanced to state for the third year in a row in the throwing events after earning sectional titles in the shot put (42’1.25”) and the discus (132’2”) on Thursday.
    Black Hawk sophomore Jen Wellnitz will compete at state in four events after winning the 100-meter dash (:12.74), while placing second in the 200 (:26.4), third in the triple jump (33’8.5”) and fourth in the long jump (16’4”).
    Other Redbirds advancing to state include Haily McGowan, second in the discus (106’4”); Robiolio, third in the 3,200 (12:22.17); Abigail Merriam, third in the high jump (4’10”); and Cheyenne Wolfe, fourth in the 800 (2:27.52).
    Braves’ senior Amanda Adams also advances to state in two events after placing fourth in the 300-meter low hurdles (:48.9) and the triple jump (33’7.25”).

BOYS MEET
Darlington sophomore Tyson Miehe had a hand in all three of the Redbirds’ sectional title events after winning the 1,600 (4:31.84) and 3,200 (9:39.8) runs and joining with teammates Kent Miehe, Destin Komprood and Quinn Cullen to finish first in the 4x800 relay (8:23.05).
    K. Miehe was third (10:00.83) and Redbird senior Michael Sinclair placed fourth (10:02.81) in the 3,200, while Komprood finished fourth (4:39.4) in the 1,600 and Cullen earned an extra-qualifier state berth after placing fifth (2:01.42) in the 800.
    Darlington junior Kyle Johnson moved on to state in two events by placing third (:41.95) in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and fourth (:15.92) in the 110-meter high hurdles, and senior Levi Wedig advanced after taking fourth (11’0”) in the pole vault.
    Black Hawk senior Chris Priebe placed second (4:35.02) in the 1,600, and he will be joined at state by the Warriors’ 4x200-meter relay team of Kyle Woodruff, Jayden Rufenacht, Hayden Schliem and Dejay Warrell, which finished third (1:34.63).
    Shullsburg senior Nate Carrier returns to La Crosse for the second straight year in the long jump after finishing third (21’1.5”) in the event on Thursday.

Girls Team Scores- Darlington 78.5, Blair-Taylor 56, Melrose-Mindoro 45, Kickapoo/La Farge 43, Fennimore 41, Cashton 40, Belmont 39, Cuba City 37, Southwestern 32, Black Hawk 31, Alma/Pepin 29, Cassville 26, Benton/Scales Mound 25, Luther 23.5, Albany 20, Pecatonica/Argyle 18, River Ridge 17.5, North Crawford 15, New Lisbon 15, Cochrane-Fountain City 10, Independence/Gilmanton 9, Whitehall 8, Ithaca 6, Riverdale 6, Monticello 6, Lincoln 5.5, Hillsboro 5, Bangor 5, Necedah 4, Royall 3, Brookwood 2.

Other sectional participants: 100- 5- Jordyn Kamps, Bel, 13.21; 200- 5- J. Kamps, Bel, 27.54; 800- 9- Tatum Evenstad, D, 2:39.54; 1600- 5- Harley Douglas, D, 5:33.83; 100HH- 8- Cassie McCarthy, Bel, 17.9; 300LH- 7- Olivia Holland, BH, 50.53; 1600R- 10- Black Hawk (Michelle Flanagan, Kristen Walters, Kate Quinn, O. Holland), 4:36.83; 3200R- 12- Black Hawk (Katie Powers, Brittany Klemm, O. Holland, Walters), 11:29.07; PV- 8tie- Shannon McDaniel, D, 7’6”; HJ- 13- Jannie deHaan, Bel, 4’4”; SP- 5- Haily McGowan, D, 34’2.5”; 11- Brianna Reichling, D, 30’6.75”.

Boys Team Scores- Whitehall 86, Darlington 71, Melrose-Mindoro 62, Cuba City 45, Ithaca 39, River Ridge 36, Hillsboro 31, Independence/Gilmanton 28, Southwestern 25, Bangor 25, Fennimore 23, Pecatonica/Argyle 21, Blair-Taylor 19, Seneca 17, Cochrane-Fountain City 17, Lincoln 16, Black Hawk 15, Necedah 13, North Crawford 13, Albany 13, Benton/Scales Mound 12, Riverdale 11, Brookwood 8, Wonewoc-Center 8, Cashton 7, Wauzeka-Steuben 7, Belmont 6, Shullsburg 6, DeSoto 6, New Lisbon 5, Alma/Pepin 5, Royall 2, Cassville 2.

Other sectional participants: 100- 9- Jace Johnsrud, BH, 11.67; 11- Jayden Rufenacht, BH, 11.71; 200- 10- Hayden Schliem, BH, 24.2; 13- John Hentrich, Bel, 24.79; 400- 10- Hentrich, Bel, 55.71; 3200- 8- Chris Priebe, BH, 11:02.93; 300IH- 10- Kyle Woodruff, BH, 45.68; 14- Sam Johnson, D, 46.42; 400R- 11- Darlington (Dylan Nyffenegger, Adam Wiederholt, Cole Whalen, Dane Siegenthaler), 49.04; DQ- Black Hawk; 800R- 8- Darlington (Ethan Glendenning, Cedric Flesher, Kyle Johnson, Storm Wiegel), 1:38.55; 1600R- 5- Darlington (Flesher, Levi Wedig, Quinn Cullen, Wiegel), 3:39.68; HJ- 9tie- Glendenning, D, 5’4”; LJ- 14- Schliem, BH, 18’6.5”; TJ- 6- Brandon Wedig, Bel, 41’4.75”; 14- Dejay Warrell, BH, 38’9.25”; SP- 6- Tucker Wedig, D, 43’8.5”; D- 9- T. Wedig, 131’6”.