Area track and field athletes shine
King, Arrowhead win team titles
TOWN OF MERTON Winning may be the goal, but it isn’t always the best measure of performance.
Saturday a number of area athletes put forth winning performances with second-place finishes at the Myrhum Invitational at Arrowhead. The meet is traditionally the best outdoor meet of the season in southeast Wisconsin thanks not only to a who’s who of area performers but also a sprinkling of some of the best the state has to offer.
As a result, a number of area athletes had notable performances in second-place showings.
Kettle Moraine senior Ben Psicihulis pushed defending Division 1 400meter champion Jose Guzman of Ashwaubenon to the brink before just getting beat at the wire. Both cracked the 48-second barrier with Guzman posting a 47.91 and Psicihulis checking in at 47.98. According to the wisconsintrackonline.com state honor roll, no one else entered last week under 48 seconds.
Arrowhead senior Cole Sandvold’s time of 4 minutes 15.32 seconds in the 1,600 would have ranked No. 2 in Division 1 on the state honor roll. Appleton Xavier’s Luke Bailey, a Division 2 athlete, needed to run a 4:11.45 to beat him.
Kenosha Tremper freshman Maddy Troy took second in the 100 in 12.28 seconds. Only two individuals in the state have run faster, including Milwaukee King freshman Amari Brown, who bettered her previous state best with a winning time of 12.14 on Saturday.
Milwaukee King senior Kiersten Walker ran a personal-best 56.04 in the 400, but Wausau West’s Brooke Jaworski was better. In fact, Jaworski, who had to turn it up down the stretch to pull away from Walker, posted a time of 54.60. That was almost three-tenths of a second better than the state-best mark she set last week at Wauwatosa West’s Dan Benson Invitational.
Walker and Sandvold helped their schools win team titles.
“We treated it like it was a state meet,” King coach Calvin Matthew said. “This is the meet we try to showcase what we want to go into the state meet with, so whatever event the kids ran today is how we’re going to go into the regional.”
The Generals also won the 400 and 800 relays in 49.35 and 1:46.09, respectively. There were also third-place showings from senior Mariah Williams in the long jump and triple jump, senior Siarah Jones in the 100 high hurdles and Brown in the 200.
The Arrowhead boys also got a victory from Sandvold in the 800 (1:55.39) and junior Jacob Biewer in the 110 high hurdles (14.93). The team also got a second-place finish in the 800 relay (1:31.05).
There were a number of other standout performances from area athletes.
Nicolet senior David Dunlap, the defending Division 1 state champion in the 200 and last season’s runner-up in the 100, won the 100 in a season-best 10.93. That would rank third in Division 1. He just missed winning the 200, losing to Fond du Lac’s Trey Halfmann (22.04) by less than a hundredth of a second.
Mukwonago senior Alec Benzinger won the discus with a personalbest throw of 169-10, beating his season best by 12 feet. He had a banner day, going 169-3 in the final and getting another throw of better than 165.
Oak Creek’s 400 relay of junior Cornelius Bright, senior Nathan Dulaney, junior Ryan Harvey-Turner and senior Roy Harden won in 42.88, which would rank No. 1 on the latest honor roll. The team did it with Dulaney, who competes in the shot, stepping in as the alternate.
Arrowhead senior Megan Olshanski won the 3,200 in 11:04.04, which beat her previous season best that ranked second in the state.
Oak Creek senior Jazmin Washington won the 100 high hurdles in 14.78 and the 300 low hurdles in 45.43. Her 100 time was just one-hundredth of a second slower than the top time on last week’s honor roll.
Arrowhead’s 1,600 relay of juniors Kayla Vogt and Abby Bartelson, sophomore Anna Shueth and senior Grace Gilmore won in 4:00.35. The top time on last week’s honor roll was 4:02.01.
The Warhawks also might have the new No. 1 time in the 3,200 relay. Olshanski, Vogt, Shueth and freshman Jane Straka won that in 9:35.82.