Davre goes for grand finale at state
The great ones don’t change much. They celebrate their victories with grace, but just as important they handle their disappointments with class.
That was Cami Davre last fall.
The Whitefish Bay senior had just finished second at the WIAA state cross country meet, a race she was expected to win, and had barely caught her breath when a reporter approached to get her thoughts on the day. No cooling off period was necessary though. She was disappointed but made no excuses. She gave credit where credit was due.
Inside, however, she was motivated more than ever.
“In all honestly, I was really upset after state this year in cross country,” the Michigan recruit said, “because I said it was my last year to be a cross country champion and I didn’t do it, so I wanted to redeem myself . ... ”
No matter what happens at the WIAA state track and field meet Friday and Saturday at UW-La Crosse’s Memorial Stadium, Davre will go down as one of Wisconsin's all-time great runners.
Uniquely blessed with the speed to run longer sprints like the 400 meters and the endurance to excel in cross country where the races are 5,000 meters, the three-time defending track champion in the 800 and 1,600 will arrive at the meet with a chance to join exclusive company on a few fronts.
Only 24 girls in meet history have won an event four times and only four of those – Algoma’s Kennedy Blahnik
(shot put and discus), Wrightstown’s Bonnie Draxler (400 and pole vault), University Lake’s Molly Seidel (1,600 and 3,200) and Holmen’s Joanna Schultz (200 and 400) - did it in more than one event.
And then there is Davre’s decision to add the 3,200 to her plate. The only runner in WIAA history to win the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 in the same year was North Crawford’s Heather Murphy, who accomplished the Division 3 feat in 1992.
Last Thursday, Davre won sectional titles in those events at Germantown.
“It’s definitely more of a mental thing than a physical,” Davre said. “It’s really daunting on you, three races all pretty close together.
“But physically, I know I can do it. I’m really strong right now, so that is where the strength component comes in rather than focusing on speed.”
Ironically she’ll arrive at state as the No. 2 seed in the 800 and 1,600 and the top seed in the 3,200. Davre, however, owns the fastest times in the state this season in all three events, according to the
wisconsintrackonline.com state honor roll. The decision to add the 3,200 wasn’t a reaction to what happened at state cross country. Davre and her coaches considered running the 3,200 last season before deciding to focus on the 800 and 1,600.
This year Davre looked at the order of events for the meet and figured she had nothing to lose. The 1,600 and 800 will be run on Friday, allowing her to focus on only the 3,200 Saturday.
“I was like, 'OK, I can still run my two events and then try the 2-mile as a bonus and see what happens,' ” she said.
Davre’s has run the 3,200 twice this season. Her times of 10 minutes, 41.57 seconds at Wisconsin Lutheran’s Viking Invitational on April 22 and 10:59.32 at the sectional are the only sub 11-minute finishes in Division 1 this season.
Meanwhile, Davre’s season-best time of 4:50.48 in the 1,600 is the fastest on the honor roll by over 9 seconds over Janesville Craig junior Peyton Sippy, and her 800 time of 2:12.64 is about 2 seconds ahead of the second-best time, 2:14.61 by Waterford junior Haleigh Reindl.
Of course, Davre set the all-division state meet record of 2:09.22 two years ago.
If she wins three more titles, Davre, who also won a state title in the 3,200 relay two years ago, would finish with 10 state championships. It is an accomplishment only Draxler, Florence’s Jaclynn Kriegl and Edgar’s Elizabeth Pospyhalla and Tess Thurs have accomplished.
The goal this year is to just win, not set records. Win or loss, though, Davre will be able to handle the moment.
“Everyone rises to the occasion at state, so there is always someone there, but it is nice not to worry too much about pushing myself to beat a time because sometimes that is really, really hard,” Davre said. “So just do my best (is my plan).”