Shorewood has historic performance
LA CROSSE – Nathan Cumberbatch crossed the finish line after completing the anchor leg of the 1,600-meter relay, spread his arms in a brief moment of celebration and then grabbed the baton with both hands and swung like it was an imaginary bat.
The junior had just hit it out of the park. So did the entire Shorewood contingent.
The Greyhounds boys and girls track and field teams each brought home championships Saturday at the WIAA state track and field meet at UW-La Crosse’s Memorial Stadium. The girls won their first title; the boys were back at the top of the podium for the first time since 2013.
The last school to accomplish the feat was La Crosse Aquinas in Division 3 in 2019, but no Milwaukee-area school had accomplished the feat until Saturday.
The historic accomplishment came with a touch of drama. The boys used the 10 points they received for winning in the final event, the 1,600 relay, to edge Lodi by one point for the Division 2 title. The girls’ victory in the 1,600 relay denied secondplace Freedom the chance to grab the win and clinched a 38-30 margin of victory.
“What we’ve been saying all week is that we can get both titles,” Cumberbatch said. “We came out here and were cheering on the girls all day yesterday, all day today. Cheered them on in the 4-by-4 and then it was all business for us to get it done.
“They showed they could get it done, so we knew we could get it done.”
Lozier, Elliott lead girls to first title
If you asked Shorewood seniors Isabella Lozier and Annika Elliott about their friendship over the last four years, you’d probably come away from the conversation thinking the two are closer than 19 is to 20.
The two, one-half of the back-to-back state champions in the 3,200 relay along with Grace Optekar and Louisa Fowler, spent much of the weekend as teammates, but in the 800 final, the two were frenemies as Lozier took second and Elliott took fifth for a double podium finish and some key points in Shorewood’s run to the title.
“It’s so exciting,” Lozier said when asked about sharing the podium with Elliott.
“It’s been our dream. We’ve always been running buddies in cross country. We were in different events last year during track, and then this year, to be in the 800 together at the end of the season, I think it was really motivational and exciting. The goal was definitely to be on the podium with Annika.”
“We’ve been running together since freshman year and we’ve been side-toside,” Elliott said. “We’ve become really good friends with running, so it’s been really cool to share this experience with my best friend.”
After their 12-point finish in the 800, the duo teamed back up with freshman Kaymin Philips, who took fifth in 300 low hurdles, and senior Fiona Skwierawski to take the title in the 1,600 relay with a time of 3 minutes 59.57 seconds.
“It’s the first in our school’s history, so we’re making history (laughs),” Elliott said. “It’s a really big dream come true. We’ve had this dream since freshman year and we’ve been going for this, so it’s so cool to do finally do it.”
“It’s sad that we’re all going to be splitting up, but I’m so happy we did it right now,” Philips said.
Skwierawski, who is also a soccer player during the spring season and finished seventh in the D2 400, made the trip to La Crosse, got the quartet off to a great start as the first leg in the relay, and attempted to bolt back to the school to join her other team in its regional final matchup against Kettle Moraine Lutheran on Saturday night.
“We’re busting it back to try and make it back for the second half (laughs), but I’m just so happy I got to be here with them,” Skwierawski said.
Every point counts for the boys
Cumberbatch carried a large load for Shorewood. He won the 400 and 800 for the second straight year. He also anchored the 1,600 relay, giving him a hand in 30 of the team’s points.
However, this was a case where every point literally counted.
On Friday junior William Frohling moved up a spot during the final lap of the 800 to take third place and score six points for the team instead of five.
And on Saturday the 3,200 relay of junior Otto Duensing, seniors Adam O’Connor, Oskar Bockhorst and Frohling improved its season best by almost eight seconds in winning with a time of 8:11.85.
The performances put Shorewood within nine points of Lodi heading into the final event. Lodi didn’t have a team in the 1,600 relay. Shorewood had the pressure to perform, but in Cumberbatch it also had one of the best closers at the meet running the anchor leg.
“It was a little nerve-wracking, but we’ve been getting the job done all season,” said junior Sam Diliberti, who ran the opening leg of the 1,600 relay followed by Duensing and Frohling. “We just had to keep our momentum going and put Nathan in a good spot to finish it off.”
The year of the dog
Shorewood’s performance completes an impressive year for the Greyhounds running programs.
In the fall Cumberbatch won the state cross country title and his team claimed the Division 2 title with the same core of runners who led the charge Saturday.
The girls, meanwhile, took second at the state cross country meet with Lozier and Elliott recording top-15 finishes.
And they just might not be done. Only two of the boys who ran Saturday are seniors. The girls, meanwhile, will miss Lozier, Elliott, Skwierawski and Optekar, but expect the return of junior Delea Martins, the 2021 D2 state champion in the 100 and 200 and runner-up in 400. She missed the season due to injury.
“I’m just very joyful, happy for the experience …,” Shorewood boys and girl coach Dominic Newman said. “The girls 4-by-8 set the tone. The boys 4-by-8 set the tone and for both programs we all just fed off that.”