Girls’ relays capture silver and bronze

They finished ahead of last season with three of the same runners in two relays, and they did better than their seed placements coming into the Division 2 state meet in La Crosse last weekend.

Runners in Grafton High School girls’ 1,600-meter relay finished second in 3 minute, 57.21 seconds, and the 3,200-meter relay took third in a school record 9:20.01.

The 1,600 was the last meet of a long Saturday after a few Friday events were postponed due to storms. And it was the last time running as a Black Hawk for Emily Sewell.

The senior started the relay.

“I just wanted to leave everything on the track for my last race ever, and I think I ran good and put us in a good position,” she said.

Abby Barthelemy got the baton and cut inside since only the first lap is done in assigned lanes.

“I’ve gotten used to it. I feel like I have a little strategy,” she said.

She handed the baton to Melanie Morgan.

“Abby got us a nice lead. I just knew I had to keep that lead,” she said.

Cali Tagliapietra was the anchor.

“My goal was to just try to catch that girl in front. They were far away, but I knew I had to push, especially because there were girls behind us not too far,” she said.

New Berlin West finished four seconds ahead. Xavier was third in barely half a second behind the Black Hawks.

“Last year we got sixth. Going from sixth to second felt really good,” Barthelemy said.

“We’ve never been that high on the podium before. It was just so rewarding. All of our hard work for the season, just pushing each other nonstop at practice, finally paid off,” Tagliapietra said.

Coach Jason Meinen said, “They ran really well. They just missed the school record that they all set last year.”

That was with Marissa Morgan instead of Melanie.

In the 3,200 relay, the best distance runner in school history, Callie Faust, led off.

“Bloomer and Mount Horeb got out pretty fast. I always try to get out well so I can set them up,” she said.

Then came Barthelemy, who said she stayed as close to Mount Horeb as possible.

Tagliapietra then tried to stay as close as she could to the leader.

“Everyone’s fast at state. You’re just pushing yourself as hard as you can,” she said.

Sewell was the anchor, an entirely different role than in leading the 1,600 relay.

“I knew this was my last time running the 800 ever in high school, so I knew I just wanted to give it my all. I was pretty happy with how I ran and thought I did well,” she said.

It was Faust’s final meet of her high school career, too. She has the school’s cross country record and a couple of track records.

She also qualified in the 1,600, finishing eighth in 5:09.51, and the 3,200, taking eighth in 11:23.52. Both are season-best times.

Faust came back from a broken foot late last spring. She qualified for state in cross country for the fourth time and in state track qualified in three events the past three seasons.

“It took a mental and physical toll on her, and she really fought through it,” Meinen said. “There won’t be anyone like her. We’ll definitely miss her.”

Faust said, “The girls are such a good inspiration and so fun to work with. It’s not every day that you get to state. It’s nice to have a supportive team to get there.”

Faust will run cross country and track at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina.

Sewell was an eight-time qualifier at state track and field.

“She gives it her all every time,” Meinen said. “She’s such a leader. She brings everybody together and helped the last four years to really elevate the program.”

Sewell said, “For the last four years the track program has meant so much to me and everyone has taught me so much. My coaches and teammates are truly the best and I’m gonna miss being a part of this program,” Sewell plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

In other entries, the boys’ 400 relay of Max Glab, Hunter Klippel, Vin Ho and Seva Belousov set a school record in 43.14 seconds but didn’t advance out of the preliminary race.

Belousov was eighth in the 100 dash in 11.17 seconds.

Sam Heerey was 15th in the shot put with a throw of 47 feet, 2.25 inches in his first trip to state.

Port Washington well represented

In addition to Port Washington’s Peyton Keller taking third in the Division 1 high jump at 5-6, senior Grace Baumann qualified in the pole vault but didn’t make the opening height of 10-6.

She qualified for state three years and holds the school record in the event. She will compete at UW-Platteville.

Junior ThiLar Goodman was 13th in the 300 hurdles in 40.18 seconds.

Senior Da’vion Igess was 17th in the triple jump with 41-11.25, and freshman Jarek Roman was 21st in 39-5.5.

“For Da’Vion, it was a great way to cap off his high school athletic career. For ThiLar, it was another step forward and something to build on for his senior year,” coach Mark Pasten said. “For Jarek, it was an outstanding achievement just to qualify for the state meet as a freshman in an open event.”