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Wow - what a week in sports! The Dodgeville-Mineral Point girls track and field team brought home a silver trophy from the Division 2 WIAA State meet from last Friday and Saturday. It was a nip and tuck finish as the D-P team had scored their total and held second place by just a few points and had to wait to see how many points Osceola would get in the pole vault - the last event to finish on Saturday. They took the runner-up spot by two points. Boy were they a happy group of campers! Two individuals from the girls team came back with gold medals, winning their individual events. Hats off to sophomore Taylor Stanek and junior Mairin Cahill for their great accomplishments. Both championships were a little unexpected, by most everyone EXCEPT the girls themselves!
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The boys team didn't do too shabby themselves. They finished ninth with Trevor Wunnicke winning a gold medal in the 1600 and the 4x800 relay team making the runner-up spot. Trevor, too, wasn't expected to win his event, but you couldn't tell him he wasn't going to do it!
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Then there's the Mineral Point softball team that will be playing in the Division 3 state tournament this Friday (1:30 p.m.) in the first round of the tournament. If (or when) they win, they play again on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. for the gold ball!
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I had an "old hand" helping at the state track & field tournament in Molly Hanson. She competed at the state meet several times for the Dodge-Point team and won a few things herself. Her sister, Mary, is a member of the team and ran this year at state in the 4x800 and 4x400 relay teams. Their dad, Joe, is the head track & field coach. Their grandfather, John Mulrooney of Prairie du Chien, was a field judge at the event - his 33rd year there!
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On my way back from La Crosse (site of the state track & field meet) on Saturday, I was following a vehicle that slowed down to almost a stop twice between Lone Rock and Highway 23. Both times I spotted a deer go up a hill in front of that vehicle. The strange thing was that there wasn't another one right behind it like their usually is - one for me to try and dodge!
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The only rain we had in La Crosse came on Saturday afternoon and didn't last more then 15 minutes. Luckily I did't have any races or field events to be out on the track for at that time, so I waited in the media room until the rain subsided. Never got more than a few drops on me!
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The above photo is one of our summer intern Molly Hanson interviewing high jump state champion Taylor Stanek right after she (they) realized she was the state champion. Both were pretty happy!