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It was an almost unsurmountable hill to climb, but the Dodgeville-Mineral Point girls track & field team overcame a 13-point deficit in the final two events of the day Saturday to win the Division 2 state title.
After Mount Horeb junior Nadia Williams won the 200 meter dash, that gave the Lady Vikings 35 team points and a lead of 2 points on Lakeside Lutheran, three on Madison Edgewood, eight on Jefferson and 12 on Dodge-Point with two events remaining.
Williams had been a part of all her team's points, also winning the 100 and long jump and running a leg of the fourth place 4x200 relay team.
Dodgeville-Mineral Point was the only team of that group having competitors in those two events however.
First up was senior Hannah Owens, facing a tough field in the 3200. She had to get her team at least a point (8th place) for them to get a trophy.
What did the veteran do but pass Belleville/New Glarus's Noelle Marie down the stretch and finish sixth (11:36.32) for three more points - but they were still down by nine.
That meant a win in the final event, the 4x400 would give them the title.
"I really had no idea that we needed those points to win. I had no clue," said Owens.
"When I found out I was proud, but those 4x4 girls were incredible. They were so amazing. This was the best way to end my senior year."
Senior Mikaela Bakker led off and the Dodge-Point team hung in there during lap one, but sophomore Syd Staver ran like a whirlwind and gave them a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Junior Brittany Rhyner added to the lead and senior Mary Hanson kept it going even more for a win in 4:00.61. Whittenberg-Birnamwood was a distant second in 4:03.29. Then the celebrating began.
"Honestly the whole thing felt surreal," Hanson said. "It was very comforting to know I had three ladies to lean on and I knew I could trust them to get me that lead."
Hanson, an Indiana State recruit, was involved in 26 of Dodge-Point points. Besides anchoring the 4x400 she placed second in the 800 (2:13.23) and ran the anchor of the runner-up 4x800 relay team in an event that opened Saturday's competition. That team comprised of Bakker, Kennedy Stumpf, Rhyner and Hanson finished second in 9:28.91 to Edgewood's 9:25.22.
Staver jumped 17'3.75" to give her team three points and a sixth place finish in the event won by Mount Horeb's Williams at 18'9.25".
The other four team points came from the young 4x100 relay team of sophomore Jaynie Gorgen, sophomore Staver, freshman Madison Stumpf and sophomore Jalissa Weier when they finished fifth in 50.02. Kiel won in 49.25.
The Dodge-Point team was dealt a big blow in the preliminaries of the 4x200 Friday when a runner fell as she was trying to hand off the baton and they didn't make the finals. That was an event in which they were ranked third.
Senior Taylor Stanek was the other Dodge-Point competitor and she finished 13th in the high jump clearing 5'. Martin Luther sophomore Brooke Blaezi won at 5'5".
The top five team scores were Dodge-Point 36, Mount Horeb 35, Lakeside Lutheran 33, Edgewood 32, Jefferson 27.
Platteville and Richland Center were 33rd and 34th with 9 and 8 points.
Division 3 was won by Cuba City at 53 points over St. Mary's Springs at 44.
Whitefish Bay took D1 at 48 while Middleton took home the siver with 39.
"It was an incredible feeling to win the State Title. A historical moment in both Dodgeville and Mineral Points athletic programs," said Dodge-Point coach Joe Hanson. "I can't say enough about Coach Matt McGraw and Coach Andy Palzkill and what they bring to the program. My entire coaching staff, along with the athletes deserve a tremendous amount of credit."
He added, "We kept fighting and never gave up on the chance to win. After Friday's session, things definitely looked bleak for our chances. And though we felt that way, we tried not to let it show and would not allow any negativity among the athletes."
"On Saturday during the 4x800 when Mary sprinted past the Two Rivers team to get second place, everything started to fall in place for our team," the coach said.
"The 4x100 team ran great to get us 4 big points. Hannah Owens had an outstanding kick in the 3200 to get our team 3 points and set up a thrilling finish. Nearly everyone of the Dodge-Point coaches and fans knew what was at stake except for the 4 girls running the 4x400. I knew that they wanted to win that event no matter what, so we did not mention it to them. They ran great and we won the State Championship. Wow! I will say that neither Hannah nor Mary had no idea what they were about to accomplish!," he concluded.