June 10, 2016 at 11:05 a.m.
D-P 4x800 takes state crown
The team consisting of seniors Payton Grunow and Jack Schickel along with sophomores Isaac Grunow and Gerrit Bakker toured the UW-La Crosse track in 7:56.43. They just edged Monroe's time of 7:56.84 and was good for 10 team points.
The Dodge-Point boys had won that race twice before in recent years. They won in 2009 with Kyle Van Dyn Hoven, Will Bakker, Cody Baldus, Bruce Schmitz and also in 2008 with Joel Hamilton, Kyle Van Dyn Hoven, Bobby Wunnicke and Bruce Schmitz.
That 4x800 win, along with an eighth place finish in the 4x400 gave the team 11 points, good enough for a 24th place finish. Freedom won with 45 points.
The team was comprised of seniors Kyle Fitzsimmons, Jack Schickel and Nate Eisenzimmer along with sophomore Josh Shepler.
The 4x200 team of Fitzsimmons, Schickel, Eisenzimmer and Shepler finished in 3:26.01. The Kiel team won the event in 3:20.44.
The 4x100 team of Fitzsimmons, fellow senior Noah Goetzke and sophomores John Phelan and Shepler finished 16th in 44.64 with the event won by Catholic Memorial in 43.05.
The 4x200 team of Fitzsimmons, Goetzke, Eisenzimmer and Shepler was 10th in 1:32.17. West Salem was the winner in 1:28.51.
The girls team scored two points to take 56th in D2.
That came on the strength of seventh place in the 4x200 relay with a 1:46.29 time. Catholic Memorial won in 1:43.36.
The Dodge-Point team was made up of four juniors in Jaynie Gorgen, Syd Staver, Marissa Parkin and Jalissa Weier.
The 4x400 team took 10th in 4:04.89. Seniors Kennedy Stumpf and Brittany Rhyner, along with juniors Staver and Weier made up that team.
Whittenberg-Birnamwood ran a state record 3:56.66 to take the top spot.
Staver was the lone individual competitor. She finished 12th in the long jump with a 16'1.75 effort.
Mikaela Grant of Jefferson won at 18'5.5".
Division 2 girls winner was Jefferson wih 44 points.
"This year at State we performed very well as nearly every relay team ran their best time of the season.The competition is always outstanding so we have to keep that in mind when we look at the over-all results," said Dodge-Point coach Joe Hanson.
"Just getting to the finals on Saturday was a spectacular accomplishment and one that the coaching staff was very proud of. In many cases, the lofty goal of getting on the podium is a matter of a couple hundredth of a second!"
"We took 6 relay teams and a long jumper to La Crosse this year, a total of 24 athletes. That is a lot of athletes to be responsible for over a weekend. The way our athletes performed and represented our schools and communities was beyond outstanding."
"As for the Boys 4 x 800, it was like watching a dream come true. (or so I'm told). Every boy ran a personal best and did what they had to do to beat the favorite, Monroe. When Isaac Grunow handed off to Jack Schickel even with the anchor runner from Monroe, no one who follows track at this level thought we had a chance. But Jack ran a perfect race, with a surprising sprint with 300 meters to go (no one starts sprinting that far out in an 800), the Monroe runner reacted too late and Jack just made it to the finish line with the State Championship and a new school record!"
Many coaches came up to our coaching staff and commented that it was the best race of the day and our anchor runner had a lot of guts, or something to that effect," Hanson concluded.
