Everything fell into place for Ellsworth’s relay teams at the WIAA State Division 2 Track & Field Meet held Friday at Veterans Stadium on the campus of UW-La Crosse.

This team has rewritten the Panther and Middle Border Conference record books this season.

The combination of sophomore Bo Hines, senior Shane Lange and juniors Ashten Quade and Max Grand were one of the biggest stories of the meet, as they blew away the competition with dominant runs that earned them state championships on both the 400 and 800-meter relays.

“It was a great day,” said coach Drew Pechacek.

Indeed it was, starting with the news that Grand, who sprints the last leg, was cleared to run.

“He tweaked his hamstring at regionals. We knew we needed Max,” said Pechacek.

The Panthers earned their spot at state with senior Wyatt Blomberg stepping in and came into the meet seeded second in both events.

“This is a group of guys that hasn’t really been pressed all year, so we were excited to see what they could do at state. We were pretty confident, especially with the 4×200. They had never been in a race. They won the last couple races by two or three seconds,” said Pechacek. “Wyatt Blomberg, we can’t say enough about him. I can’t imagine many teams needing to use an alternate to get to state, and Wyatt just stepped in there.”

Pechacek said Grand was cleared by trainers to compete on the eve of the state meet.

“We still weren’t sure he’d be able to run. We made the decision about 9:30 Friday morning. We were on the fence. We had to see him run. We had to see him warm up. We had to see him get up and go,” said Pechacek.

And did Grand and his teammates ever get up and go.

A meet official said after the race he enjoyed watching Hines warm up at the starting block, jumping up and getting himself fired up. “It was like he was ready to explode,” he said.

Hines got a great start and handed to Lange who literally just flew down the back stretch, handing the baton to Quade who kept up the pace on the final curves. And then came Grand’s big test.

“He looked great, he really looked great,” said Pechacek, as Grand took the Panthers over the finish line.

“My teammates put us in position,” said Grand. “It felt so good.”

Lange commented after the race, “Max wasn’t quite healthy, and Wyatt Blomberg got us here. Max took us home.,” Grand said he knew they were in control when he saw Quade sprinting.

“I saw Ashten coming down that box stretch. He told me to just go for it, so I gave it all I had.”

“This is just awesome,” said Hines.

“I just really felt like it clicked,” said Lange.

With the 400 in the books, they took aim at the 800.

“That first race gave us the confidence we needed,” said Pechacek. “We told them they had been seeded at the top all year long. They needed to run their race and they’d be fine. They were fine. They were calm. They just went out and ran the race and came back victorious. That second race was close. They had a lot of adrenaline, and it was in their minds that they had it.”

If the first race turned heads, it also made Ellsworth the team to beat in the 800.

“We knew it was going to be competitive,” said Grand. “We knew we could do it. We just had to run our race.”

Again, it went like clockwork, with the Ellsworth contingency at the meet cheering loudly for that purple team taking care of business on the track.

“Just to see these guys rewarded for their effort, it was great,” said Pechacek.

Ellsworth also was represented by the 1,600-meter relay team of Blomberg, junior Kohl Flock, Lange and Quade. They ran a strong race and took eighth place overall.

“They exceeded their expectations,” said Pechacek. “They hadn’t really run with a lot of traffic or competition. We hadn’t seen the best of them all year. it was nice to see them get out and challenge. They ran a really good race.”

Ellsworth results at the WIAA Division 2 State Track & Field Meet.

As a team, the Panthers took 10th police overall at the meet, with 21 team points. Lodi and Jefferson tied for the top spot with 40 team points.

400-meter relay – Hines, Lange, made and Grand won in 43.35. Second place was Mosinee in 43.57.

800-meter relay – Hines, Lange, Quade and Grand won in 1:30.14, ahead of secondplace Monro at 1:30.35.

1,600-meter relay Blomberg, Flock, Lange and Quade combined for eighth place in 3:31.11. Jefferson won in 3:21.92.

Photo by John McLoone.

Photo by Faun Stanton.

Photo by Faun Stanton.

Max Grand crossed the finsih line in the 800-meter relay at the WIAA Division 2 Track & Field Meet in La Crosse Saturday.

Shane Lange handed off to Ashten Quade as the Panthers won two state championships at the WIAA State Track & Field Meet in La Crosse Friday.