From Sports Page 1

“Grace needed to keep up with the girls on the outside. Jesse did her thing. Abby – that girl just flies. Abby got it and took off. I knew we were going to be OK. Then when Tori crossed the finish line and she and Abby embraced. There’s no words. It was incredible,” said Calabrese.

When asked about that famous finish line smile, Benck replied, “I didn’t know we won. I looked up at the board and saw Prescott at number one, and I realized it’s for real.”

“It feels like it didn’t really happen,” said Carlson after the podium ceremony.

Overall, the first and the second-place finish propelled the Cardinals to 11th place overall in the WIAA Division 2 meet.

The relay’s celebrations were put on hold, though, as Severson also competed in the 200-meter dash, qualifying for finals and taking eighth place overall.

Individually, Carlson also took 12th place in the 100.

For the Prescott boys team, the 4×200 team of Grant Stanton, Andrew Lee, Kyle Budworth and Aiden Russell ran an excellent race, taking 13th place overall not he state stage. They’re all juniors, as well.

Russell also took 13th in the high jump.

“They all did great. It’s such a great experience for them,” said Calabrese.

Prescott brought a big contingency of athletes to watch the meet, and now they need to take that experience back and make taking the spot at the top of the podium their new goal.

“It’s crazy to think about these girls moving on,” said Calabrese. “A couple of our freshman girls were with us. Just them being able to see that and experience. They now have the drive to be able to do that themselves. They want to be there on that track.” Official Prescott results: Girls 400-meter relay – Carlson, Urman, Severson and Benck, first in 49.55. Fox Valley Lutheran was second in 50.13.

800-meter relay – Severson, Urman, Carlson and Benck, second in 1:44.23. Madison Edgewood was first in 1:43.85.

100-meter dash – Carlson was 12th in the preliminaries in 12.94.

200-meter dash – Severs posted a time of 26.12 in the preliminaries to qualify and took eighth in the finals in a time of 26.27.

Boys 800-meter relay – Stanton, Lee, Budworth and Russell were 13th overall in 1:34.47.

High jump – Russell took 13th with a jump of 5-10.00.

Photo by Faun Stanton.

Photo by Faun Stanton.

Photo by Faun Stanton.

Photos by Faun Stanton.

Aiden Russell competed at the high jump at the WIAA State Track & Field Meet in La Crosse Friday.

Grant Stanton prepared for the start of the 400-meter relay at the WIAA State Meet Friday in La Crosse.

At left, Grace Carlson took the handoff from Jessie Urman, and Abby Severson sprinted for Prescott in relay races at the WIAA State Track & Field Championships Friday in La Crosse.