Elmwood/ Plum City results

By Reagan Hoverman

The River Falls High School track and field team had a successful two days at the WIAA Division 1 State Track and Field Champi onships in La Crosse, which included 15 student athletes in six different events.

For River Falls, the girls’ portion of the team had a very strong showing, which in cluded qualifying for state in the 4×100 meter relay with juniors Brooklyn Silloway and Rebecca Randleman and sen iors Allie Humburg and Elise Frisbie. The girls also qualified in the 4×200 meter relay with a team of the aforementioned Silloway, Randleman, Frisbie and senior Morgan Prigge.

In addition to those events, Randleman also qualified in the 100 meter dash. Senior Brianna Strehlau also qualified in the girls’ 100 meter hurdles. As for the boys’ portion of events, senior Isaac Carns qualified in the 300 meter hur dles. The Wildcats boys also qualified in the 4×100 meter relay which consisted of jun

iors Jacob Gilbertson and Jor dan Karras and seniors Samuel Rixmann and Carns.

River Falls boys’ track coach Max Haskins spoke about the weekend of events and provided an analysis of the final results for the Wildcats.

“I thought we had a great showing from our kids this weekend,” Haskins said. “The 4×200 relay team ran well on Friday, qualifying in the eighth spot. We talked all week about putting themselves in a posi tion to podium on Saturday so it was great to see them run well and get another opportu nity to race together.”

Haskins stated that the same thing was true with Carns, who competed in the 300 meter hurdles. He started hurdling during the middle of the 2022 season and managed to make it to the state finals in only the fifth hurdles race of his career.

Carns earned an eighth

place finish in the 300 meter hurdles and the boys’ 4×200

meter relay earned a seventh place finish. Coach Haskins spoke about competing on a stage that size and how experi

enced, senior laden teams like that of River Falls have an ad vantage in the state meet.

“One thing that really helped us was that we had two members of our relay (Carns and Rixmann) that had run at the state meet before,” Haskins said. “They knew what it was going to be like going in and that helped prepare the rest of the guys on the relay for that. Veteran leadership is huge on state weekend and I was very impressed with how composed all of our athletes were and that can be attributed to Isaac (Carns), Robbie (Anderson) and Sam (Rixmann).”

As for the aforementioned River Falls girls’ track com

petitors, the 4×100 meter relay earned a seventh place finish in the finals and the 4×200

meter relay earned a fifth place finish, the only River Falls team to podium at the 2022 state track meet.

Although Strehlau didn’t qualify for the finals in the 100 meter hurdles and Randle

man didn’t qualify for the fi

nals in the 100 meter dash, both set personal records in their preliminary efforts. River Falls girls’ coach Kady Bauschelt spoke about the girls’ success at state.

“Brianna (Strehlau) PR’d in the hurdles, she didn’t make it to finals but she had a great PR,” Bauschelt said. “Our 4×100 and 4×200 both made it to the finals. Everyone PR’d, it was a huge weekend for us.”

Bauschelt stated that when going to the state meet, the coaching staff hopes to see each student athlete or group of athletes in a relay set PRs. She stated that they spent a ma jority of the week working on handoffs because those truly are the difference at the state meet.

“We practiced handoffs and the kids were ready to go,” Bauschelt said. “They had a great weekend and they got along. All (we) can ask for in that situation is a personal best and everyone got one. It was just extra special to see (the 4×200) on the podium.”

While there were some standout performances in the finals on Saturday, June 4, the preliminary day on Friday wasn’t the same. River Falls narrowly made the cut in three events that made it to the sec ond day of the tournament.

“To get in (to finals) you had to get 10th place (or better in the prelims),” Bauschelt said. “Our 4×100 girls, 4×200 boys, and our 300 meter hur dles all took 10th. We barely squeaked into the finals. We just kept telling them, all you have to do is try to get to Sat urday – make it to Saturday and then who knows what will happen.”

River Falls made the most of its trip and managed to set PRs in every event that it sent to state. Both Haskins and Bauschelt stated that setting a PR in every event is unusual, even with a highly skilled ros ter.

The 2022 season for River Falls was that of adversity. Stu

dent athletes battled injuries, they lost practice time because of the unusually cold, long winter that plagued Pierce County for nearly the entire month of April.

“It was a great season, the weather was definitely hard, it messes with workout plans, it messes with – you can’t plan for snow and rain that late into the year,” Bauschelt said. “Overall, to end with PRs, that’s all we can ask for. It was just a really fun, great season.”

The class of 2022 has a spe cial place in Bauschelt’s heart because it was her first fresh man class when she started coaching track and field at River Falls. Because of that, it’s especially hard to say goodbye to student athletes that have meant so much to her and the program.

“These seniors are the class that I first had when I started coaching here,” Bauschelt said. “This is my first full four years. To know them and see the progress that they made, if you look back at Brianna Strehlau our hurdler, if you look at her times, it’s amazing what that girl accomplished in four years. The seniors are a strong group of what I would call silent leaders.”

While Bauschelt was quick to praise the seniors for their efforts and contributions to the program, Haskins was equally as eager to join in. He had nothing but positive praise for an outstanding class of 2022.

“I think this group of sen iors has elevated our program

immensely,” Haskins said. “We talk about leaving the pro gram in a better place than when you entered it and they did just that. I could go on and on about their performances on the track but above all, their leadership will be missed the most. This group had so much natural leadership and pushed others around them to improve. They accomplished a lot in their four years and it’s bitter sweet to see them go.”

River Falls put together an all around solid season that in cluded both the boys’ and girls’ rosters making a push for the Big Rivers Conference Cham pionship. Despite coming up just short of that, they had strong showings at regionals, sectionals, and state and return a strong team for the 2023 sea son.

“We’ve got some juniors that we’re excited about and we’ve got some freshmen and sophomores too,” Bauschelt said. “We’ve got new kids that are coming up and you can kind of see the writing on the wall (that it’s going to be good).”

The River Falls coaching staff remains positive about the outlook for the program into 2023 and beyond with the new young talent that the Wildcats have rising through the ranks of the program.

Elmwood/Plum City state results The Elmwood/Plum City Wolves also had multiple ath letes at the 2022 State Track and Field Championships in La Crosse on Friday and Saturday afternoon. In total, the Wolves sent six student athletes to state in five different events.

Elmwood/Plum City senior Ethan Rupakus qualified in the Division 3 high jump and jun ior Trevor Asher qualified in both the long jump and triple jump events. As for the girls’ side, junior Hannah Forster qualified in the 300 meter hur dles and she was also part of the 4×200 meter relay group of herself and juniors Isabella Forster, Lily Well and Allyson Fleishauer.

All of Elmwood/Plum City’s events made it to the fi nals on the second day of the competition except for the girls’ 4×200 meter relay, which narrowly missed the cut with a 12th place finish in the prelim inaries.

Hannah Forster earned an eighth place finish in the 300 meter hurdles despite being seeded 10th in the event. Ru pakus’ scratched on the day of the finals by not exceeding the initial height posted for the meet. As for Asher’s efforts, he earned a ninth place finish in the boys’ long jump and a 13th place finish in the triple jump.

All of the teams from Pierce County that sent student ath letes to state, including River Falls, Ellsworth, Prescott and Elmwood/Plum City all expe rienced success at the biggest track meet of the season.

Elmwood/Plum City senior Ethan Rupakus makes one of his three attempts on day two of the 2022 State Track and Field Championships in La Crosse on Saturday, June 4.Photo by Reagan Hoverman