River Falls Track and Field Head Coach Kady Bauschelt had high expectations for her team heading into the WIAA section meet at Hudson on Thursday.

"We always have high expectations," said Bauschelt, "but sometimes you just never know what's going to happen."

According to Bauschelt, the Wildcats’ biggest surprise of the day was junior Bailee Bishop in the 300-meter hurdles.

"Bailee has worked so hard and she's earned it," said Bauschelt. "Qualifying for state is a big deal."

Bishop finished third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 47.84 and the junior is headed to La Crosse for Friday's state preliminaries. The top three finishers in each of the four section meets qualify for state.

"I am so excited and it feels like a dream," said Bishop, "it was so weird crossing the line and I was like, what the heck just happened? It didn't even feel real."

Bishop said the week prior to sectionals, her hurdles coach, Matt Widule, changed her start approach to the first hurdle.

"I just sprinted my heart out to the first hurdle and just attacked it," said Bishop. "But in the 300 hurdles, you're going to die no matter what, so it's important to sprint as long as you can and hold it."

The strategy worked for Bishop. The rest of the Wildcats performed well, according to Bauschelt. 

"Every kid that was supposed to perform, did, and performed at their peak," said Bauschelt. "And that's exactly what you want as a coach."

On the girls' side, Abigail Treichel finished first in the high jump at 5'2 " and Olive Halvorson finished third in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:15.29.

The girls' 4x200-meter relay team of Isabelle Russell, Mackenzie Schmidt, Jayla Johnson, and Tirfe L'Allier placed first with a time of 1:45.17.

"Coaching boys and girls you have to navigate different levels of emotion," said Bauschelt. "You have to know when it's time to talk and time to let them be."

Speaking of having emotions, Bauschelt will have a mixed bag of them this weekend. She's not only coaching, but her son, Ty Bauschelt, qualified for state in three events.

The senior UW-Milwaukee-signee won the high jump at 6'6" and was part of the third-place team in the 4x200-meter relay. Their time of 1:28.55 on Thursday broke the school record. Bauschelt also ran anchor in the boys 4x400-meter relay team that placed first with a time of 3:21.00, almost a full six seconds ahead of second place Wausau East. Bauschelt holds three school records for River Falls.

"As a mom, I'll have a lot of tears like I did for graduation," said Bauschelt about the season's final meet. "Sometimes Ty reminds me and says, 'I need coach right now, not mom.' It kind of equals out. I coach until he jumps and then I can be mom and get excited."

Seniors Quin Andrews and Jack Silloway are also on the 4x400-meter relay team with Ty Bauschelt. Andrews won the 800-meter with a time of 1:55.06. Andrews also ran the anchor for the boys 4x800-meter relay that finished third with a time of 8:07.72. Silloway qualified for two events (4x200-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay).

"When Ty was in fifth grade when we moved here, Jack (Silloway) and Quin (Andrews) were his first two friends," said Kady Bauschelt. "And now to watch it culminate to this and know all three are moving on to track in college, it's been special for sure."

Sophomore Charlie Burke is also on the 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relays with Silloway and Ty Bauschelt.

The Wildcats’ Blake Schneider placed first in the pole vault at 14’6,” an entire foot higher than Chippewa Falls’ Collin Clay in second place.   

This year will be the 129th WIAA boys track and field state meet. It will be the 54th year for the girls. The WIAA State Track and Field Championships will be held at UW-La Crosse's Memorial Stadium on June 6 and 7.

The meet will be live streamed on the NFHS Network; however, there is a fee for viewing.