30 of JWP track’s 46 athletes participated in the Section 2A Championship on Saturday, June 1. They all did well, especially the girls, who took home some hardware for being the Section 2A runner-ups.
Although NRHEG’s girls took the south subsection, JWP’s girls had the last laugh. River Valley took first with 87 out of 23 teams, while JWP had 67 points to NRHEG’s 56. JWP’s boys finished seventh out of 23 teams with 42 points.
The teams recorded several first-place finishes, with three individuals and four relay teams qualifying for the state tournament. And unsurprisingly, most of the state qualifiers broke school records.
The girls had three relay teams make it to state. The 4×200 relay team of Nevaeh Weimert, Katelyn Olson, Lilly Strauss, and MaKenzie Westphal took first with 1:47.74. The 4×100 team of Brielle Bure, Weimert, Olson, and Strauss took second with 51.07. the team of Strauss, Ashlynn Wolff, Weimert, and Westphal placed second in the 4×400 with a 4:10.66 time. All three relay teams broke school records.
Westphal also qualified for state in the 800 with a first-place finish in 2:22.35, another school record. Lilly Strauss’s third-place finish in the long jump qualified her for the state as well.
The 4×200 boys’ relay team of Dylan McWaters, Isaiah Berndt, Daulton Bauer, and Ryan Kronbach took first and made state with a record-breaking time of 1:32. Although the 4×100 team of McWaters, Berndt, Bauer, and Ethan Born missed qualifying by a hundredth of a second (and taking third place overall), the team broke a school record. Kronbach also made state individually in the high, long, and triple jumps, taking first, second, and third in those respective events.
Eight athletes will represent JWP at the state tournament this season. The tournament will be at St. Michael-Albertville. Preliminary rounds for JWP will start on Thursday, June 6 with finals the following Friday.
