Brodhead/Juda girls track and field eyeing team title at WIAA Division 2 state meet

BRODHEAD, Wis. — Brodhead/Juda girls track and field head coach Curt Gratz said it seems like the bigger the stage is, the better his squad shows out.

The Cardinals should have high hopes heading into this weekend then, because it doesn’t get much larger than the WIAA Division 2 Track and Field State Championships.

Brodhead/Juda’s girls will send seven different athletes to compete in 10 events at UW-La Crosse beginning on Friday after dominating the sectional meet in Portage, where it won the program’s first ever team title with 75 points.

“We came in with a couple of goals this season, looking a bit later than you're sometimes able to with some of the stars that we have on our team,” Gratz said. “We were hoping to come away with a team title, but everything had to come together and we had great performances. We broke three school records that night, and a lot of them were lowering ones we had set earlier in the year.”

The Cardinals placed well above second-place Kettle Moraine Lutheran, which finished with 60 points. High finishes are nothing new for Brodhead/Juda, which was second both in the Beloit Turner regional behind Madison Edgewood and the RVC Championships behind Monroe. And the team has won several invitationals, such as the Beloit Daily News Invite and the Jim Church Invite, throughout the season.

“A lot of it is about the work the girls put in during the offseason,” Gratz said. “We also have a great coaching staff that is getting each of the different events peaking at the right time. And we’re deep. We’re good in a lot of places. That team depth is something that we've really relied on. Not just scoring a lot of points in one place, but all over the place.”

Addison Yates knows a thing or two about depth. The senior will be quite busy in La Crosse as she competes in the high jump, long jump and the 100-meter hurdles in addition to running a leg of the 4x100 relay.

“For her, it’s going to be like a regular track meet,” Gratz said. “She’s up in all four events that she usually competes in. Meet management is a big part of what she does. Not a lot of girls could do the lineup that she does because so much of it is at the beginning of the meet. Long jump is going on at the same time as high jump, which is the same time as prelims and finals for the hurdles.”

Yates won the high jump in Portage with a height of 5-feet, 4-inches, placed fourth in the high jump with a season record of 16-feet, 11.5-inches and ended third in the 100 hurdles with a personal record of 15.51 seconds.

“Addison does a really good job of managing herself, getting checked in and checked out of events,” Gratz said. “And that's a credit to not only the athlete that she is, but also her intelligence to be able to do that.”

Yates goes into the high jump with one of the best heights among those competing, which could mean earning plenty of points for the Cardinals.

“We're going up there with enough events that we can come away with some hardware if everything falls into place,” Gratz said. “And to do that, it's going to take great performances from each of those girls. Right away on Friday, we've got the two jumpers in the high jump with Addie seeded really high, so hopefully that's one we can come away with some big points.”

Junior Madi Brown will also be taking part in the high jump after she advanced to the state meet via a jump off at sectionals. Her height of 5-feet was tied for fourth place with four other athletes, but she was the last one to clear the bar that increasingly got lower and lower until one was left standing.

“It's one of those things where I've been telling Madi she's really good at this all year,” Gratz said. “She's been sitting behind Addie, but she's a great athlete on her own. To go up and compete like she did and to be able to win that jump off, it takes a lot of mental fortitude, especially when it's a fourth place at a sectional meet with a state trip on the line. She was willing to take that opportunity.”

Senior Onni Williams will return to the state meet, where she placed 15th last season, after finishing fourth in Portage (37-10.75).

“Onni had not her best throw ever at state last year and wanted to get back and be able to redeem herself,” Gratz said. “She has that experience under her belt from making it last year, and she’s put in a ton of commitment in the offseason to get better, doing clubs and camps. This is something she’s passionate about. She's also an athlete that brings people together, and you always need somebody like that on your team.”

On the track, junior Stella Arn and senior Kalena Riemer made it a Cardinal qualifying sweep in the 100-800 races. Arn finished first in both the 100 (12.27) and the 200 (25.44) while Riemer was first in the 800 (2:19.73) and third in the 400 (58.61).

“This is a dream of Stella's that she wasn't able to fulfill last year due to being injured,” Gratz said. “We're really excited to have her up there this year. She's from a track family and they go to La Crosse as a family a lot, so it's something that she's familiar with but never been able to compete at.

“And Stella has yet to lose a race yet this year, whether it's a relay or an individual race. We'll see if she can keep that streak going. There's definitely some very fast girls coming in throughout the state, but she's a competitor.”

Gratz added that Riemer is “the biggest gamer he’s coached” and credited her with overcoming a midseason injury, where they were forced to scale back her racing for a bit, to fight her way into state.

“Kalena will rise to the occasion and the level of the people around her,” he said. “She's a little bit of an unspoken hero because Addie and Stella are a little more multi-event, but Kalena just dominates the 400 and 800. She comes in with a lot of experience in the 800, which she was placed really high in up there last year. And it's been her goal since the last state meet to try to win a state championship in it.”

Arn and Yates will run with Brenley Jones and Elliana Shank on the 4x100, which finished second at sectionals (50.18).

“We made the decision midway through the season to switch Addie to that 4x100 because we thought we had something special there,” Gratz said. “We've never really taken that individual approach. It's about us and what can I do for the team? How can I score points? The girls are always asking, 'Where are we sitting at points? How are we doing?'”

The Division 2 and 3 sessions will begin at 3 p.m. on Friday. The competition resumes Saturday at 9:30 a.m. The order of the finals for each event Saturday begins with Division 3, followed by Divisions 2 and then Division 1.

“We don't go up there with the most points on paper, on seeds, but we go up there with a chance,” Gratz said. “We’re not far out of it. If we don't end up winning a team title, but we have great performances, there's nothing else I can ask as a coach other than that.”

• CARDINALS BOYS: Senior Gavin Pinnow placed third in the high jump (6-2) to qualify for the state meet while Brodhead/Juda will also send its boys 4x100 relay of Grayson Arn, Cohen Henze, Eric Woodward and Gunner Boegli, which finished third in Portage (43.62).

• OTHER LOCAL COMPETITORS: Clinton senior Owen Douglas will compete in both the shot put and discus after a strong performance at the Big Foot sectional. Douglas threw a distance of 50-feet, 9-inches in the shot put and 135-feet, 3-inches in the discus.

Big Foot senior Kaden Rambatt will look to defend his title in the boys pole vault after recording a PR height of 16-feet, 3-inches at sectionals. The girls 4x100 relay of Elliana Pape, Allie Stankevitz, Lydia France and Ava Schoonover also qualified for state after placing fourth (50.83).