If the four Cambridge track and field athletes were nervous about competing at the WIAA Division 3 State Track and Field Championships on Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1, their times didn’t show it.
The four Blue Jays, sophomores Malina Schneider, Tessa Schmude and Ava Williams, along with freshman Jill Thompson, competed in a total of two events at the packed Veterans Stadium in UW-La Crosse.
The Blue Jays didn’t let the packed event get to them, making the final heats in both the 300-meter hurdles and 4x200 relay.
“It was definitely crazy, especially anchoring and coming around the corner and just seeing the stands filled with thousands of people in my peripheral vision,” said Thompson. “It was just an adrenaline rush.”
On the first day, all four of the Blue Jays competed in the prelims of the 4x200 relay. At their first ever state track meet, the four runners finished ninth with a time of 1:47.79 to qualify for the final heat.
On the second day, the relay team did not have as much nerves, as it was their second race of the championship. In the finals, the 4x200 relay team scored 10th with a time of 1:49.28.
“Once the nerves went away, and when we went to finals, it was easier because it wasn’t my first time doing it,” said Schneider.
Williams also competed individually in the 300-meter hurdles. In the prelims, Williams was focused on just running the race, and not worrying about qualifying for finals.
The mindset paid off as Williams advanced with a 10th-place time of 48.16 seconds, earning the last spot in the final heat.
“When I found out I made it to finals, I was super excited,” said Williams.
In the finals, Williams finished 10th with a time of 48.25 seconds.
“I’m very proud of all of us,” said Williams.”We handled it all very well.”
While it may have been just the four runners at state, the Blue Jays didn’t feel alone. Many of the Cambridge runners had family in attendance, along with many students from the high school that made the trip to La Crosse.
The support helped the runners not feel so alone in the packed event.
“We had so many people from our grade come up,” said Schneider. “ It wasn’t an easy drive either, two hours is pretty far for a high school student to drive, but it was pretty awesome that a lot of people showed up.”
“For them to come up and support us for a two-minute race meant a lot to all of us,” Thompson added.
With all four runners being underclassmen, the results at state will shape future goals for next year’s Cambridge track team.
“Regardless of how we did, going to state with three sophomores and a freshman in a relay is pretty amazing,” Schmude said. “We made it far which makes me very excited to see what Cambridge has to offer in a 4x200 and beyond next season.”
“It was a great learning experience for the kids, now they know what to expect and they’ll know how to adjust goals and training for next year,” Cambridge head coach Jason Revels added. “A lot of kids work all four years and never make a state finals, let alone state, so the fact that they’ve done this for their first time around here is really impressive to me.”
Preparations for next year’s goal already began being formed at this year’s state meet. According to Revels, the runners have hopes of finishing on the state medal stand and breaking school records.
“It’s just fun to see kids take on that challenge of stepping their game up without us having to prompt them as coaches,” said Revels. “It speaks a lot about their characters as competitors and athletes.”
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