Piper Johnson went the distance to become a conference champion.
Traveling to Lake Mills on Tuesday, May 14, for the Capitol Conference track and field meet, where the Poynette girls finished fifth, the highest team place for the Pumas since 2019. Johnson won the 1,600 run by eight seconds.
“She ran a steady race and was able to pull away from the field in the last 400m,” said Kevin Frehner, head coach for Poynette. “Piper also finished second in the 3200m run to pick up two first-team all-conference awards.”
It was a good night all around for the Pumas
“We had a very strong meet for our team,” said Frehner. “At the end of the evening, we had 20 season-best performances and nine career-best performances.”
The Poynette boys finished 10th.
In the girls’ meet, Lodi won the Capitol with 132.5 points, followed by Lakeside Lutheran (126.5), Columbus (92) and Sugar River (80). Teams finishing behind Poynette (67) included Cambridge (66), Marshall (63), Wisconsin Heights (46), Waterloo (17) and Lake Mills (nine).
“Our highlight event of the night was the girls 400m dash, where we took second and third place by Zayne Hushagen and Emma Yelk, respectively,” said Frehner. “Zayne earned first team all-conference and Emma second team. Emma also earned another second team all-conference award with a fourth place finish in the triple jump. Our final first team all-conference finish was accomplished by Mercedi Lapacek with a second-place finish in the high jump. Valerie Heth had a significant season best in the shot put to finish fourth to earn second team all-conference. We also had two relay teams earn second team all-conference. The 4x800m relay team (Zayne Hushagen, Madeline Serwe, Raelyn Pafford, Geneva Ritzke) ran a season best time to finish fourth and the 4x400m relay team (Emma Yelk, Madeline Serwe, Geneva Ritzke, and Zayne Hushagen) also ran a season best to finish fourth. The ‘Feet of the Meet Award’ on the track was shared by Johnson and Hushagen, while the field event award was shared by Yelk and Heth.”
Meanwhile, the Poynette boys finished 10th, scoring 16 points. Lakeside Lutheran took first place with 188 points, followed by Lodi (161), Sugar River (104), Columbus (52), Marshall (48.5), Lake Mills (41.5), Wisconsin Heights (36), Cambridge (31) and Waterloo (24).
“The boys’ team had one all-conference athlete,” said Frehner. “Sophomore Chris Schwenn set a season best by over a foot with a jump of 19’10” to finish in fourth place. The 1600m and 3200m runners had a strong showing with three season-best times and two career bests. The 4x200m relay also had a season best time and placed higher than their seed. Owen Prucha also had a season- and career-best in the 100m dash.”
Junior Varsity
Poynette sent some athletes to Wisconsin Heights on Friday for the junior varsity conference meet.
“We took a larger contingent of kids than normal to this meet due to the youth of our team,” said Frehner. “We had a very strong day there, as well. Overall, there were 18 season bests and four career-best performances. On the girls’ side, senior Hope Wadzinski had a great day with season bests in all three of her events (100m, 200m, and 4x100m). Evelyn Hafeman also had a strong day with a career best in the 200m dash. On the boys’ side, Brady Cox had the performance of the day with a 10-second lifetime best in the 800m run. Brady led the race from the gun and his aggressive approach allowed him to run such a great race. Levi Mueller also had a season and career best in the pole vault, clearing 9-0 for the first time.”
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