The Rice Lake girls track and field team won a Division 2 sectional title in qualifying seven events for the state meet, while the boys added three more state qualifiers during Thursday's sectional at Colby.
The Warriors girls scored 73 points to finish five in front of runner-up Bloomer. Rice Lake got a sectional title from Eliana Sheplee in the 400 meters and the girls 400 relay of Avery Ash, Adaline Sheplee, Sophia Knauff and Madilyn DeLawyer also took first.
Jacob Madsen gave the Warriors boys a title in the 110 hurdles as he and teammate Kaden Willger took first and second to return to state. The Rice Lake boys placed sixth in the standings. Also heading to state is Carter Kucko for the 3,200.
Also qualifying for state for the girls was Addison Schmidt in the shot put, Eliana Sheplee for the 100 and 200, and Adaline Sheplee in the high jump and 300 hurdles.
The WIAA State Track and Field Championships are Friday and Saturday in La Crosse.
The three-time defending state winner for the 400, Eliana Sheplee won her event in 56.26 seconds, the best time of the season for the senior. She was runner-up in both the 100 (12.74) and 200 (24.99) to Amery's Lucci Aizpurua, the defending 100 state champion. It's the fourth time for Sheplee qualifying for the 200 and 400 and third time in the 100.
After taking third at state last year the Warriors' 400 relay of a senior in Knauff, juniors Ash and DeLawyer and sophomore Sheplee will return to La Crosse. At sectionals they had a winning time of 49.94, which is 0.55 from their school record set at state last year.
Adaline Sheplee cleared 5 feet, 4 inches for second in the high jump to return to state after taking third last season. She also qualified for the 300 hurdles for the first time after finishing fourth at sectionals in 46.41.
Schmidt set a personal best by a half-inch in taking second at 38-6 for the shot put as the freshman reaches state in her first high school season.
Madsen and Willger will be back at state after qualifying for the first time last year for the now senior and sophomore, respectively. Madsen had a winning time of 15.05 at sectionals with Willger in second with a personal best of 15.17. Kucko took off nearly 14 seconds from his personal best and 25 seconds from regionals three days prior as the sophomore took third in the 3,200 in 9:49.68.
The Warriors girls also scored points at sectionals in five other events. Just missing out at state by one place in taking fifth was Adaline Sheplee in the 100 hurdles and sophomore Sedona Gay in the 1,600. Sheplee finished in 16.23 as Barron's Hailee Halverson got the final qualifying spot in 16.21. Gay ran a personal best 5:17.23 with Baldwin-Woodville's Adison Wilde qualifying at 5:13.42.
DeLawyer was sixth in the long jump (16-9.5), seventh for the 200 (27.18) and eighth in the triple jump (34-5.5). Morgan Stephens finished the 3,200 in 12:25.55 as the sophomore was seventh.
The Rice Lake boys 3,200 relay of Kucko, juniors Bailey MacDonald and Pierce Hastreiter, and sophomore Austin Prince just missed out on qualifying for state in taking fifth in a season-best 8:19.51. Hayward's relay was fourth in 8:15.96 for the final spot.
Also scoring points for Rice Lake was sophomore Ethan Mullikin, who placed sixth for the triple jump (41-4), as was junior Connor Durand in the pole vault (13-0). Willger placed seventh for the 300 hurdles (42.49) and in eighth was the 1,600 relay of all juniors in Owen Brunette, Hastreiter, MacDonald and Jacob Jondreau, who completed their race in 3:35.43.
Barron qualifies two
At the Division 2 Colby sectional, Barron had Grant Shipley and Hailee Halverson qualify for state.
Shipley is the defending state champion in the wheelchair shot put, and after a 27-7.5 mark at sectionals, he enters state as the top seed. The senior also qualified in the 100 and 400 wheelchair races. Halverson qualified for 100 hurdles after the senior finished in fourth in 16.21.
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