East track & field starts season at Janesville Parker

The high school track & field season is, fittingly, reminiscent of a marathon. Athletes set benchmark times and work hard to incrementally improve throughout the spring, hopefully culminating with their best work at the end of the season.

Sun Prairie East’s athletes set those baseline times on Monday, April 8. The Cardinals kicked off their new season with a trip down to Janesville Parker for a Big Eight conference dual meet.

The girls had a very strong day, best represented by their strong performance in the relays. Sophomore Danielle Codlyn, freshman Lillian Danner, junior Leah Kaufman, and junior Emlyn Knutson took first in the 4x100 meter relay with their time of 53.2 seconds. In the 4x200, Danner and Codlyn were joined by sophomores Josie Gassner and Kiera Place to win with a time of 1:51.3. Josie Gassner, was joined by Kaia Gassner, freshman Reegan Marchewka, and junior Brooke Marchewka to win the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:32.3.

Kaia Gassner led the charge in the sprints, winning the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.5 seconds. East swept the top three spots in the event as sophomore Makayla O’Malley took second at 13.6 seconds and Knutson was third at 13.7 seconds. O’Malley also took the top spot in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:05.4.

East was similarly strong in the distance runs. In the 800 meter, junior Shaela Elert won with a time of 2:23.7, sophomore Sam Camp was second at 2:32.4, and Brooke Marchewka was third at 2:34.6. Senior Nyllah Comstock also won the 1,600 meter run with a time of 6:03.1, 10 seconds faster than the Parker runner in second place.

Freshman Anna Waszczyk also impressed in the hurdles. She won the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 53 seconds flat and also was runner-up in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 18.5 seconds.

The strong performances for the girls extended into the field portion of the meet. The Cardinals won both of the throws. Junior Aly Rostan won the discus with a distance of 98’9” and Codlyn won the shot put with a throw of 33’9.5”. Junior Alexa Wornson won the pole vault with a height of 10 feet flat and Kaufman won the triple jump with a distance of 31’7”.

The boys also crushed the field portion of the meet, specifically the shot put. Senior Curtis Johnson not only won the event with a throw of 52’9.3”, this distance was also the seventh longest throw in school history. Fellow senior Alton Williams also took second with a throw of 52’3”, which ranks 10th in the school’s all-time record book. Those two also took the top two spots in the discus, Williams in first with a throw of 128’8” and Johnson in second at 124’6”.

Elsewhere in the field, senior Myler Maughan and junior Colton Scherer tied for the top spot in the pole vault with heights of 12 feet each. Sophomore Brady Kaufman won the long jump with a distance of 20’7” and senior Jace Stolte took the top spot in the high jump at 5’8”.

Scherer’s success translated into a great day in the hurdles. He won the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 43 seconds flat and won the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 17.3 seconds. Junior Carson Stanfield was right behind him in the latter event with a time of 17.6 seconds.

Senior Connor Stauff led the charge in the sprints by winning the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.7 seconds. Kaufman wasn’t far behind at 11.9 and senior John McLean rounded out the top three with a time of 12 seconds flat. East’s 4x100 relay team received a disqualification, but the 4x200 relay team of sophomore Romero Newton-Waite, sophomore Mason Nesbit, freshman Kaleb Gilman, and junior Jackson Waitkus won with a time of 1:36.9.

Much like Williams and Johnson in the shot put, senior Jonah Marshall had a historically great day in the 800 meter run. His time of 2:00.1 not only won the event on Monday, it landed him in eighth place all-time in the school record book. Junior James Gammon also won the 1,600 meter run with a time of 5:13.4.

With this inaugural meet in the book, the competition ramps up to end the week as East will head to McFarland High School on Friday, April 12 for a 10-team invitational. This will be the Cardinals’ last meet for a week before heading to Monona Grove High School for another invitational on Friday, April 19.