In beautiful La Crosse, Wisconsin, athletes from the Whitewater Track and Field program competed their guts out at the highest level with several athletes advancing to Saturday’s final day of competition.

Traysen Thomason started things off in the 100m dash with an incredible start out of the blocks and placed 2nd in his run, running 11.16 into a headwind. Combining the heats qualified Traysen into the final seeded fifth.

Next up was the girls’ 4x200m relay. The quartet of A’lani Ross, Sydney Schilt, Calli Grosinske, and Athena Soto ran their second fastest of the season to stop the clock in 1:49.02. They placed 14th overall and will not advance into Saturday’s final.

Ethan Dugan breezed through his 400m prelim in 49.01 to win his heat and is the second fastest seed going into Saturday’s final.

The final event was the boys’ 4x400m relay. The team of Ethan Dugan, Quincy Boudreau, Jack Hefty, and Nate Holden debuted a different relay order and strategy in the prelim. It paid off as the team handed off in first place at every exchange and was clear of the chaos that can sometimes clutter up the exchanges in this event. They placed third in their heat and advanced to the finals as the fourth seed. Their time of 3:24.38 is the fifth fastest time ever run in program history, and just shy of a full second from being school record holders. They will get another chance to give it their all Saturday in the final.

Jack Hefty will also compete on day two in the 1600 where he looks to defend his state title from one year ago in the same event.

Go, Whippets!

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Track and Field Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org