The WIAA State Track & Field Meet has concluded, and two Whippet athletes gave it their all in the final competition of the season.
First up was Langdon Coburn in the pole vault. Gaining valuable experience on the state’s biggest stage, Langdon cleared the opening heights of 12′ 6″ and 13′ 0″ with ease before encountering difficulty at 13′ 6″, the height at which he exited the competition. Although it was not his best performance of the season, the experience provided an important opportunity for growth. He got to experience an extra week of training, travel to an overnight meet, and compete on the infield at UW-La Crosse. Despite finishing 10th overall, it does not diminish the outstanding season Langdon put together. Not only did he break the school record this year, but he raised it again at sectionals with a personal-best clearance of 14′ 6″. Langdon leaves the season hungry for bigger heights next season.
Sydney Schilt was next in action in the 100-meter dash preliminaries. Running into a headwind, Sydney placed 13th overall with a time of 12.93 seconds. She narrowly missed advancing to Saturday’s final, which was reserved for the top ten qualifiers.
While awaiting her 200-meter preliminary later that evening, officials suspended the meet due to lightning in the area, forcing the entire facility to be cleared. As athletes and spectators waited for word on whether competition would resume, the clock ticked past 9:45 p.m. With several hours of events remaining, officials ultimately postponed the remainder of Friday’s competition until Saturday morning and pushed back the start of the Saturday session by one hour.
Fortunately, Sydney’s 200-meter dash remained in its usual late-afternoon spot in the schedule. After an extra day to recover, regroup, and refocus following the 100 prelims, she settled into the blocks at 5:00 p.m. under ideal racing conditions. In the final race of her Whippet career, Sydney made the most of the opportunity, running a lifetime-best 25.87 to place 12th overall. The performance strengthened her hold on third place on the Whippet all-time top ten list in the 200 meters and will make it even more difficult for future Whippets to move past her mark.
Sydney concludes her remarkable career as a three-time state qualifier. Her accomplishments include being a member of the state champion 4×200-meter relay team as a freshman—a performance that still stands as the school record—as well as recording top-three times in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes in Whippet history.
Congratulations to both Langdon and Sydney on outstanding seasons culminating at the WIAA State Track & Field Championships!
Article Submitted by WHS Track Staff
