WIAA state track: Witt-Birn girls secure a Division 2 state record, repeat championship

LA CROSSE - The Wittenberg-Birnamwood girls track and field team had the Division 2 state championship clinched before the final event of the weekend Saturday. But the Chargers made one last statement. 

The all-senior team of Paige and Emily Norrbom, Kylie Linke and Maddy Pietz not only won the 1,600-meter relay at Veterans Memorial Stadium for the third straight year, but also did it in a state meet record of 3 minutes, 54.94 seconds. It broke the mark of 3:56.66 the four set two years ago. 

"It means the world to set the record again after doing it sophomore year," said Pietz, who ran the anchor leg of the relay "There's no other three (people) I would rather have go before me in this race."

The victory allowed the Chargers to finish the two-day meet with 50 points and a second straight state championship. Appleton Xavier was second with 36 points. 

"The biggest thing was how we approached the year, trying to save our legs and trying to get the best performances when we could," Wittenberg-Birnamwood girls coach Mike Balliett said. "I tell you what, these girls really stepped up this weekend."

The Chargers qualified in seven events for the state meet and scored points in six of them. 

Paige Norrbom was second in the 300 hurdles in 45.51 seconds and the 800 relay team (Norrbom, Norbomm, Linke and Chloe King) was second in 1:44.92.

"It was special because I wasn't really expecting to do that well this year," Norrbom said of her hurdles performance. "To take second in state is really incredible."

Pietz won the 100 and 400 on Saturday, a day after she was fifth in the long jump. 

It was the second straight year Pietz has won the 400, and her first championship in the 100 after she place second last year and third as a sophomore. 

The state championship in the 100 also came after she set a Division 2 state meet record in the event in Friday's preliminaries. 

"It feels amazing," Pietz said. "I've been trying to do it in the 100 all my years of high school, so to finally do it my senior year and break a state record in the prelims is amazing."

The same could be said for Pietz's prep track career. Balliett called her the best girls track athlete to come through the Chargers program. 

"She is by far," Balliett said. "But you take this (senior) class and that group of four girls (in the 1,600 relay) and it by far is the best group of kids we have had, too. We had nine girls in our program this year and seven of them were down here this weekend."

Livingston doubles up in hurdles

Adams-Friendship's Brooke Livingston captured two championships on the final day of the state track meet. 

The junior won the 100 hurdles in 14.79 seconds and the 300 in 44.83. 

"It's the best feeling ever," Livingston said. "This is like a dream come true. I never thought that at the beginning of the season that I would be ending like this."

Livingston entered the day as the top-seeded individual in both relays and met those expectations.

Livingston won the 100 by roughly a half second as Lodi's Mackenzie Heyroth was second in 15.12. She then beat Norrbom to the finish line in the 300 to complete the hurdles sweep. 

"I could kind of hear her behind me," Livingston said about Norrbom. "I didn't really know how far behind (she was) but I just pushed myself even harder (down the stretch)."

Nekoosa's Wiesen wins race for second place

Nekoosa senior had the second-fastest boys time in the 400 on Saturday regardless of division.

Te problem is that he ran in the same race with Rice Lake's Kenny Bednarek, who captured the state title in a Division 2 state meet record time of 46.73.

Wiesen finished behind him in 48.70.

"I knew he was going to blow me out of the water," said Wiesen, who also was eighth in the 200. "You know I can only do so much against a man that fast. I set a (personal record) by 0.2 seconds, so that is about all you can ask for. "

Wiesen's time would have won the Division 1 championship as Neenah's Conlin Enz was first in 49.03. He would have won the Division 3 championship as Wild Rose's Ashwartman topped the field in 49.82. 

It didn't derail his excitement of reaching the podium. 

"It's pretty surreal," said Wiesen, who is headed to Minnesota State, Mankato and will compete in track there. "You can't take first with someone like (Wiesen) but I'm pretty proud of what I did today."

Other notable performance

Nekoosa's Miguel Mathias was fourth in the 3,200 in 9:24.88, a day after he placed fourth in the 1,600. Medford's Victor Rinaldi was 10th in the 100 in 11.43.