As good as gold

East Troy High School’s Rachel Atchinson races to victory in the 800-meter run to lead the Trojans to the team title of the WIAA Division 2 state track and field meet in La Crosse May 31-June 1. (Photo by Bob Mischka)

East Troy girls win state track title, set relay record

By David Paulsen

Correspondent

Winning the first East Troy High School state title since the mid-1980s, the Trojan girls track and field squad captured the Division 2 state title at the WIAA State Track and Field Championships Friday and Saturday.

The ETHS girls team tallied 57 points to easily outdistance second-place Dodgeville/Mineral Point, which had 36 points, in the meet held May 31 and June 1 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“We got her done,” an exultant head coach Josh Herrell said. “It was special. We were just ecstatic to finally bring home a state championship.”

Herrell noted that ETHS has had several teams recently come so close to state titles, so it was finally good to capture one.

In addition to the team title, the Trojan girls won three event state titles, and set a state record.

Senior Rachel Atchinson won the 800-meter gold medal, and the 4-by-400 and 4-by-800 relay teams also captured state titles.

Those wins accounted for 30 of the team points.

Eight more points were earned by senior Frankie Morris when she took second in the 400-meter dash.

The 4-by-800 relay team of freshman Carly Atchison, sophomore Katie Hodges, Morris and Rachel Atchinson set a state record with their winning time of nine minutes 19.00 seconds. That broke the state record by more than 2.5 seconds.

“They smashed the state record,” Herrell said. “They are nationally ranked now. It is impossible what they did.”

Herrell added that he did not think that relay team had a shot at the state record, but all four girls had personal records with their splits.

Herrell added that Carly Atchison ran with a stress fracture in her foot, which she had suffered earlier in the season. He noted she was wearing a boot before and after her races, and was also under a physician’s care and approval to run.

The winning time by the 4-by-800 team was faster than both the winning Division 1 and Division 3 4-by-800 teams, as well.

The 4-by-400 relay team of the same four individuals won that race in a time of 3:58.45. That was just .32 seconds off the state record. The girls edged second-place Green Bay Notre Dame by just .25 seconds.

“Again, four girls, four lifetime bests,” Herrell said. “They just kept getting stronger and stronger.”

Herrell said by the time the 4-by-400 relay team was ready to race he knew that if they won the race they would have wrapped up the team title, as well.

The 3:58.45 did set a new ETHS record, breaking one set three years ago by another Trojan 4-by-400 relay that won state. That team set the record in 2010 at 3:58.52.

Senior Andrea Olsen ran on the 4-by-400 relay team in the preliminary round.

Atchinson won the 800 with a personal best time of 2:14.39. That was the fastest 800 in the state this year by nearly one second.

“That’s pretty impressive,” Herrell said.

One year ago, Atchinson finished ninth at state in the 800.

“Rachel just made a decision ‘I’m going to be faster,’” Herrell noted.

Morris had the second fastest time in ETHS history in the 400 at 57.68 seconds. That was a full second better than her previous personal best time.

Bryzena and Katrina Santos also scored points for East Troy at state.

Bryzena, a junior, took third in the long jump with a leap of 17-08.75 and seventh in the triple jump (34-07.5), while Katrina, a freshman, was fifth in the long jump (17-03.5) and fifth in the triple jump (35-05.25). That meant that each scored eight team points.

Junior Emily Leising placed seventh in the 300 hurdles (47.55), freshman M.E. Dodge eighth in the discus (111-02), and senior Alicia Oleson 12th in the 100 hurdles (16.26).

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