By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
At a track meet at home recently against Jefferson, the Whippets boys track team scored just 24 fewer points than Jefferson, but the girls team won by a single point, 68-67.
“A number of girls had solid performances,” Whippet head coach John Houwers said after the April 4 meet. “Morgan Radaj had a very good night. She ran a lifetime best in the 100-meter, winning in 13.2 as well as leading off the winning 4×400-meter relay team. Ali Ketterhagen performed well tonight as well, taking the 400-meter dash and the triple jump, and contributing a leg on the 4×400-meter relay. Her jump of 31 feet, 11 inches was a best for her over the last two seasons.
“Allisan Barrett took the 3200-meter run with a solid run. Miranda Reynolds took the high jump, and joined Radaj and Ketterhagen on the 4×400-meter relay. She also was on the winning 4×200-meter relay team, where she joined fellow 4×400 runners Rebekah Schumacher, Abby Grosinske and Morgan Wiedenhoeft to take the relay.”
Houwers said that the depth for the Whippets proved to be valuable, taking many second and third-place finishes. On the girls side, Jefferson is the defending state champions from a year ago, and Houwers also mentioned the freshmen, saying that they made a lot of contributions in the effort to pick up the win.
Of the 17 girls events that had winners, as one event was disqualified, just seven first-place finishes went Whitewater’s way, pointing to the impact of the second and third-place finishes.
The Whitewater boys team won seven of its 18 events. Logan Rasmussen won three of them as an individual and was a part of the 4×400-meter relay team as well.
“Logan Rasmussen dominated once again,” Houwers said. “He took the triple jump, long jump and 200-meter dash. His triple jump of 45 feet, five inches moved him up to No. 2 on the top 10 list. (His) 20-foot, six-inch jump in the long jump was excellent as well for his first time jumping. Alex Popke jumped well in the long jump taking second with his best ever long jump.
“Aiden Coburn and Jacob Korf both started off the meet with great legs on the 4×800-meter relay. While they weren’t able to get the win, they both ran exceptionally well, as did their teammates Dalton Chenoweth and Daniel Soto. Robbie Liberto showed his versatility tonight, taking the 110-meter hurdles and the pole vault. It was a nice showing for him.”
Seth Heine, who competed in his first high school track meet, went second in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Houwers said that Heine’s times were good for this point in the season and that Mike Mattingly was the other event-winner for the Whippets in the 400-meter dash, looking very strong and ready to roll this year.
The next meet for the Whippets is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start on April 8 and the meet will be held at Clinton High School. Following that meet, the team will again be in action at 4:30 p.m. on April 11 at McFarland High School against McFarland and Edgerton.
