Santos sisters lead team
By David Paulsen
Correspondent
Competing against numerous Division 1 schools, the East Troy High School girls track team tied for fifth at the Wisconsin Track and Field Association State Indoor Championships Saturday at UW-Whitewater.
The Trojan girls tallied 22 points in the event that draws in excess of 50 schools. Milwaukee King won the event with 65 points.
“We’re pretty excited about (our fifth-place finish),” head coach Josh Herrell said. “It was very encouraging to see our hard work is paying off.”
One half of the Trojans’ 22 points came in the triple jump where sisters Katrina and Bryzena Santos finished second and third, respectively. Katrina leaped 36 four inches to edge Byrzena, who had a leap of 36-02.
“Those would have been good for second and third at state last year,” Herrell said.
In checking the WIAA website, the 36-04 actually would have tied for the title.
Currently, those two leaps are more than a foot farther than any others in Division 2 this season.
Bryzena Santos finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 16-05.75.
Herrell noted that Santos has basically had no practice in that event yet this spring and still has the sixth-best mark in Division 2 this season.
“She jumped a foot farther than she’s jumped this year,” Herrell noted.
Probably the biggest surprise came in the mile run where Carly Atchison turned in a time of five minutes 8.29 seconds. That was good enough for fourth place.
“The fastest mile she’d ever run in her life was a 5:32,” Herrell said. “I was shocked. She ran up with the top. She just kept working her way up. She opened a lot of eyes.”
Herrell said that Atchison basically stayed on the shoulder of Isabel Seidel of University Lake School throughout the race. When Seidel made a move, Atchison went with her.
The 5:08 time is the second fastest in ETHS history, just seven seconds off the school record, something Herrell believes Atchison can eventually break.
The final team points for East Troy came from the 4-by-400 relay team of the two Santos, Atchison and Frankie Morris. Their time of 4:15.71 was the second fastest in Division 2 this year, just .6 of a second behind Freedom. Freedom and East Troy actually ran in two different heats in this event.
The Trojan boys tallied just one point, that coming from an eight-place finish from Nate Dodge in the shot put (49-08).
Herrell noted that Cody Zaeske, who is coming back from a torn ACL, ran his first race this year in a relay.
“The boys did well,” Herrell said. “We just didn’t have any major breakout performances.”
Next week, East Troy will be at Whitewater for an RVC dual on Tuesday, April 16, at 4:45 p.m.
