By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
For seven members of the East Troy High School girls track team, the 2015 season will end on the state’s biggest stage.
And at this point of the year, that’s exactly what every athlete strives to achieve.
East Troy will compete in four events this weekend on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus following a fifth-place overall finish at its own Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 sectional meet last week.
Lakeside Lutheran won the team title with 100 points, followed by Jefferson with 71.5, Shorewood with 48, Kettle Moraine Lutheran with 41 and East Troy with 38.
“I was very impressed with the effort our boys and girls teams showed at sectionals,” East Troy coach Josh Herrell said. “Nearly every single athlete that ran, ran their season or all-time fastest time.”
Leading the state qualifiers is junior M.E. Dodge, who earned her third straight trip with a first-place effort of 121-9 in the discus.
Joining Dodge at state will be sophomore Hope Schneider, second in the high jump (5-5, lifetime best); the 3,200-meter relay team of senior Erin Parr, senior Charlotte Plehn, junior Amanda Bustillos and senior Katie Hodges, second (9:55.68) and sophomore Hannah Buchholtz, fourth in the pole vault (8-9).
Herrell said the relay’s state trip marks the sixth straight year East Troy is sending the 3,200-meter team to the state meet. This year’s team dropped 22 seconds from its regional effort.
“When I got here six years ago, I made it a priority that we start our meets and end our meets as dominantly as we can,” he said. “We base nearly all of our training around the 400 and 800.”
Looking ahead to state, Dodge will compete in second flight of the discus finals on Saturday morning. The top seed entering the meet is Evansville senior Karen Wethal at 133-5.
Schneider heads to La Crosse tied with two other sophomores, Monroe’s Jordan Hirsbrunner and Lakeside’s Laura Hafenstein, with the second-ranked sectional high jump of 5-5. The top seed is Martin Luther sophomore Brooke Blazei at 5-6. That event is set to open the state meet Friday morning.
In the pole vault, Buchholtz will compete Saturday morning in the finals. Leading the 17-person field is Wrightstown sophomore Brielle Buechler with a qualifying vault of 10-9.
The Trojans’ 3,200-meter relay team is set to race in the first heat of the timed finals Saturday. That event’s top seed belongs to the Edgewood foursome that posted a sectional time of 9:31.65.
Other sectional results
Also competing at the sectional were junior Katrina Santos, fifth in the high jump (5-1); senior Katie Hodges, seventh in the 400 (1:02.12); the 1,600-meter team of Katie Hodges, Santos, Plehn and Schneider, seventh (4:12.38); the 400-meter relay team of freshman Katie Zewiske, sophomore Callie Vogel, Dodge and Schneider, ninth (52.52); Vogel, 10th in the triple jump (32-6 1/2); senior Jenna Hodges, 12th in the 400 (1:05.69); and Bustillos, 13th in the 3,200 (13:02.82).
The 800-meter team of Zewiske, Vogel, Dodge and Schneider was disqualified, according to posted results.
Herrell said the 1,600-team narrowly missed a state-qualifying time with a season-best effort.
“We’ve dropped a lot of time in recent weeks (in that event),” he said.
