By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
Both the boys and girls track teams for Whitewater High School competed in the East Troy Sectional on May 26 with the right to advance to the state meet. The top-four finishers in each event would go on to state, and the Whippets had three different events finish within the top-four.
In the 3200-meter run, two Whippets will be moving on to the state meet, as Sarah Ziolkowski and Allisan Barrett will both be competing after finishing first and fourth, respectively. Whippet head coach John Houwers described both Ziolkowski and Barrett’s races individually.
“Sarah ran a great race, taking the lead with two laps to go,” Houwers said. “Janik from Wisconsin Lutheran tried to come back on her with about 600 meters to go, but Sarah would have none of it, dropping in another surge to finish in a lifetime-best of 11:14.31. Allisan Barrett ran a race that is typical of her of late.
“She gets locked into her pace early and just stays on it. She was sitting in the middle of the pack, in the 8-10th place range for most of the first mile before gradually picking off runner after runner until she finally passed Arnold from Brookfield Academy on the final lap. Arnold tried to come back, but Allisan stayed strong and pulled away to finish 4th and punch her ticket to state. It will be a race to remember for coach Carstens, as it’s rare to have two athletes qualify in the same event.”
The girls weren’t the only ones who made it to state, as Xhonatan Shahollari will represent the boys as well. Shahollari finished in second in the triple jump, but not until some drama took place, according to Houwers.
“It started with two scratches in prelims and only one legal jump that barely got him into finals, sitting in eighth out of nine heading to the finals,” Houwers said. “He improved slightly on his first jump in finals, but not enough to move into a qualifying spot. He was down to his final jump before finally putting a good jump together, going 43’ even to move into 2nd place, which is where he finished.”
All three athletes will compete on June 3 at the state meet in La Crosse, Wis. Some other names were talked about as well by Houwers, as they all competed well, but couldn’t notch a top-four spot to advance.
Some of those athletes included Connor Rupke, Nicole Frison, Miranda Reynolds, Jacob Korf, Timmy VanderPlyum, Abby King, Keely Fielder, Morgan Wiedenhoeft and all of the athletes participating in relay runs.
“Overall, it was a pretty good night,” Houwers said. “The kids all competed hard and put it out there, giving themselves a chance to advance. While not as many advanced as I had hoped, I can’t fault a single one for not giving it their all. They did their best tonight, but fell a little short in some cases.”
“It was a good experience as many of the kids competing will be back next year. Hopefully they can build upon it and make a step closer next year,” he said.
