Day 1 of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state track & field meet took place at Veterans Memorial Stadium Complex on the campus of UW-La Crosse on Friday.
Competitors from the greater Milwaukee area took high individual placements in finals events, and positioned themselves for podium finishes in preliminary heats. The meet is scheduled to conclude Saturday with additional final heats across Divisions 1, 2 and 3, as well as wheelchair events.
Here are some of the Day 1 area girls highlights, featuring a pair of newly-crowned state champions.
Homestead's Anisa Barnett wins second jump state title
For a competition that she doesn't personally consider her best, Anisa Barnett sure performed like it was on Friday.
After her first pair of jumps into the sand pit cleared her sectional mark of 18 feet, 5 ½ inches, Barnett cleared the field with a leap of 19-4 ½ through three jumps that would've won the title on its own. After a 19-2 ¾ jump on her fifth, the now two-time state champion saved her best for last with a jump of 19-8", 1 ¾ inches shy of former Oak Creek star Rachel Blaskowski's state record of 19-9 ¾ that she set in 2022.
"It feels good," Barnett said coming off the podium. "I'm not gonna lie, I did not expect a 19-8, but it got me a great place."
Barnett adds a long jump title to her triple jump title from last postseason, a competition where she'll be seen as one of the two favorites along with Franklin's Lily Taczala, who medaled twice on Friday with a sixth-place finish in the long jump and a third-place finish in the high jump.
"With long jump this year, it was like, 'OK, I'm stronger in triple jump,' but long jump is something I've been working on and working on," said Barnett. "I guess it all kinda paid off. I'm still shocked, but I think next year will be a good year for (long jump)."
Cedarburg's Charlize-Trinity McKenzie gets redemption to win 800-meter title
Even as a freshman, Charlize-Trinity McKenzie felt like the 800-meter title should've been hers a year ago after a runner-up finish to Mount Horeb's Abigail Sadler.
Sadler captured the 1,600 title earlier in the day on Friday with a blazing final 200 meters to keep Muskego's Ella Anschutz from winning the cross-country and 1,600 titles in the same season.
Sadler looked like she was on her way to the 800/1,600 title double until the final 300 meters. The super sophom*ore McKenzie, however, hit an extra gear to take her place on the top podium step for the first time.
"I came into this year knowing that I wanted to do better," McKenzie said on her runner-up finish as a freshman in the 800 last season.
"I think (last year) made me realize that I'm not the only person out there whose doing this. There's so many other girls that are so talented. You can't take it for granted. You have to bring it every single time."
On top of her first state title, McKenzie also qualified for the 400-meter final with a time of 57.59 seconds, the sixth-best time from the preliminary heats. She'll be a part of what should be an electric race on Saturday with the top six seeds separated by just .35 seconds.
"I love the 400," McKenzie said on tomorrow's final. "It's my favorite. It's not the one I'm technically the best at, but it's my favorite race. I'm really excited for it."
New Berlin West breaks D2 4x200 relay state record
The Vikings displayed an impressive amount of speed in the 4x100 and 4x200 relay heats on Friday evening. The quartet of Ashley Babco*ck, Caroline Gerovac, Aubrey Lane and Natalie Leupi broke a 14-year-old record set by Milwaukee Lutheran in 2010 with a winning heat time of 1:41.52, beating the old record by 1.34 seconds.
Babco*ck, Lane, Leupi and Julia Garny ran the second-best overall time in the 4x100 at 49.40, .36 seconds behind defending champion Notre Dame Academy going into Saturday's final.
Other top finishers from Friday's events
The 1,600-meter podium included four Milwaukee-area talents. Anschutz took second (4:53.11), Wisconsin Lutheran's Eva Kuehn finished third (4:54.51), Slinger's Piper Schuster finished fifth (4:56.98) and Whitefish Bay's Lily Kriegel (4:57.76) rounded out the podium finishers in sixth.
Along with McKenzie's victory in the 800, Mukwonago junior Grace Graczyk joined her on the podium with a fourth-place finish (2:16.40). Taczala was one of two podium finishers in the high jump along with Whitefish Bay's Gretchen Greischar (5-4"). Arrowhead sophom*ore Payton Eicher finished third (19-1") in the long jump behind Barnett with Whitefish Bay's Essence Burrows (19-0.5") coming in fourth and Taczala in sixth.
After winning last year's shot put title, Wauwatosa West junior Keira Fax was the lone area podium finisher with a fourth-place finish. Fax's best throw of 41-2.5" on Friday eclipsed her title-winning toss of 41-0.5" last year.
In Division 2, Grafton sophom*ore Leanna Weinfold grabbed the final spot on the 800-meter podium with a time of 2:16.93. Racine St. Catherine's junior Caylene Von-Schilling Worth finished fifth in the shot put competition with a top throw of 38-7.25".
For Division 3 in the area, Ozaukee's Paige Kurlinski was the lone podium representative with a third-place finish in the shot put to follow up her runner-up finish last year as a sophom*ore. Her best toss of the day was a throw of 39-9.5", 2.25 inches better than her best throw last year.
A look at the top qualifiers heading into Saturday's finals
With 10 final heats on Saturday, let's take a look at some of the top times from Friday's preliminary heats heading into the final day of the track season.
On the relay front in D1, the 800 relay saw the top three times come from the area with Arrowhead's 1:41.33 topping Kenosha Indian Trail (1:42.17) and Germantown (1:42.25). Mukwonago's 400 relay squad paced the field with a 47.80, just ahead of Arrowhead's quartet at 48.40. Half of the 1,600-relay teams in the final are from the area, led by Homestead and their time of 3:58.15, the third-best time of the three heats.
In Division 2, East Troy won their 4x200 relay heat, coming in behind New Berlin West's record-setting time at 1:44.87. Pius qualified sixth with a time of 1:45.46. The top three times in the 4x400 relay all came from the area with Kettle Moraine Lutheran (3:58.80), Grafton (3:59.05) and Lake Country Lutheran (4:00.73). Division 3 saw The Prairie School qualify third in the 4x100 relay with a time of 50.40 seconds.
100 hurdles: Division 1 - 2. Samariyah Walker, Wisconsin Lutheran (15.118); 3. Eva Brandenburg, Homestead (15.120); 6. Samantha Burge, Mukwonago (15.54); 8. Rachel Kleinhans, Arrowhead (15.65); 9. Daniella Riemer, DSHA (15.75).
300 hurdles: 1. Rylee Faehling, West Bend West (44.68); 2. Eva Brandenburg, Homestead (45.21); 3. Regan Scott, Brookfield East (45.42); 4. Clare Marchant, Brookfield Central (45.25); 5. Samariyah Walker, Wisconsin Lutheran (45.80); 8. Rachel Kleinhans, Arrowhead (46.69); 9. Brooklyn Lamers, Union Grove (46.88).
100: 1. Charley Brinks, Menomonee Falls (12.24); 3. Laela Presendofer, Mukwonago (12.38); 4. Harmony Johnson, Milwaukee Lutheran (12.39); 7. Annabelle Coudron, Wisconsin Lutheran (12.57); 9. Nevia Levenhagen, Waukesha West (12.66). Division 2 - 4. Analena Peterson, Catholic Memorial (12.55); 7. Natalie Leupi, New Berlin West (12.79).
200: 2. Laela Presendofer, Mukwonago (25.13); 3. Charley Brinks, Menomonee Falls (25.23); 4. Avery Bott, Arrowhead (24.82); 5. Annabelle Coudron, Wisconsin Lutheran (24.85); 6. Harmony Johnson, Milwaukee Lutheran (25.21), 7. Nevia Levenhagen, Waukesha West (25.37); 8. Angela Dale, Nicolet (25.40). Division 2 - 1. Analena Peterson, Catholic Memorial (24.93); 5. Sydney Knautz, Dominican (25.61); 7. Aubrey Lane, New Berlin West (25.71); 9. Sydney Falkowski, Kettle Moraine Lutheran (26.38).
400: 1. Taylor Thimmesch, Arrowhead (57.24); 6. Charlize-Trinity McKenzie, Cedarburg (57.59); 7. Charlotte Lueck, Homestead (58.11). Division 2 - 3. Sydney Falkowski, Kettle Moraine Lutheran (57.93).
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Anisa Barnett, Charlize-Trinity McKenzie win 2024 WIAA state titles
