SUPPZ.COM SWNEWS4U ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Fennimore boys 4x800 relay

Nov 29, 2023

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal / Fennimore Times / Boscobel Dial

Isaac Henkel, Carter Bunn, Riley Foreyt and Nick Needham, Fennimore boys track and fieldLA CROSSE — The Fennimore boys 4x800 relay opened this year's WIAA State Meet with a bang.

Juniors Carter Bunn, Nick Needham and Riley Foreyt, and sophomore Isaac Henkel teamed up to win the Division 3 state title in the boys 4x800 relay, the first contest event at this year's state meet Friday morning.

Their winning-time of 8:06.93 established a new school record and was nearly two full seconds better than runner-up and SWAL rival Cuba City (8:08.49). Glenwood City finished third at 8:09.54.

"The boys 4x800 reminded me of Fennimore's state Championship cross country teams," said Fennimore track and field head coach Gregg Davis. "Those teams pushed each other every day in practice to get better and this is exactly what this group of young men have done since cross country training began last summer.

"Glenwood City set a blistering pace with the 800 meter state record holder (JJ Williams) running first leg," said Davis.

Bunn got the team out in fifth place with a 2:02 split on Fennimore's first leg.

Needham held Fennimore's spot while running a 2:05. Foreyt pushed through with a 2:01 which moved the team up to second place behind Glenwood City and tenths of a second in front of Cuba City.

Henkel finished what he has done all year for the team, running a 1:57 leg and crossed the finish line with the state championship.

"The championship was something the boys had set their eyes on early in the season," said Davis. "Not long after the race, they began talking about training and setting new goals for next year. They went about their business everyday in practice and this is the result they deserved."

Henkel went on to place fifth in the boys 800 meters on Saturday with a time of 1:58.10, once again besting his own school record.

"It was a great experience for him to run against this highly decorated field," said Davis."JJ Williams from Glenwood City destroyed the former state record by nearly 3 seconds and was the top runner in all divisions. The top four placewinners were seniors, so Isaac has set himself up as the top returning 800 meter runner in Division 3 next year. He works extremely hard to get the results he has and he is one of the gutsiest runners I’ve seen.

Henkel, Bunn and Foreyt also qualified in the boys 4x400 relay, along with sophomore Ben Varela, but finished 14th in Friday's prelims (3:37.13) and did not qualify for Saturday's finals of the event.

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):Andy Atten, Jordan Gile, Noah Wood and Evan Matthews, 4x800 relay, Cuba City boys track and fieldAtten, Gile, Wood and Mathews teamed up to finish second in the the Division 3 boys 4x800 relay behind SWAL rival Fennimore last Friday at the WIAA State Track and Field Meet with a time of 8:08.48.

Lainey Burks, Eden Bowen, Abby Burr and Maddie Nielsen, girls 4x100 relay, Lancaster track and fieldBurks, Bowen, Burr and Nielsen raced to a new school record and a third-place finish in the Division 3 4x100 relay at last weekend's WIAA State Track and Field Meet with a time of 50.69 seconds.

Lilah Glasbrenner, Skyler Carlin, Aleya Kliesner and Nora Jillson, girls 4x800 relay, Boscobel track and fieldGlasbrenner, Carlin, Kliesner and Jillson, the two-time defending Division 3 4x800 state champions overcame an early fall to race back to a second-place finish and a new school record time of 9:39.62 last Saturday at the WIAA State Meet at UW–La Crosse.

Megan Kreul, So., Triple Jump, Lancaster track and fieldKreul set a new school record of 37'7.5" to place third in the girls triple jump to scored six big points for the Division 3 co-state runner-up Flying Arrows last Friday at the WIAA State Track and Field Meet in La Crosse.

Mallory Olmstead, Kylie Olmstead, Annie Martin, Sophie Burr, girls 4x400 relay, Lancaster track and fieldThe Olmstead sisters, Martin and Burr teamed up to run to a second-place finish in the 4x400 relay, the final event of the meet, to lift the Lancaster girls into a dramatic second-place team finish in Division 3 last Saturday at the WIAA State Track and Field Meet at UW–La Crosse. The Lancaster girls also set a new school record in the event with a time of 4:04.24. The Olmsteads and Martin, along with Mikayla Smith also placed sixth in the 4x800 at 9:54.02, and Mallory Olmstead set a new school record in the girls 800 at 2:16.54 to place fourth.

Blake Thiry, So., hurdles, jumps, Prairie du Chien boys track and fieldThiry became just the second Prairie du Chien boy to place in three events at the WIAA State Track and Field Meet last weekend with a fourth-place finish in the D2 boys 300 hurdles (40.14 new school record), a fourth-place finish in the triple jump (44'1.5") and a seventh-place finish in the 110-hurdles (15.32). Thiry, PdC's lone male state qualifier, scored 11 team points to place 23rd in the Division 2 boys team standings.

Casen Udelhofen, Sr., 400 meters, Platteville boys track and fieldFriday at the WIAA State Track & Field Meet, Platteville senior Casen Udelhofen qualified for the D2 boys 400 meter finals in a time of 50.41. His preliminary time put him in the sixth position going into Saturday's finals. Udelhofen came back Saturday and raced to a fourth-place finish with a new school record time of 49.32 seconds. The previous record was set by Josh Pluemer in 2001 with a time of 49.40.