Gietzel 11th in the 800-meter run

LA CROSSE – When Fond du Lac’s Annie Moore and Ally Gietzel found out they would be running together in the WIAA Division 1 state track and field meet, they were ecstatic.

It’s something they are used to, in both practice and cross country in the fall. Both competed in the same section in the 800 finals Friday, and Gietzel used a last charge to finish 11th while Moore was right behind her in 15th.

Gietzel ran a time of 2:20.57 while Moore finished in 2:21.94. “It was what we expected, everyone started out fast and running our pace so it was really close the entire time,” Moore said of the 800. “I really like it because I like having another teammate with me to warm up with and push me in the race, which we did in cross country all of the time.” Gietzel, a freshman, used Moore to help her come up with one last charge in the race as she cut off three seconds from her seed time. “I thought it was a great experience because it was my first time at the state meet,” Gietzel said. “The atmosphere … everyone just runs their best and it pushes me.”

Moore also competed in the 1,600 finals, finishing 16th with a time of 5:14.13. “I didn’t have a lot of expectations place wise, it was more of a time based,” Moore said of the 1,600. “I was happy with the time.”

Fondy’s Peter Andrew finished seventh in the shot put with a throw of 53-03.5. He had the second highest seed entering the event. Andrew will compete in the discus Saturday.

Teammate Jason Toshner also competed in the shot put, finishing 11th with a throw of 50-08.25.

Alyssa Mertes was the other Cardinal to compete in Friday’s finals. Mertes finished 18th in the pole vault, clearing a height of 10-feet. It may not have been the finish she was hoping for, but she was happy to end her career at state. “I was a little disappointed, I wish I would have gotten 10-6,” Mertes said. “It was cool being a senior and making it to state, so I’m just happy I did that.”

 

FDL Cardinal athletes look to stay focused at state

The WIAA state track and field meet is like nothing else in Wisconsin prep sports.

Hundreds of athletes and thousands of spectators from across the state converge on Veterans Memorial Stadium on the campus of UW-La Crosse to take part in what has to be the most chaotic two days of the year for Wisconsin high school athletics.

With all of the distractions and havoc surrounding them, participating athletes are in the unenviable position of having to somehow prepare like normal for their events when it’s anything but a normal situation.

Returning state qualifiers clearly have the advantage in a scenario like this. Having been through the experience, they know how to keep calm, or at the very least, try to stick to a typical routine. However, from a tight warmup area to the pressure of the situation to the amount of people watching, it’s sometimes tough to adjust even for state meet veterans.

To some athletes however, the state meet doesn’t initiate any pre-meet routine changes or alterations. Fond du Lac senior thrower Peter Andrew, who qualified this year in both the discus throw and shot put, said that he tries to keep his routine as similar as possible when in La Crosse, even with the distractions and chaos.

“For the most part, it just stays the same,” Andrew said. “It’s the same as any other meet. I try to stay a little more focused because of the all the distractions, but it’s pretty much the same.”

For athletes who haven’t participated in state before, this weekend’s meet will be an eye-opening experience, but one where keeping focused and prepared will be more important than ever. Many first-time state qualifiers might have an idea of what the atmosphere is like, if they’ve attended as a spectator, but actually competing amongst and in front of thousands of people is a different animal altogether.

“Everything’s going to be completely different,” Fond du Lac senior and 4X800-meter relay member Jeannie Bestor said. “There’s going to be so many good athletes and I guess you just have to go off what you’ve been training for all season. It will be so crazy that you’ll try to have to focus yourself back in like ‘OK, race.'”

High expectations

While most athletes going into the state meet are simply hoping to run their best or set a personal record, a few area competitors this year have a great chance to take back some hardware.

Fondy’s Andrew, after finishing highly at state last year in the shotput, has his eyes firmly set on at least a second-place finish with the potential to even win the event.

“Where I stand right now, I’m hoping to take second,” Andrew said. “But if I get a good throw off, the guy in front of me is not very good under pressure so maybe if I get a good throw right away he’ll crumble and I might have a chance at first.”

The Cardinal boys, who won their Division 1 sectional last Friday at Beaver Dam, also figure to have a shot at scoring pretty highly as a team. Sending athletes in eight different events, Fond du Lac could very well make a push towards the top of the leaderboard. But as of now, the Cardinals are focused on their individual events and not where they may end up as a team.

“We’re just trying to do our own thing,” Fond du Lac senior and shot put qualifier Jason Toshner said. “As a team, if we do our best, then it will come together.”

On the girls side for Fond du Lac, Annie Moore has a chance to finish near or on the podium in both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs after winning the two races in sectionals.

 

Division 1

Girls

  • Annie Moore, jr., Fond du Lac, 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run
  • Ally Gietzel, fresh., Fond du Lac, 800-meter run
  • Nicole Lord, fresh., Fond du Lac, long jump
  • Alyssa Mertes, sr., Fond du Lac, pole vault
  • 3,200-meter relay (A. Gietzel, M. Buechel, J. Bestor, A. Moore), Fond du Lac

Boys

  • Brian Luteyn, sr., Fond du Lac, 110-meter hurdles
  • Nick Park, jr., Fond du Lac, 100-meter dash
  • Kyle Marcoe, soph., Fond du Lac, 400-meter dash
  • Peter Andrew, sr., Fond du Lac, discus throw, shot put
  • Jason Toshner, sr., Fond du Lac, shot put
  • 400-meter relay (K. Pierce, Q. Woelfel, N. Park, T. Halfmann), Fond du Lac
  • 1,600-meter relay (L. Curran, B. Luteyn, K. Marcoe, T. Halfmann), Fond du Lac