Josh Onwunili is a champion.
The Campbellsport senior sprinter achieved greatness at the WIAA’s highest level last Saturday in La Crosse at Veterans Memorial Stadium by winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
“It has been an amazing week,” Onwunili said. “Just getting to hang out with my teammates has been a blast.
“I’m never satisfied with how I performed, but I took first place.”
Onwunili ran the 100 in 10.70 seconds and the 200 in 21.53 seconds and although neither set state records, both times would have won titles in all three divisions this year.
He wasn’t the only Cougar to have success in the finals, for teammates Sienna Hewitt and Evan Wilcox each performed well in their events.
Hewitt finished fourth in the pole vault with a vault of 11-feet, 3-inches, which she said she knows she can do better than in the future.
“My warmups were good, I was jumping 12-foot-6,” Hewitt said. “I thought I was going to have a better outcome, but I’m still proud.
“This will definitely make me work harder [for next year].”
Hewitt is a junior and will have an opportunity to compete for a top finish next year. Her best vault this spring was the second best in the state.
Wilcox finished with two podium finishes in the 110- and 300-hurdles. He finished sixth in both races.
“It’s amazing,” Wilcox said. “All the work I’ve put in over the years, it meant everything. It was a big goal of mine just to get on the podium this year. There’s so many hours of work we put in.”
Wilcox said he credits classmate and hurdle teammate Caleb Smith for pushing him in practice, which is an advantage to his success.
“Last three years doing track, we’ve done everything together,” Wilcox said. “Every race, I’m racing against him. It was sad that he didn’t make it, but the support means everything.
“We’re so close in times in every race, we just push each other, we have good chemistry and we’re best friends. I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”
St. Mary’s Springs girls 4x200 relay team missed out on a state championship by three-hundredths of a second, losing to Grantsburg. The Ledgers ran a 1:45.73.
Junior Grace Coon, who finished eighth in the 100-meter dash, said she had some frustration to burn off coming into the relay.
“My 100 didn’t really go as planned because I tripped out of the blocks so I had a lot of anger coming into this,” Coon said. “I knew I wanted to leave [state] with a medal so I gave it everything I had.”
Coon ran with senior Riley Walters, sophomore Scarlett Gaertig and freshman Gwen Weaver. Walters said the four continued to improve, which allowed them to finish the year with a silver medal.
“We came into the season with basically a new team and didn’t really know what to expect,” Walters said. “This was a great finish to our season.”
Lomira’s Austin Zinn clinched a podium finish in the high jump with a leap of 6-feet, 2-inches. He finished sixth on tiebreakers despite the height being the second-best in the state.
Saturday finalists that did not qualify for the podium were:
8th place - Kinsly Laudolff, Laconia - Discus
9th place - Aubrey Leonard, Laconia - Triple Jump
9th place - Lucas Kasuboski, Omro - 1600m
10th place - Lucas Kasuboski, Omro - 800m
13th place - Bennett Midthun, WLA - 1600m
15th place - Kaiden Schmitz, WLA - Shot Put
DQ - Lydia Toshner, Campbellsport - 300-hurdles
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