Gannan Schwartz is quickly becoming a must-see performer on the track.
The Winnebago Lutheran Academy sophomore won both of his individual events and contributed to another two relay wins on Friday night.
His performance was part of a dominant performance from the WLA boys track and field team's win at the Jerry Gosa Invitational at Kewaskum High School. The Vikings scored 163 points, the next closest team was Port Washington with 105.
"The bottom line is we have high, lofty goals and we got kids that are working hard to achieve those goals," coach Mark Heckendorf said. "It's really fun to see.
"They really push one another. We really stress encouragement."
Schwartz won the 100-meter dash, running in 11.5 seconds. Every other competitor in the finals ran a PR, but couldn't keep up with Schwartz. He also was the only athlete to jump further than 20 feet in the long jump.
In the 4x200 race, which Schwartz anchored, the Vikings won by nearly three seconds despite having some issues with a couple of the handoffs. Junior Alex Lynch, who runs the first leg of the race, said he thinks there's plenty of room for improvement.
"Some of our handoffs today were a little slower with the wind and other factors that came into play, but we can definitely clean up some time there," Lynch said.
Schwartz also anchored the 4x100, which was run by the same four runners: Lynch, Schwartz, Max Hansmann and Frankie Wiedmeyer.
It was the first time that team ran the 4x100 this year. Lynch said he was pleased with the race.
"We try to run it with this team a lot," Lynch said. "Obviously it depends on entries and where we can score points.Today it felt really good; the weather and the cold is a factor, but there’s definitely room for improvement there."
Senior Kaiden Schmitz broke his own school record in the discus with a toss of 164-feet, 6-inches. He also won the shot put, in which teammate Chop Simmons finished runner up.
St. Mary's Springs boys finished fifth. The Ledgers only win on the day came in the 200 from John Coon. The senior looked like he also won the 400, but he was judged to have lost by three-hundredths of a second.
Coon said he was pleased with his performances despite tough conditions.
"I was happy with it," Coon said. "It was pretty chilly so I hope the times get a little faster and I jump a little further, but I was happy with today, though."
Springs girls team finished runners-up to a talented Xavier team on Friday night, scoring 107.5 points.
Sophie Norton was one of the top scorers for the Ledgers. She contributed to three wins, including individual wins in the 300 hurdles and the 400.
Norton ran the anchor leg in the 4x400. She and teammate Lexi Coon came back from third to winning the event in 4:33.4.
Grace Coon was excellent again for the Ledgers. She finished second in both the 100 and 200, losing both by less than a tenth of a second. Coon said she has the same mindset no matter the event.
"It’s for sure just trying to beat yourself every single time," Coon said. "No matter if there’s good competition or not, it’s always best to try your best. It’s fun to just race against good competition and just have someone to go against all the time.
Coon also ran the anchor leg of the 4x200, which her team won in 1:51.23. The success in the relays is nothing new for the Ledgers girls teams, which sent all four relay teams to state last year.
Coon said despite some turnover, she thinks the relay teams are in a good spot.
"We’ve had a lot of changes with young kids and new kids joining and seniors graduating, but all the girls have really picked it up and done their part," Coon said. "It’s nice to see them perform well."
In the field, Olivia Kremer won the shot put with a 33-feet-, 6-inch-throw, Scarlett Gaertig was runner-up in the pole vault and Lexi Coon was third in the long jump.
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