Winnebago Lutheran Academy's boys track and field team is getting used to seeing its name at the top of the leaderboard at events this season.
For the first time this season, however, the WLA girls team joined the boys, getting the team win in the small-school division Thursday night at the Ripon Callen Invite at Ingalls Field.
Springs girls were disqualified in both the 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter races. Both wins would have given the Ledgers the team title.
The boys put up 201 points, which was more 74 more than runners-up St. Mary's Springs. The girls scored 134 points, good for a 17-point win over Springs.
The Vikings boys 4x200 relay team of Gannan Schwartz, Frankie Weidmeyer, Alex Lynch and Max Hansmann broke the school record. The team ran it in 1-minute, 33.16-seconds.
The same group was within a second of the school's 4x100 record, running in 45.4.
Schwartz said the team has continued to improve and they are starting to see results.
"We've been practicing our handoffs a lot and getting our steps down," Schwartz said. "Frankie and I have struggled with our handoffs the last few times and we figured it out today. We've been getting better and it's paying off."
Schwartz got his third win of the day when he won the 100 in 11.55. He said his goal is to run hard and put points on the board for his team and coach Mark Heckendorf.
"Coach puts me in that race for a reason," Schwartz said. "He knows I can do that. The competition pushed me a lot today."
Weidmeyer finished runner up to Schwartz in the 100 with a time of 11.96. Schwartz said he is impressed with the progress his classmate has made.
"He's been improving a lot," Schwartz said. "I think he's improved like 0.4 seconds over the last four meets and he's just going to keep getting better."
The Vikings dominance included top-two finishers in both the 400 and 800. Senior Bennett Midthun won the 1600 and 3200 races.
In the field, sophomore Cole Keifenheim pole vaulted 13 feet once again, which was the winning height. Oscar Blohm stepped in an won the discus in the absence of Kaiden Schmitz.
WLA's girls team only won two events: the 4x200, which event-favorites Springs DQ'd on, and Jenna Petrowitz in the triple jump. She jumped 31-feet, 11-inches.
St. Mary's Springs were runners-up on both sides of the small-school division. The girls had five wins, which was second among participating teams.
Sophie Norton once again led the Ledgers in points. She won the 300 hurdles, edging out Laconia's Emma Hein, and the 400, beating the Spartans' Tierney Madigan. Norton was runner-up in the pole vault.
Grace Coon won the 100, running in 13.44 seconds. She did not run the 200, which she has already won several times this spring. Coon was runner up in the high jump, leaping 4-feet, 8-inches.
Along with the disqualifications in the 4x200 and 4x400, which they would have won, the Ledgers won the 4x100 relay with a time of 55.30.
Olivia Kremer was the final winner for Springs. She won the shot put.
Laconia's girls team finished third despite winning the most events. The Spartans got six wins, including a usual stellar showing from junior Molly Duel.
She raced in the 4x800 early in the afternoon, shortly before running and winning the 1600 in 5:25.55.
"I was a little beat for the [1600] after the 4x800, I'm not going to lie, but it is nice to have a little more competition and just see what you're capable of especially coming off of a hard 800," Duel said. "I'm proud of the time I ran. If I can come into a 1600 with fresher legs, I can cut some seconds back.
Duel said she hopes to bring her mile time down below the 5-minute mark by the time the postseason comes.
"Last year I broke [5-minutes]," Duel said. "I haven't gotten back down there yet this spring, but you can't really expect to be PR'ing. By state, my goal is low 4:50s, which I know I can do with competition like that."
Duel said she the 4x800 team, where Duel is joined by Madigan, Marissa Johnson and Hayden Johnson, had a goal for the meet.
"For our 4x800, we just tried to focus on trying to emphasize our time and our splits and I think we accomplished that," Duel said. "We did pretty well and as of right now, our time is competing pretty well in Division 2."
Laconia won the 4x400 relay with the same team as the 4x800.
Marissa Johnson won the 800 with a 2:34.79 time. Emma Hein performed well in the hurdles, winning the 100 and taking second in the 300.
Kinsly Laudolff won the discus, throwing 123-feet, 2-inches, and was runner up in the shot put.
Campbellsport was in the large-school division and finished runners-up for the boys and sixth for the girls. The boys team was just five points shy of Kiel's winning 164.
Evan Wilcox and Caleb Smith swept the hurdles as they have done often this spring. Wilcox won and Smith was runner-up in both events.
Logan Nolan won both the 400 and 800 for the Cougars, beating teammate Aydan Meilahn in the former.
Campbellsport and Kiel had their best battles in the relays. The Raiders won the 4x800 and the 4x100, both races in which the Cougars were runners-up. Campbellsport won the 4x400 ahead of Kiel and also finished one spot better in the 4x200, which DeForest won.
Emmett Gonnering was runner-up in the shot put. He finished second to Benjamin Smith from Hortonville, who threw the fourth-best shot-put distance in the country this year.
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