Bay Port’s Monty Wendricks competes in the 110-meter hurdles at the FRCC meet May 15 at Pulaski High School (Rich Palzewic photo).
BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT
PULASKI – This one was hard to predict.
Participating without arguably the best athlete in the state, the Bay Port boys’ track and field team defied the odds to win the Fox River Classic Conference title May 15 at Pulaski High School.
Cordell Tinch, a University of Minnesota recruit, wasn’t allowed to compete due to an athletic-code violation, but the Pirates still narrowly nipped Green Bay Preble by a 155 to 152.5 margin to win their fourth title in the last five years.
“Words cannot describe how proud I am of our guys,” said an ecstatic Bay Port boys’ head coach Andy Nuthals. “Preble is a great team with an amazing coaching staff. We had to deal with a lot of adversity the last week, but we came through with a team effort.”
Overall event winners were Ryan Thieme (1600 – 4:30.17), Monty Wendricks (110 hurdles – 15:17), the 4×800 relay team (Drew Dahlin, Drew Abfall, Nick Key, Trevor Buth – 8:18.97), Isaiah Gash (triple jump – 43-00.00) and Jack Plumb (shot put – 54-03.00).
Another highlight was seeing Kyle Thieme and Nick Key finish 2-3 in the 800 with times of 2:01.18 and 2:01.81 respectively.
“As a team we always believed we could bring home a conference title,” added Nuthals. “I have never been prouder of these young men – they all stepped up and because of that, they will always be conference champs. I would also like to add that the dedication and investment of our coaching staff showed (Tuesday). The whole staff is selfless with the common goal of competing every year for a conference title.”
Tinch sits: The senior Tinch was forced to sit out the FRCC meet due to an athletic-code violation. He was also suspended one football game last fall for a similar infraction.
Tinch is a two-time state champ (triple jump, long jump) and was expected to have a legitimate shot at winning four events at the state meet in La Crosse June 1-2. He also finished second in 2017 in the high jump and 110 hurdles.
Like any Bay Port athlete in a similar spot, Tinch has the right to appeal the suspension in writing. If he does not compete in the WIAA D1 regionals May 21 he will not be allowed to advance any further.
Girls: The Bay Port girls were denied a third straight FRCC title by Preble.
The Pirates’ 116.5 points was well behind the Hornets’ 151.
Savannah Huben (800 – 2:24.48), Ella Meeuwsen (high jump – 5-03.00) and Elizabeth Blindauer (discus – 116-07) were the only overall winners on the night.
Huben and Blindauer are seniors, while Meeuwsen is a freshman.
“The girls team had a very good meet taking second behind a very strong Preble team,” said girls’ head coach Vic Murphy. “We had several great performances and many kids stepped up to meet the challenge. As usual, our team had many athletes contributing to the team total. I am very proud of this team and how they have worked hard all year and stayed focused on defending their two straight conference championships. Preble, however, has a really nice team that is well coached by a dedicated and class act staff, and their team performed very well to earn the title.”
Bay Port will host the regional competition May 21 at the high-school stadium. The top four placings in each event are guaranteed to move on to sectionals May 24 at St. Norbert’s Schneider Stadium.
For complete results of the FRCC meet, CLICK HERE.
