By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
DE PERE – The Kimberly High School boys’ and girls’ track and field teams each won the WIAA Division 1 Ashwaubenon Sectional May 23 at Schneider Stadium.
Locally, the Bay Port boys finished third out of 15 teams, while the Ashwaubenon girls were fourth to lead the area teams.
The top three finishers in each event automatically advanced to the state meet in La Crosse May 31-June 1.
Bay Port’s Isaiah Gash and Mitchell Merhalski each qualified for state in three events, as did West De Pere’s Tejay Evans.
Pulaski’s Gianna Kornaus and Ashwaubenon’s Sage Wagner also qualified for three events on the girls’ side.
Area state qualifiers – girls
100 hurdles: 2, Carley Duffney, Preble, 15.53; 3, Pejha Mitchell, West De Pere, 15.67.
100: 3, Gianna Kornaus, Pulaski, 12.87.
1,600: 3, Sage Wagner, Ashwaubenon, 5:11.
4×200 relay: 2, Pulaski (Kayla Lipsey, Kornaus, Leighann Binkowski, Maddy Karcz), 1:44.08.
400: 3, Haley Ehmke, Ashwaubenon, 1:00.29.
4×100 relay: 1, Pulaski (Lipsey, Kornaus, Binkowski, Karcz), 49.73.
300 hurdles: 3, Duffney, Preble, 46.47.
800: 1, Wagner, Ashwaubenon, 2:17.93.
4×400 relay: 3, Ashwaubenon (Ehmke, Bri Lambrecht, Claudia Toonen, Wagner), 4:02.54.
High jump: 1, Kathryn Thomas, Bay Port, 5-5; 3, Madeline Zirbel, West De Pere, 5-4.
Pole vault: 1, Olivia Fabry, De Pere, 11; 2, Grace Kowalkowski, De Pere, 10-6.
Long jump: 1, Kaylee Olson, West De Pere, 18-3.25; 2, Aubrie Gorski, Preble, 17-2.5.
Triple jump: 2, Gorski, Preble, 37-1.25.
Discus: 1, Mia Dunning, Ashwaubenon, 141-11.
Shot put: 2, Dunning, Ashwaubenon, 39-7.75; 3, Mabel Kirst, Ashwaubenon, 37-11.
Area state qualifiers – boys
4×800 relay: 1, De Pere (Aaron Milkie, Matthew Galler, Daniel Ericksrud, Andrew Lopez), 7:57.09; 3, Bay Port (Drew Abfall, Drew Dahlin, Ryan Thieme, Mitchell Merhalski), 7:58.58.
100: 1, Davian Willems, West De Pere, 11.17; 2, Noah Stascak, Bay Port, 11.32.
1,600: 3, Khalid Mohamed, Preble, 4:27.62.
4×200 relay: 1, Preble (Kevin Verjan, Jack Dessart, D’Angelo Dear, Kaiser Neverman), 1:29.40.
400: 2, Merhalski, Bay Port, 50.49.
4×100 relay: 1, West De Pere (Tejay Evans, David Vanderlogt, Matthew Burns, Willems), 42.90; 2, Bay Port (Isaiah Gash, Sam Plumb, Owen Miller, Stascak), 42.97.
300 hurdles: 1, Luke Schroeder, Ashwaubenon, 39.45.
800: 2, Jermaine Evans, West De Pere, 1:57.23; 3, Nick Johnson, Ashwaubenon, 1:57.31.
200: 1, T. Evans, West De Pere, 22.02.
3,200: 1, Mohamed, Preble, 9:37.87.
4×400 relay: 2, West De Pere (T. Evans, Spencer Borley, Devon Hermes, J. Evans), 3:24.27; 3, Bay Port (Andrew Thomas, Plumb, Thieme, Merhalski), 3:24.64.
High jump: 2, Jacob Carriveau, West De Pere, 6-3.
Pole vault: 3, Dan Huhtala, Ashwaubenon, 13-6.
Long jump: 3, Gash, Bay Port, 21-6.5.
Triple jump: 2, Gash, Bay Port, 44-5; 3, Dessart, Preble, 43-3.75.
Discus: 3, Braden Doyle, Bay Port, 156-3.
Shot put: 2, Jason Wright, Green Bay West, 55-3.
Editor’s note: Despite finishing fifth in the high jump, Bay Port’s Ella Meeuwsen also qualified for state due to the fact she had a top-eight jump (5-4) from all the eight sectional meets across the state.