Only a record-setting effort by Arrowhead and a season-best time from Chippewa Falls kept the New Richmond boys 4x200 meter relay team from winning a state title at the WIAA Division 1 Track and Field Championships in La Crosse Saturday.
New Richmond at state (9 photos)
The Tiger team of Miles Burke, Billy Auvin, Drew Brinkman and Tragon Timm posted the fastest qualifying time in the field in Friday’s preliminaries at 1 minute, 27.64 seconds before finishing third in Saturday’s finals in 1:27.67.
Arrowhead set a new meet record time of 1:26.73 to take first, while Chippewa Falls edged the Tigers for second in 1:27.3.
Timm said the Tigers knew Arrowhead would be tough to beat, and couldn’t afford to overlook Big Rivers Conference rival despite not losing to them all season.
“We knew Chippewa Falls can get out, and Arrowhead is very good,” he said. “We knew that we had to run one of our best races to compete, and I think we did that. Even though we got third we still ran one of our best times all year.”
Auvin said the 4x200 team didn’t have high expectations coming into the season, but showed the rest of the state what they could do by posting the fastest qualifying time Friday and taking third in Saturday’s finals.
“Of course we wanted to take first, but all 24 relay teams here wanted to take first,” he said. “And the fact that we were able to go out there yesterday and show that we can hang with some of the biggest schools in Wisconsin says something. In the grand scheme of everything, no one expected the New Richmond four-by-two to get third.”
Timm had a busy weekend at state, running in the 100 and 200 meter dash races and qualifying for the finals in both in addition to anchoring the 4x200 relay. He just missed the podium in the 100 with a seventh place time of 11.27 seconds, and finished ninth in the 200 in 22.5. Auvin finished 17th in Friday’s 200 prelims with a time of 22.83 seconds.
Timm said he felt good about how he handled three events and six races in two days.
“It's been great,” he said. “It's my first time having come here with open events and I didn't expect much of it. But I made the finals in everything so I feel good.”
The Tiger boys 4x100 meter relay team of Tavian Brandt, Auvin, Joe Hoeppner and Burke finished 11th in Friday’s prelims in 42.59 seconds. The top ten preliminary times qualified for the finals.
The New Richmond girls 4x100 team of Nadia Unruh, Miley Covey, Etta Carlson and Katelynn Doehrmann posted the seventh fastest qualifying time Friday, 48.72 seconds, before finishing eighth in Saturday’s finals in 49.47.
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