(Updated) D1 Track and Field: River Falls boys shine at state meet (18 photos)

River Falls junior Ty Bauschelt doesn’t have to look far for advice on how to improve his high jumping skills. He just asks his mom.

Kady (Kleven) Bauschelt won the Division 1 girls high jump title as a senior at River Falls in 1998. She went on to become an All-American high jumper at UW-River Falls, before returning to River Falls High School as a physical education and health teacher and head girls track coach.

Saturday, Ty Bauschelt cleared a career best 6-feet, 6-inches at the WIAA State Track and Field Championships to place third in Division 1 in the exact same spot where his mom Kady won a state title 26 years earlier.

“I love it,” Kady Bauschelt said while watching her son standing on the awards podium. “I love that he has a passion for what I have a passion for without pushing him into it. And to know how much he wants to improve.”

Ty Bauschelt has improved a lot this season. He topped out at 6-feet even last year before making 6-4 this year at both the Big Rivers Conference and sectional meets. He upped that by two more inches at the state meet Saturday to take third place in the 24-jumper Division 1 field.

“I really wanted to get 6-6,” he said. “That's what I've been looking for the entire season. And just clearing it was amazing, and getting it at state? It’s  just awesome.”

Ty Bauschelt gives a lot of credit to his mom for his continued improvement, and said she’s always there when he has a question.

“She knows her stuff,” he said. “And since she’s my mom and my coach, we talk about it alot, especially at home. I'm always trying to get better and working on stuff and I’ll show her videos and stuff, just like at random times and she tells me what she thinks. It’s really special.”

Shortly after Bauschelt received his third place medal in the high jump, classmate Quin Andrews ran to his second straight state runner-up finish in the 800 meter run. Bauschelt was just leaving the awards area as Andrews arrived. 

“I love that Ty could be on the infield to give him a hug and cheer him on, because they're best buds,” Kady Bauschelt said about the two juniors. 

Andrews was ahead in the 800 meter race going into the home stretch before finishing just four-tenths behind Eau Claire Memorial’s Parker Dewey with a second place time of 1 minute, 52.41 seconds. 

Andrews said he was surprised by how fast the leaders went out on the first lap.

“I wasn't expecting to go that fast,” he said. “I was hoping to come out like in 54 or 55 (seconds). I wasn’t expecting to hit 52 on the first lap, but then once we hit that all I was thinking about was holding on and making sure they weren't catching up, but they were. They were really close and I was looking over my shoulder a bit at the end.”

Bauschelt and Andrews also ran the final two legs of the Cats’ 4x400 relay team behind junior Jack Silloway and senior Robbie Anderson. After qualifying for the finals with a time of 3 minutes, 21 seconds in Friday’s prelims, the foursome lowered their time to 3:19.55 in Saturday’s finals to earn a fifth place podium finish.

Senior Taurus Eastgate also reached the podium for the Wildcat boys with a fourth place total of 46-02.5 in Friday’s triple jump competition before placing 16th in Saturday’s long jump with a leap of 20-10.

Sophomore Blake Schneider cleared 13-feet in the pole vault Friday to finish 17th, while the Cats’ 4x200 relay team of Silloway, senior Jacob Lane, freshman Charlie Burke and Bauschelt placed 17th in Friday’s prelims with a time of 1:30.28.

The Wildcat boys finished in a three-way tie for sixth place with Janesville Parker and Kimberly in the final team standings with 23 points. Arrowhead took the Division 1 team title with 60.

The Wildcat girls competed in two relays at state, with sophomore Isabelle Russell, freshman Jayla Johnson, freshman Tirfe L’Allier and freshman Brooke Dusek finishing 14th in the 4x200 with a time of 1:45.5, and 22nd in the 4x100 in 50.33 seconds.

Junior Elly Smith finished 17th in Friday’s 100 hurdle prelims in 16.99 seconds, and sophomore Olive Halverson placed 22nd in Saturday’s 3200 meter run in 11:44.47, while sophomore Abigail Treichel missed all three of her attempts at the opening height of 4-10 in Friday’s high jump.