LA CROSSE — The excitement was clear as Holmen High School juniors Lydia Lazarescu and Abry Bloyer crossed the finish line two lanes apart during a preliminary Division 1 100-meter sprint at the WIAA state track and field meet on Friday.
Lazarescu, the defending state champion in both the 100 and 200, won the heat with a time of 11.91 seconds to earn her spot in Saturday’s finals. But Abry Bloyer was going to join her after her time of 12.18 was also among the top 10 among the qualifiers in three heats.
Lazarescu and Bloyer are seeded third and seventh, respectively, for a final that will take place Friday morning at the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
The two also teamed up to help the Vikings qualify for the finals in the 400 relay. Alivia Wickstrom, Bloyer, Hadley Johnson and Lazarescu were timed at 48.03 in that event while finishing second in their heat.
Holmen is seeded fourth for that final.
Onalaska had five girls qualify for two Saturday finals with big Friday performances.
Senior Ella Stevens placed second in her heat with a time of 14.83 in the 100 hurdles and is seeded fifth for the finals. She also ran with Eliana Mascotti, Makena McGarry and Elin Gilles for a qualifying time of 1:43.86 in the 800 relay. The Hilltoppers are seeded 10th in that event.
Junior Isabella Malecek qualified for the finals in the 400 with a time of 58.58 and is seeded eighth in addition to her role with a 1,600 relay team that also included McGarry, Gilles and Mascotti and ran a 3:58.43. The Hilltoppers are seeded third for the final after winning their heat on Friday.
McGarry also competed in the triple jump on Friday but failed to make the finals after her best jump of 35 feet, 5 inches. Central sophomore McKenna Michaels also qualified for the triple jump and finished just behind McGarry at 34-11.5.
Holmen senior Brenna Schmidt finished 10th in the discus (122-8), and Holmen’s 3,200 girls relay team of Naomi Wedan, Ruby Kinsman, Bailey Sommerville and Sabrina Lechnir was 15th (9:37.5).
Lechnir was also 13th in the 3,200 (11:15.63). Onalaska junior Olivia Peterson was 15th (10-6) and Holmen junior Kendall Kozlowski tied for 18th (10-0) in the pole vault.
BOYS
Holmen sophomore Jakai Ayed will have a busy Saturday after qualifying for finals in both the Division 1 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles.
Ayed is seeded third in the 110s after winning his prelim with a time of 14.43 and sixth after placing third in his heat of the 300 hurdles in 38.95. He also competed in the long jump on Friday and just missed the podium with his seventh-place finish of 22-4.
Holmen junior Tristen Brennan placed 20th in the shot put (50-5.75), and Onalaska sophomore Brendan Chenault missed out on the finals of the 400 when his prelim time of 49.91 left him one spot out in 11th place.
Holmen’s boys had three relays in Friday’s preliminaries, but none of them made it to Saturday’s finals.
Eli Kane, Peyton Peterson, Jack Barth and Ryland Eickhoff were timed at 43.03 in the 400, Barth, Peterson, Jacob Simmons and Eickhoff ran a 1:29.33 800, and Simmons, Dylan Whiteaker, Matthew Hoff and Barth went 3:27.08 in the 1,600.
