LA CROSSE — Holmen High School senior Brenna Schmidt made philosophical change in her delivery for the shot put this season.
With her future at the University of South Alabama in mind, Schmidt change her release technique from a glide to a rotational.
After spending the spring in an adjustment phase, she went to what she knows best when a medal at the WIAA state track and field meet was on the line Friday.
Schmidt went back to the glide, popped one of her attempts 40 feet, 1 inch and came away with a sixth-place medal during the Division 1 morning session at the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
“(Rotating) just wasn’t clicking the way I wanted it to,” Schmidt said. “Me and my coach decided I should just go back to the glide for one (throw), and I made finals after that throw, so I felt pretty good.”
Schmidt, also a standout volleyball player for a Holmen program that qualified for the state tournament in 2024, didn’t reach her school record of 41-6, but she bumped up quite a bit from her opening throw of 35-0 3/4 and the 33-9 1/2 that followed.
Schmidt qualified from the sectional at 38-1, so eclipsing 40 feet was a big deal for Schmidt, who was sitting in fourth place for a portion of Friday’s competition.
Schmidt was runner-up in the shot put as a junior and 10th in the discus. She will try to ride the momentum of winning a second medal in the shot put to success in the discus.
She qualified with a discus performance of 123-2 at the sectional, and that followed up a 117-10 at the regional.
Hanging out there is the school record of 140-7 that is owned by Jadyn Roden. Schmidt already broke Roden’s record in the shot put, and she has gone as far as 133-2 in the discus.
“I feel a lot better now than I did coming in,” Schmidt said. “I was seeded first in the second flight, so a little lower than I’ve been seeded normally.
“But I just held myself to my normal standard and performed the way I wanted to.”
Schmidt is in the second flight and seeded 11th in the discus.
