LA CROSSE — Lydia Lazarescu knew what she was up against as she tried to successfully defend two Division 1 sprint championships at the WIAA state track and field meet this weekend.
The Holmen High School junior didn’t win a title on Saturday, but she walked away with two second-place medals and one of the third-place variety. Understanding her competition, she understand the level of success that represents.
But there was still a sense of wanting more after Lasarescu placed second in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and helped the Vikings place third in the 400 relay and fourth as a team with 31.5 points.
Lasarescu was timed at 11.89 seconds in the 100, 24.29 in the 200, and Holmen’s 400 relay finished its race in 48.21.
That, coupled with a runner-up finish from junior Brenna Schmidt in the shot put (41 feet, 4 inches) and senior Alexa Szak’s piece of sixth place in the high jump (5-2), left the Vikings behind only Hartland Arrowhead (51), Neenah (46) and Appleton North (36) in the team standings.
“This winter is going to be a real grind for me, and that’s perfectly fine with me,” said Lasarescu, who is ready to get back to work and try to win the sprints again as a senior. “I look forward to doing that.
“I really like running, and I really like being on the track. I really like working out, and all of this, for me, is really fun.”
Lasarescu lost the 100 by one-hundredth of a second to Brookfield Central sophomore Kyenret Rinkam (11.88) and the 200 to Arrowhead junior Avery Bott (23.87).
Lasarescu let out a scream as she crossed the finish line in the 100 before finding out Rinkam had edged her out with a lean at the line.
The defeat gave Lasarescu extra motivation for her final two races, but she felt like she won the race as she crossed the line.
“I knew I needed a good start today, so I was ready for that,” Lazarescu said. “I got out, I had a good start, I was right there with the other two girls. “I kept pushing and pushing and pushing.”
The race was so close that the results were delayed, and it gave Lazarescu to think an extra couple of seconds about how it ended.
“I put in an appeal, and obviously it didn’t work,” Lasarescu said. “That’s fine by me. I’m happy with my race.”
She beat Rinkam, who was third (24.4), in the 200 but couldn’t overcome Bott.
Rinkam, Bott and other sprinters from around the state kept Lazarescu’s outlook this spring realistic. Despite winning the two championships as a sophomore, Lazarescu felt like she was chasing the top spot instead of being there and being chased by others.
“It made me realize that I have work to do no matter how good I get,” she said. “I always feel like I’m working hard, but this gives me a little push to get me there, and I’m really happy to have the competition I have here.”
The Vikings were only beaten by Mukwonago (47.61) and Arrowhead (47.8) in the relay and ran three juniors — Lazarescu, Abry Bloyer and Alivia Wickstrom — and one freshman in Hadley Johnson.
Wickstrom started the performance and said the team was ready to go on the gun.
“I had my team to hype me up, and I really got a good push today,” said Wickstrom, who also qualified in the 100 and 300 hurdles. “I stayed down and low, and it was a good day.”
A good handoff to Bloyer got the baton in the hand of a finals qualifier in the 100 and kept the Vikings competitive at the front.
“They key to a good handoff is being patient, and we were,” Bloyer said. “I have to have trust in her to tell me to slow down if I have to and that she will get the baton on my hand.
“With Hadley, we’d had some (handoff) problems in the past, so we tried something different, which was nerve-racking but went well. It was smooth.”
Johnson is the newbie of the group and said the handoff change she and Bloyer made allowed Bloyer to run farther.
“She’s faster, so it made sense,” Johnson said. “We had time, and I liked it because it made us better.”
Johnson then got to execute her role between two 100-meter finalists in Bloyer and Lazarescu.
“It does put pressure on me, but I felt pressure all year because I’m a freshman,” she said. “It’s a little scary because I fell like (Bloyer) will come up on me too fast or (Lazarescu) will run away from me. I just trust that they know what they’re doing.”
SCHMIDT SECOND IN SHOT PUT: Junior Brenna Schmidt saved her best throw for last, and her effort of 41-4 kept her in second place but allowed her to separate from third-place Kristin Behnke of Kimberly.
Schmidt placed 10th in the discus on Friday but came back with a much bigger performance on Saturday.
“I was confident coming in today,” Schmidt said. “There are some really great girls in Division 1, and after my first throw, I was feeling really good and on.
“On the last throw, I felt good going into it.”
Schmidt said she liked her speed and the way her throw felt coming off the hand. Only Ashwaubenon senior Thea Kral beat her with a 47-2.25.
Schmidt’s previous success in the shot put led her to believe she could make the podium this season, but second place wasn’t in her thoughts when the season began. Continued success, she said, changed that.
“This year, I focused more on my technique,” she said. “I put more work into hitting my positions in shot put and also in discus.”
SZAK’S LOG JAM AT HIGH JUMP: The Vikings recieved1.5 points when senior Alexa Szak tied for sixth place in the high jump with a height of 5-2.
She was one of four to clear that height and tied with Onalaska junior Isabella Malecek, Kaukauna sophomore Madison Koschnik and Menasha junior Anna Maass.
Szak was good on her first attempts at 4-10, 5 feet and 5-2 before missing all three at 5-4.
