LA CROSSE — Makena McGarry would have liked to avoid juggling her performance in the 800-meter relay with her obligations to the long jump, but that didn’t happen.
The Onalaska High School junior is used to being busy during a rack and field meet, but competing against the best the state has to offer isn’t easy while pulling double duty.
McGarry didn’t let it impact her, though, as she returned from winning a sixth-place medal with the 800-meter relay to pop her biggest long jump of the day and bring home second place in that event at the WIAA state track and field meet.
McGarry scratched three times in the finals, but her last clean jumped went 18 feet, 11 inches and was beaten only by Neenah sophomore Celia Gentile (19-6.5).
“I wanted to do the (long jump) finals before the relay, but that didn’t happen,” McGarry said with a smile. “I was still able to recover and had it in my to get some big jumps, but I was tired.”
That process didn’t go as well Friday when the relay broke up her performance in the triple jump. She didn’t medal in the triple, but the relay, obviously, qualified for the finals.
McGarry qualified for four events and left with the two medals after missing out in the triple jump. She also ran with the Hilltoppers’ 1,600 relay, which qualified for the finals but just missed the podium with a seventh-place finish.
The Hilltoppers recorded their sixth-place finish in the 800 relay with Ella Stevens, Eliana Mascotti, McGarry and Elin Gilles. They were timed at 1 minutes, 43.09 seconds.
“We were not expecting to podium because we were seeded 10th,” McGarry said. “So we were pretty happy about that. Our handoffs went really well.
“They weren’t the greatest (in prelims), but we cleaned that up and had a lot of energy.”
The 1,600 relay of McGarry, Gilles, Mascotti and Isabella Malecek finished in 3:59.98 and was just behind sixth-place Manitowoc (3:58.22).
McGarry had eight minutes from the time she completed the relay to when she had to begin jumping finals.
“I had to run over there, change spikes and jump,” she said. “It’s scary because you want to put your best effort out there.
“Some of the other girls are well rested because this is all they are doing, and some others are here in four events, but it is what it is, and I’m grateful for the experience.”
She may not have reached her goal for the day of 19 feet, but she was happy to be able to hit a big one — her previous best on Saturday was 18-2.25 — to impact the top of the standings.
“I think I had a lot of pop, and I was really motivated to get a big jump out there,” McGarry said. “I wanted to podium high.
“That’s the goal. I got up and explosive.”
McGarry said she used her performance in the triple jump as fuel for the 1,600 prelims and for both of her events on Saturday.
“I didn’t want to forget about it,” she said. “I wanted to use it as a learning experience.”
STEVENS GRABS FIFTH PLACE: Senior Ella Stevens won an individual medal to go with her relay medal with a fifth-place performance in the 100 hurdles.
Stevens ran a time of 15.12 in the finals after a 14.83 in Friday’s prelims. She entered the finals seeded fifth, so she held her position.
“My start felt off a little because of the rain,” Stevens said. “I didn’t feel great halfway through the race, so I had to try and go harder.
“I really wanted to podium.”
MALECEK PART OF HIGH JUMP PARTY: Four athletes had to share sixth place in the Division 1 girls high jump, and Onalaska junior Isabella Malecek was one of them.
Malecek, Holmen’s Aleza Szak, Kaukauna’s Madison Koschnik and Menasha’s Anna Maass all tied at the height of 5-2 in an event won by Port Washington junior Peyton Keller (5-6).
Malecek didn’t enter the competition until 5 feet and made that height and 5-2 in her first attempts before missing all three at 5-4.
She also ran with the Hilltoppers’ 1,600 relay that placed seventh (3:59.98) and finished ninth in the 400 (58.96) as a three-event qualifier.
The Hilltoppers finished with 18.5 points and placed 14th as a team.
