Anderson, Eicher crowned state champions on Day 1 of WIAA girls state track

LA CROSSE - The 55th Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association girls state track and field meet kicked off on Friday, June 5 with preliminary action in the sprints, a pair of long-distance finals and field events for Division 1 transpiring all over Veterans Memorial Complex on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

The greater Milwaukee area crowned two state champions in the first session of the weekend, along with countless athletes putting themselves in position to win state championships on the final day of the season on Saturday.

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Here's a look at the state champion duo, along with some of the area's top times and top finishers from the D1 action prior to Division 2 and 3 action to close the first day of action.

Note: The Division 2 and 3 session is currently in a weather delay as of 9 p.m. with events such as the girls' 800-meter final and the 1,600-meter relay preliminary heats still to come. The WIAA also announced the wheelchair shot-put finals would be moved to 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 6.

Franklin's Ella Anderson sets school record to win D1 state high jump title

After running on Franklin's 800-meter relay team that just missed qualifying for Saturday's final heat by 0.01 seconds, sophomore Ella Anderson felt like she was on fumes as the Division 1 state high jump competition with four competitors left at five feet, seven inches.

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It took all three allotted efforts at 5-7, but Anderson came up clutch on her final attempt to clear the height and win her first state title after finishing tied for 12th place as a freshman.

"It was amazing," Anderson said on standing on the top step of the podium for the first time. "I was pretty tired after the 4x200 relay, but I was feeling ready. I could feel it at that height and I'm just so happy."

Anderson's main goal was making the podium coming into her sophomore campaign, but by the end of the action of the first session, she was a state champion by setting a personal best and also became Franklin's new all-time record holder for girls high jump in any event.

"The goal was to get back here to state, but I didn't see winning happening," Anderson said with a laugh. "I was coming in kinda nervous, but I just told myself to do what I do and let it all work out."

Arrowhead's Payton Eicher gets Warhawks' three-peat bid off to great start with D1 long jump title

Payton Eicher ran the second-best qualifying time in the 100-meter heats and then made sure she wasn't second on the podium in the long jump competition. She didn't top her personal best of 20 feet to set a Classic 8 Conference record earlier this season, but standing atop the podium .75 inches from the state meet record with a gold medal is still a good Friday afternoon for the future Youngstown State athlete.

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"I was super stoked about long jump because I knew it wasn't gonna be an easy pathway through," Eicher said. "I definitely still had those nerves of like, 'OK, I gotta push myself as far as I can to get to the position I want to be in."

Eicher led the competition after the first flight with a jump just over 19 feet, but widened her lead even further in the final three jumps with a leap of 19-8 on her fourth and her meet-best 19-9 jump on the final attempt. It wasn't ideal circumstances to jump three times after having to exert some energy on the 400-meter relay heats where Arrowhead topped the leaderboard, but it worked out in the end for Eicher.

"I was hoping to jump before I had to run my 4x1, which ended up working out," Eicher said. "I think it worked for the better because I was a lot more relaxed (for the high jump) because I was like, 'OK, I know I have nothing else after this. I can focus all my attention to this and I think it was really exciting."

Knautz, New Berlin West, Pius set D2, D3 state meet records in preliminary heats

In her quest to win the 100/200 sprint double in D3, along with a potential state title in the 400-meter relay, Dominican senior Sydney Knautz started her Friday off with a bang. She won her heat in the 100 meters and set a D3 state meet record in the process with a time of 12.10 seconds, .19 better than defending champion Bella Thomas from Assumption. Dominican ran a 50.07 in its preliminary heat to qualify as the No. 7 seed in the final heat.

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Over in Division 2, Pius XI Catholic's quartet of TyJah Horton, Samara Crowley, Alanna Loyd and Nyomi Seals-Presti set a D2 state meet record with a time of 1:41.27 in the first heat of the 800-meter relay preliminaries.

It stood for about five real-time minutes.

Two-time defending state champion New Berlin West took its record back in the second heat with a time of 1:40.87, setting up an awesome matchup between the two area programs in the final on Saturday. The record-setting group was Caroline Gerovac, Aubrey Lane, Harmony Billups and Ashley Babcock.

Pius' fortunes would take a positive turn later on in the 400-meter relay. After Xavier broke the D2 state meet record with a time of 48.03, Horton, Crowley, Seals-Presti and Loyd broke that record with a time of record of 47.60 to take the top seed heading into the final.

Top qualifiers for Saturday's final heats

• Two of the top four qualifiers in the girls D1 100-meter hurdles preliminary heats are from the area as Sussex Hamilton's Macy Price (14.882) and West Bend West's Rylee Faehling (14.889) ran the third and fourth-best times in the qualifying heats. Faehling also ran away from the field with the top time in the 300m hurdle heats with a blistering time of 41.67 seconds, nearly three full seconds than the next best time. Price went 44.78 to win her heat with the third-best time.

• The area dominated the top times on the board in the D1 sprints, specifically in the 100. Brookfield Central's Kyenret Rinkam ran the fastest time at 11.88 seconds, while Arrowhead's duo of Avery Bott (12.15) and Payton Eicher (11.93) finished fifth and second respectively on the overall board. Mukwonago's Laela Presendofer was fourth (12.12).

• Bott (24.63), Presendofer (24.80) and Rinkam (24.82) went 2-3-4 on the overall leaderboard in the 200 behind Holmen's Lydia Lazarescu with Bott and Rinkam winning their respective heats. Bott also went to the top of the board in the 400 to win her heat with a time of 56.18 seconds. Pewaukee's Vanessa Johnson joined Bott in Saturday's final with a time of 56.47 seconds to take third on the overall board.

• Arrowhead's quartet of Payton Eicher, Elise Schroeder, Josie Bularz and Giselle Huggett zoomed to a time of 46.56 seconds to pace the field in the D1 4x100 relay preliminary heats. Mukwonago (48.25) and South Milwaukee (48.84) joined the Warhawks in Saturday's final heat.

• Mukwonago's team of Rileigh Black, Libby Gnewuch, Emma Craig and Laela Presendofer led the charge in the D1 4x200 relay preliminary field with a time of 1:40.99. Arrowhead (1:41.41), West Bend West (1:41.81) and Germantown (1:42.31) rounded out the top four times in the heats.

• Stevens Point (3:52.78) stormed to the top time in the D1 4x400 relay preliminary heats, while the area rounded out the top five in order. Waukesha West (3:54.49) won its heat and finished with the second-best time, followed by Brookfield Central (3:55.08), Brookfield East (3:55.12) and Pewaukee (3:55.95).

Other top finishers from Day 1's action

• The area also went 2-3-4 on the podium in the D1 800m final, led by Kettle Moraine's Lola Schwartz (2:11.42). Brookfield East's Isabelle Yttre (2:12.26) finished third and Germantown's Kierta Siegert took fourth (2:13.15).

• Four of the top six finishers in the D1 1,600m final came from the area, led by Whitefish Bay freshman Karstin McCabe (4:44.98). Menomonie's Lauren McCalla (4:38.54) broke the D1 state meet record in the event, while the Slinger duo of Ava Dziedzic (4:51.88) and Piper Schuster (4:52.59) took third and fourth, while Muskego's Ella Anschutz finished sixth (4:54.72).

• Four of the podium representatives behind Franklin's Ella Anderson were from the area, led by Brookfield East sophomore Ella Black. She finished second by clearing 5-6 on her first attempt, while Port Washington senior and defending state champion Peyton Keller took third place. Arrowhead's Addison Pommerening (5-4) finished sixth to round out the podium places.

• West Bend West's Rylee Faehling (18-7.5) and Mukwonago's Lily Kopietz (18-4.75) took fourth and fifth respectively in the D1 long jump competition.

• Muskego senior Sophia Russo finished third in the D1 shot put competition with a best throw of 40-8. Mukwonago's Rachael Chilicki captured fourth place on the podium with a top toss of 40-6.25.

• Slinger freshman Lucy Rate took second place in the 800m wheelchair final with a time of 2:39.94. Sun Prairie East's Megan Egstad broke the state meet record with a time of 2:32.06 to win the event.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Anderson, Eicher win WIAA state girls jump titles to lead off area roundup