Wolves have three seconds
By Greg Seubert
Little Wolf High School’s track program has had plenty of success this spring.
That success carried over to the WIAA State Track & Field Championships, as the Wolves returned from La Crosse June 1 with three second-place finishes in Division 3.
Bo Koehn and Aspen Linjer placed second in the boys’ 400- and girls’ 100-meter dashes, respectively, while Linjer joined Ireland Griffin, Laynie Bessette and Mataya Moede on the girls’ 400-meter relay team that also placed second and nearly won a state championship.
Koehn finished second in the 400 and seventh in the 200-meter dash and ran the fourth leg of the boys’ 1,600-meter relay team that placed third.
“It’s a big step from where I was last year and makes me proud of all the work we put in,” he said. “Making it to state my sophomore year was a really big thing and I fell short my junior year. That really brought me down. Over the summer, I tried to improve and I accepted nothing but the best this year.”
Besides placing second in the 100, Linjer finished sixth in the 200.
Bessette, Griffin, Moede and Linjer combined ran their 400 relay in 50.53, 0.01 second behind Three Lakes/Phelps.
The foursome had placed sixth in their preliminary race to qualify for the final.
“We were a little bummed after yesterday, but we came back with some confidence and knew we could do it,” Bessette said. “I can’t complain with second place.”
The boys’ 1,600 relay team also included Jackson Jaeger, Brett Zielke and Grant Bristol.
“We might not have finished where we wanted, but we gave it all we’ve got,” Koehn said. “We’re really stepping up and making improvements. Everyone’s confidence is getting up there and we’re doing things we haven’t been able to do in the past.”
Manawa tied for 11th place with Kickapoo/La Farge, Wayland Academy and Suring with 16 points in the final boys’ Division 3 team standings, while the girls placed 13th with 19 points.