Cady overcomes slow start
Kempf places sixth in pole vault
By Greg Seubert
It was not a good start for Will Cady at the WIAA State Track & Field Championships.
The finish, however, was a different story.
The Iola-Scandinavia junior came into the boys’ Division 3 long jump event seeded third out of 17 competitors, but ended up placing 16th.
He followed that up by placing third in the triple jump at the meet, held May 31 and June 1 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
“I knew I had something to prove,” Cady said minutes after receiving his third-place medal. “I couldn’t do what I did yesterday. I had to get better.”
That’s exactly what happened after he came into the event as the top seed.
“My triple jump has really improved,” Cady said. “Toward the end (of the season), I started working on my second phase. After I extended that, it really got my jumps way up there. I was pretty surprised how much the difference was, but I liked it a lot.”
Another Central Wisconsin Conference athlete, Weyauwega-Fremont senior Justin Kempf, placed sixth in the boys’ Division 3 pole vault with a top height of 13 feet.
“I’m glad I got the pole vault program up and started,” he said. “It’s cool getting the school record, but it’s going to be even cooler to see it get broken.”
Kempf has had plenty of success on the wrestling mat with three trips to the state individual meet, including a fourth-place finish this year at 132 pounds in Division 3.
This was his first trip to the state track meet.
“It’s definitely a different feeling (than the state wrestling meet),” Kempf said. “I’m a little less comfortable here. I was able to do as well as I could, so I can’t really complain.”
