GHS Track and Field Picks up Pace as Season Comes to a Close

The Greendale Track and Field team has been going strong throughout their entire season, placing at nearly ever meet and are looking to have a few state contenders this year as regionals approach.

On Friday May 4th the Track and Field team, along with 15 other teams competed at Burlington.

Greendale had multiple athletes who performed well enough to earned points for the team. Junior Alyssa Dobbs won 2nd place with a PR in the 2 mile, seniors Jaelan Johnson took 5th place in Shot Put, and Job Roloff took 6th place 1600 run, Sophomores Matthew Stilling and Logan Lutz tied for 6th place in the 2 mile, and seniors Nikolina Mijatovic won 8th place in Triple Jump and  Ray Rosalez winning 8th in the 100 dash with a season PR.

Although Dobbs ran a personal record time, she already has her sights on another goal.

“After getting my PR, I felt super happy that I am farther along at this point in the season than I was last season. This gives me more confidence that I can split 5:55s for both miles to achieve my goal of breaking 12,” Dobbs said. “Every race I’ve been progressing, which keeps boosting my confidence as the season goes along and that will be beneficial for the bigger races coming up.”

Prior to the Burlington invite Greendale performed well at conference relays.

Both boys and girls placed 5th at the Woodland Conference Relay meet May 1. Placing 1st for the  boys and girls 4×1600 relays of Roloff, Stilling, Lutz, and sophomore Kaleb Whiteside, and for the girls Dobbs, sophomores Kelsey Sodemann, Emma Polenske and junior Ellen AbadSantos,.  The girls Shot Put relay of sophomores Rosie Gosseck-McNeal, Autumn Prophett,  and junior Yaminah Powell took 2nd place, along with the boys Shot Put relay of seniors Jaelan Johnson,  Devin Biskupski, and junior , Masaeo Wooden. Boys and girls took 3rd in the  4×800 relay that consisted of Roloff,  Stilling, Lutz,  junior Ryan Unruh and Dobbs, Sodemann,  AbadSantos, and Polenske.

Greendale has a young promising team that has consistently scored points for the team during meets and are working to improve everyday.

“I haven’t dropped my times much but I am so much stronger mentally than I was earlier this year. I also am just getting stronger physically and I can hit my speed workout times much easier,” Lutz said. “My ultimate  goals moving forward is of course to keep improving, but I also want to make it to nationals Senior year.”

While Greendale competes in a few large meets with over 10 schools, it only encourages athletes to push themselves, which allows for them to still earn points for their team if they stay focused.

On April 23 Greendale had a number of notable  performances at a Kenosha Bradford Invite. Greendale competed with 13 other schools competing.  During the meet Dobbs, and Roloff took 6th in 1600, Polenske took 6th in the 800, Johnson took 7th in Shot Put and sophomore Mason Hanizeski took 8th in Long Jump with a PR of  19′ 3.5″.

The season is coming to an end, but overall the team has been progressing throughout the year and are not using the end of the season as an excuse to stop working to get better.

“I feel like this year, I have progressed a lot. Most of my times have dropped, which is good, so I am very proud of that,” Sodeman said. “Moving forward, I want to drop more time off my mile and just push myself harder because I know what I am capable of.”

With Varsity Outdoor conference coming up on May 15  many athletes are hoping to make new PR’S and perform well enough at Regionals to make it to Sectionals the following week. “I feel like I have definitely seen improvement throughout this season. I’ve made a few of new PRs and overall have felt stronger when I’m running,” AbadSantos said