The end of a dynasty

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School girls track and field team earned its second straight Division 2 title at the 2018 WIAA State Track & Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse on June 2. Wittenberg-Birnamwood scored 50 points, 14 more than second-place Xavier.

While the championship completed a season goal, it also signaled the end of the high school careers for a talented groups of seniors. The 2018 state meet was the final high school track experience for Maddy Pietz, Paige Norrbom, Emily Norrbom, Kylie Linke and Alyssa Meverden.

The Chargers’ senior class improved every year. During the group’s freshman season, the team took sixth at state after scoring 24 points. Witt-Birn took sixth again the following year, but their point total increased to 26. As juniors, the Chargers’ team score ballooned to 40 points and a state title.

With repeating as champs serving as the team’s goal this season, the team turned in its best state meet yet. A team comprised of three individuals and two relay teams earned six top-five finishes to claim the title convincingly and send its senior class off in style.

Witt-Birn coach Mike Balliett attributes the athletes’ steady improvement to the work they put in throughout high school.

“These girls are all multi-sport athletes,” Balliett said. “We have a pretty intense lifting and strength and agility program that these girls go through all summer. As they got older, they got stronger and stayed in very good shape. Also, they had that winner’s mentality, especially on the track, of just not wanting to lose.”

Members of the senior class got to enjoy plenty of memories at the state meet, whether it be competing as individuals or joining others on relay teams. As years passed by, the finishes kept improving.

Pietz shined as an individual at the state meet, starting as a freshman at the 2015 meet when she took second in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. As a sophomore, Pietz claimed second-place finishes in both events again.

As a junior, Pietz swapped the 100 for the 400, hoping to bring home a state title. The move worked as planned, as she won the 400 that season. She also claimed another second-place finish in the 200.

For her senior season, Pietz dropped the 200 for the 100, hoping to claim the title that eluded her as a sophomore and freshman. Again, Pietz came through, winning the 100 finals by 0.13 seconds. She also ran to a time of 11.98 seconds in the 100 prelims, breaking the state record of 11.99 seconds held by Milwaukee North’s Tasha Allen. Pietz also won the 400 for a second straight year and finished fifth in the long jump, her best finish for an event in which she qualified three times during her career.

“If you would have asked me as an eighth-grader how I thought I would do as a high school athlete, I never would have predicted this,” Pietz said. “All of the first-place finishes and success I have had is because of the work I put in at practice every day. It truly has not sunk in yet that my high school track career is over, but I am grateful for each moment that went into these last four years.”

Paige Norrbom made it to state as an individual in the high jump in her freshman season, placing 10th. As a sophomore, she qualified in the 300 hurdles and finished 10th. In her junior year, she returned to state in the 300 hurdles, improving to fifth place. She saved her best 300 hurdles effort for her final meet, taking second at last weekend’s meet.

Despite changing the individual events they competed in, Witt-Birn athletes always seemed to make it to state anyway and turn in strong performances. That success can be chalked up as another product of the Chargers’ training.

“Our training is based on developing 400 runners,” Balliett said. “If you can run the 400 strong, the 200 you will be pretty solid at and then the 100 is a breeze for you. Then, in some cases, we can stretch runners out to run the 800. We are training them all in the 400 and then taking them in other directions off of that.”

Linke (200) and Emily Norrbom (triple jump) each qualified for state as individuals once, taking 16th in their junior and senior seasons, respectively.

While the seniors’ individual state achievements are undeniable, the Chargers’ relay teams may have enjoyed even more success.

As freshmen, Emily Norrbom, Paige Norrbom and Pietz joined Mikayla King, a senior, in the 4x400 relay. The team finished second.

“None of us really knew how far we could go or how good we could be, until we took second at state in the 4x4 our freshman year,” Paige Norrbom said. “It drove us to want to get back at the state meet every year and push ourselves to the limit to see what we could do.”

Sophomore year was the start of a special run for the 4x400 relay team comprised of Paige Norrbom, Linke, Emily Norrbom and Pietz. The team broke the event record in the prelims that year before breaking it again in the final with a time of 3 minutes, 56.66 seconds to take first. The same group won the event as juniors and again as seniors, breaking their own record with a time of 3 minutes, 54.94 seconds last weekend.

“It was super special to be able to say that I am a three-time state champion and a record holder. That is something I will cherish forever,” Linke said. “Not a lot of people can say that, and I’m happy that I am able to be among the few that can.”

“If I had to chose my favorite (state memory), I would have to say it was running the 4x400-meter relay with my team for the last time at state,” Pietz said. “Although we pretty much had the team title in the bag by the time the relay was to be run, we still wanted to win this year. When I crossed the finish line and saw our time of 3:54.94, I was in awe. Breaking the state record for the third time with this team was truly an amazing memory and my favorite track moment.”

Also as juniors, Paige Norrbom, Emily Norrbom and Linke joined Chloe King in the 4x200 relay to take second. The same relay team raced at this year’s state meet, again finishing second.

While the graduation of the seniors will undoubtedly leave a big hole to fill for the Witt-Birn girls track team, the younger athletes on the team should have plenty of motivation after witnessing a dominant senior class that had a ton of fun and success thanks to hard work.

Chloe King, who just wrapped up her junior season, had nothing but praise for her senior teammates.

”Next year will be so weird without this group of senior girls,” she said. “They’ve been with me throughout my entire high school career, not only in track but in cross-country and basketball. I don’t know what I’ll do without them. They are great role models, and they’ve helped shape me into the athlete I am today.”

While their high school careers are finished, the memories will last forever for the departing senior class.

“It was awesome to finish out our track season by breaking our own record (in the 4x400 relay) and winning the championship for the second time,” Paige Norrbom said. “I think it’s incredible with how much a small group of girls has accomplished in a short four years. It’s crazy to think that it’s all over.”

“When we broke the state record and won state the past two years, the celebration through the parents, team and the whole community will be something we will never forget,” Emily Norrbom said. “The parents and the community definitely made us feel proud of what we have done to represent Wittenberg-Birnamwood.”