State Track Meet Schedule

All running events for Division 1 begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 31st at UW-LaCrosse.  The 4x100 meter relay is the seventh event on the schedule.  With 27 relays qualified for state, only the top 10 teams advance to finals.  Finals begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 1st, and the relay is the 14th event scheduled.  The top six finishers make the podium for medal ceremonies.  Good luck to Sammie, Erika, Bethany and Jayne in the relay and to Jennifer Ellis in the 300 meter hurdles! 

Results will be available on the WIAA website at:  www.wiaawi.org.  The meet will be streamed live on: www.foxsportswisconsin.com.

Article on State

Ellis, Gassner and Bertieri show Germantown girls the way to the state track meet

Ellis in hurdles, 400 relay advance

 

By Steven L. Tietz

GermantownNow.com

May 28, 2013

 

It was a simple acknowledgment and a show of respect between senior teammates, friends and athletes, both of whom were putting on their warm-ups on a chilly day after the 300-meter low hurdles in the WIAA track sectional at Sussex Hamilton on May 23.

"Proud of you Jen."

"Proud of you Sammie"

"Jen," Jennifer Ellis of the Germantown track team had just earned a repeat berth in the WIAA State Meet this weekend with a school record runner-up effort in the race. Meanwhile "Sammie," Sam Gassner, who had earlier earned a second state meet berth as part of the 400-meter relay team, had taken fifth in the race, an event in which she has shown potential in since freshmen year, but for a variety of reasons, did not come back to until this season.

It's been a complicated story of near-misses, hit hurdles and other annoying pieces of bad karma for Gassner over the last three years in the 300 hurdles. She made a lot of that go away when the 400 relay qualified last year and and again this year when the group that included Erika Bethhauser, Bethany Laubenheimer, Jayne Bertieri and herself claimed third and earned a repeat state slot.

Gassner had joined Bertieri and Laubenheimer on the state relay last season but Warhawks coach Greg Siegert was hoping that Gassner could also make it in the 300 hurdles and make that demon go away.

But Gassner knew the relay was the important thing.

"She told me afterwards that she was just out of gas (in the hurdles)," said Siegert. "She was just tired (after the 400 relay). We wanted to get her back in the hurdles, but she had put so much into that relay (which earlier this season had set a school record). The schedule (the events were back-to-back) just didn't allow it.

"It was just so cool that she essentially gave up a chance at an individual state berth to help the relay out." Gassner was clocked in 47.65 in her last hurdle race.

Ellis and Gassner and the relay will be in La Crosse this weekend for the WIAA State Meet at UW-La Crosse's Memorial Stadium. Division 1 trials and some finals will be held at 4:30 p.m. Friday with the remainder of the finals slated for 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Finals, then medal
Ellis is seeded second behind sectional competitor Valerie Thames of Milwaukee Riverside. She is looking for her first state meet medal.

"The main goal is to get onto the podium (top six), but the first goal is just make finals," she said.
Ellis' race was thrilling as Thames, who has been dominant in the event all season, had to battle the diminutive (5-0 tall) but determined Warhawk coming off the last hurdle. Thames held on for the victory with a 45.08 second clocking while Ellis was caught in 45.15.

"I knew I wasn't far behind her," Ellis said, "so I just gave it my best."

Siegert was amazed by the effort.

"It's astounding what 5 feet tall and 100 pounds dripping wet can do," he said. "All she ever does is give all she has every time."

The relay earned its slot with a third place 50.72 clocking. Bertieri, who anchored the team last year too, said she knew she was in great position when she got the stick.

"This feels so good," she said. "I'm so proud of all the legs (of the relay) because we've worked so hard for this all season. When I saw Bethany (Laubenheimer) coming (to hand off) I knew she was in the top three so all I had to do was hold form. I'm just so proud of them all."

Some near misses
Elsewhere, the Warhawks had a series of near-misses on state berths as Katelyn Turner missed out on a berth by just 21/2 inches in the shot put with a fourth-place effort of 35-1 inch, while Beth Kuske tied for fourth in the high jump at 4-10, the same height as the third-place finisher, although she had more misses.

Turner is a senior and Kuske a junior. Ellis just missed out on a second state slot with a runner-up effort in the 100 high hurdles (15.94).

Other sectional efforts included the following: 800 relay: Rosalie Campbell, Alex Kleczewski, Sydney Langmann and Shaylynn Mitchell, seventh (1:53.34); 1,600 relay: Ellis, Leah Wheaton, Bertietri and Gassner, fifth (4:13.18); 3,200 relay: Andrea Brown, Hannah Knapp, Sarah Ahles and Calli Lemke, sixth (10:32.36); and discus: Turner, fifth (95-6).

"It was close to what we were fully expecting," Siegert said of the sectional efforts, "... but now we want to build on this. It's not enough just to get to state. Now we have to show everyone what we can do."

Going to State in the 4x100 Relay!

WIAA D1 Sectionals
May 23, 2013
Hamilton Sussex High School

Post Race Interview

The Germantown Girls 4x100 meter relay is going to State!  They placed third at Sectionals and are currently ranked sixth in the state.  The team consists of Sammie Gassner, Erika Bethauser, Bethany Laubenheimer and Jayne Bertieri.  We knew going into the event that we were up against the two best relay teams in the state.  Click here for the video of the entire 4x100 relay.

When Jayne finished the race, she cried tears of joy.  A reporter immediately pulled her aside for an interview.  Although you cannot hear the interview, you should check out the video.  Click here.  The man with the black hat is Coach Siegert.  He admits that he does not hug his athletes, but this was the second year in a row where Jayne earned that hug. 

In addition to the 4x100 relay, Senior Jennifer Ellis qualified for State in the 300m hurdles.  Jen is an amazing hurdler and is currently ranked third in the state.  Jen was also part of the 4x400m relay with Jayne, Leah Wheaton, and Sammie Gassner.  They placed fifth in this relay, with the top three teams going to State. 

The girls will run Friday, May 31st in the afternoon at UW-LaCrosse for prelims.  Finals are Saturday, June 1st.  Good luck to our amazing girls at State! 

Qualified in Both Events - On to Sectionals

WIAA Division 1 Track & Field Regional
May 20, 2013
Watertown High School

Jayne and her teammates qualified for Sectionals, after placing second in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.  Sectionals are Thursday night in Sussex.  In team competition, Germantown ranked third overall.  Click here for a really poor video of the entire 4x100 relay.

4x100 Relay at Regionals

4x100 Meter Relay Conference Champs

North Shore Conference Meet
May 14, 2013
Germantown High School

4x100 Relay

The Germantown Girls 4x100 meter relay team continues to dominate with another first place win to become the 2013 North Shore Conference Champions!  Click here to see Jayne anchoring the relay.  In addition, Jayne has been running the third leg of the 4x400 meter relay in the last few meets, and the girls came in third place.  She also placed fifth in the 100m dash.

 

The road to State begins Monday, May 20th, with the top four places moving on to Sectionals on Thursday, May 23rd.  The top three places at Sectionals go to State on May 31st and June 1st at UW-LaCrosse.  The 4x100 is currently ranked 4th in the state - all divisions!

 



Bulldog Invitational

Bulldog Invitational True Team Meet
May 10, 2013
Cedarburg, WI



100 Meter Dash


Twelve Milwaukee area schools competed Friday night in 40 degree weather.  Jayne anchored the 4x100 relay, where they placed second.  Click here for video. The 4x100 relay remains ranked third in the state!  Jayne ran in the 4x400 relay, where Germantown placed second, and she ran the 100m dash (7th place).

Prom

Track Team Members at Prom
Alex, Jayne, Sydney, Beth, Bethany, and Leah

Article on Germantown's First Place Finish at North Shore Conference Relays

Precise Germantown girls track team gets just enough to defend NSC relays crown

Hurdle teams set two league records

By Steven L. Tietz

GermantownNow.com

May 3, 2013

Germantown girls track coach Greg Siegert was talking to one of his assistants in the days before the North Shore Conference on May 1 and he made an interesting prediction, one that would prove eerily prescient.

"I told him that I thought we'd score about 88 points," he said, "and that in the best case scenario, we'd win the meet by about four points."

He was almost dead on the mark with those contentions.

Behind two conference record setting victories by the hurdle trio of Jennifer Ellis, Sammie Gassner and Leah Wheaton, the Warhawks successfully defended their title with 87 points, to edge out league indoor champ Whitefish Bay, by - you guessed it - four points.

In a rain and cold-truncated spring, the victory was a warm zephyr of a reassuring breeze for the Warhawks, who, like everyone else at the meet, were pleased with the sunshine and the 60-plus degree temperatures at Cedarburg that day.

"It was a good feeling," Siegert said. "You got off the bus, it was a nice day. The weather had cooperated for once and what a great effort. We have such a young team across the board. They can get down so easily, but they understood that because of the way the weather has been, that their time is precious and they really took advantage of that."

"Hey, the last time we were running, it was snowing out," laughed sprint ace Jayne Bertieri.

The Warhawks now take part in the Cedarburg Invitational on Friday and look forward to hosting the North Shore Outdoor meet at 4 p.m. May 14.

Bay scored 83 points for the runner-up spot at the Relays while Cedarburg was third with 77 and Homestead fourth with 70, making certain that the outdoor meet will be a wide-open affair.

Germantown's four-point margin was not secured until the final event, the 1,600-meter relay.

"I told the kids that we had going in, that we would have to do pretty well in that race if we wanted to win (the team title)," Siegert said. "I knew Bay was going hard after that race and that we could probably do no worse than fourth if were to get it done."

And behind a veteran and somewhat tired grouping of Ellis, Wheaton, Gassner and Bertieri, the Warhawks did get it done, taking fourth in 4:21.7 as Bay won the race in 4:11.57.

Sprinters have huge day

All four of those runners had huge days, no more so than the aforementioned hurdlers.

First they knocked off 0.28 of a second off a 21-year old record in the 300 high hurdles (49.82) and then the trio were even more dominant in the 900 low hurdle relay, taking 0.3 of a second off a three-year mark, as in their separate 300 hurdle races, Ellis (48.4), Gassner (48.42) and Wheaton (50.1) swept the top three individual places.

 

Siegert felt great for Gassner, a performer who se track career has been marred by injury and bad luck, but who is finally earning all she has worked for.

 

"She really has come full circle," Siegert said. "She's really capturing what it's all about in the final portion of her senior year."

 

Bertieri understands that point, too, as she anchored the 400 relay team that included Gassner, Bethany Laubenheimer and Erika Bethhauser to a new school record and a 1.37 second victory in 50.03.

 

Bertieri has worked with Laubenheimer and Gassner for years but noted that the newcomer Bethhauser is something special.

 

"She's new, but she's so good," Bertieri said. "She's the one who's going to get us to state."

Field events score well

Behind those victories, the Warhawks took four second place finishes, all in the field events.

 

They included the high jump team of Beth Kuske, Madeline Heupel and Bethhauser (14 feet-4 inches); the long jump trio of Gassner, Bertieri and Laubenheimer (45-8 1/4 ); the triple jump team of Laubenheimer, Bethhauser and Lizzy Gilbert (95-5 1/2); and the discus crew of Katelyn Turner, Maddie Stewart and Rachel Claussen (266-5).

 

A third was taken by the shot put team of Turner, Claussen and Becky Bruenig (89-3) while fourths went to the 3,200 relay team of Andrea Brown, Hannah Knapp, Sarah Ahles and Calli Lemke (10:52.4); and the 6,400 relay unit of Julia Schroeder, Lucy Delain, Kaitlyn Ditloff and Kimmie Karin (24.58.6); and the distance medley team of Brown, Alyse Barelmann, Knapop and Lemke (14:09.16).

 

Lemke held off a Homestead runner by 0.2 of a second for fourth in the distance medley giving the Warhawks two more badly needed points.

 

Siegert said that kind of effort was key in claiming this title.

 

"This was sort of like last year," he said. "We thought we could do some things that others couldn't and it turned out pretty much like I thought. I keep a spread sheet with me all the time at meets like this with all the totals on them.

 

 "I need to know where we're at at all times (laughs)."

4 x 100 Relay Breaks School Record - Again

North Shore Conference Relays
May 1, 2013
Cedarburg High School

Germantown Wins Back to Back North Shore Conference Relays

 

Jayne Anchors Winning 4x100 Meter Relay
First Place Finish - 50.03 seconds
New School Record
Third Fastest Time in the State - All Divisions



Finally - nice weather for an all relay track meet. The Germantown girls 4x100 meter relay continues to dominate with three of the four sprinters returning from last year, with Jayne as anchor.  The relay time of 50.03 seconds became the new school record that they beat twice in 2012.  Even more exciting is that the relay clocked in with the third fastest time of all schools in Wisconsin.

Check out this video of the 4x100 finish.  Click here.

 

Jayne participated in three running and one field event.  She ran the second leg of 100m in the 800m sprint medley.  The Germantown girls were in first after Jayne ran, but they finished sixth.  She ran the second leg of the 4x400 relay.  When she received the baton, Germantown was in fifth place. By the time Jayne's lap was done, she brought them up to first place; the girls finished fourth. She also participated in the long jump relay, which earned second place.