Coach Siegert Talks About Jayne

Germantown Girls Track Banquet
May 21, 2013

Coach Siegert talked about Jayne's accomplishments at the Track Banquet, including multiple school records and her volunteer work with the special education gym class this year.  Jayne is the only student that has volunteered as a Teacher's Assistant to work with special education students.  I videotaped Coach with his 1 1/2 minute speach, but someone grabbed the camera from me so you won't see a great video.  However, if you have a couple of minutes, listen to Coach.  It makes me proud!  Click here for the video.

Article on State

Germantown Girls Track

June 4, 2013
GermantownNow.com

It was a very disappointing end for a fine career for Warhawks 300-meter hurdler Jennifer Ellis at the WIAA State Meet in La Crosse on Saturday, when Ellis, in position to earn a coveted top six medal, hit the last hurdle just 10 meters from the finish line and crashed to the track, eventually finishing 10th in a time of 48.67.

Ellis, who had qualified third for the finals with a time of 45.87 in the trials on Friday, is the Germantown school record-holder in the event and was the leader of the greatest group of hurdlers in girls' school history. That trio included Sammie Gassner and Leah Wheaton.

Milwaukee Riverside's Valerie Thames wound up setting a new state record in the event at 43.04.

It was an otherwise positive experience for the Warhawks at state, as the 400 relay team that included Gassner, Erika Bethhauser, Bethany Laubenheimer and Jayne Bertieri just missed out on the finals in Friday's trials, taking 11th of 24 teams in the field with an excellent time of 50.11.

La Crosse Logan nicked the Warhawks for the 10th and final finals spot by just 0.02 of a second.

State Results

WIAA State Track & Field Meet
May 31, 2013
LaCrosse, Wisconsin

The Germantown Girls 4x100 Meter Relay placed 11th at the State track meet.  We had hoped to go to Finals this year as one of the top ten relays, but we missed our spot by 2/100ths of a second.  Click here to view the video of the relay.

They were in fourth place of their heat when Jayne received the baton, and she brought them up to third in their heat.  The girls did a great job. Jayne said that she wasn't too unhappy because she knew that they ran their best and had perfect hand offs in each leg of the relay. 

Since we had two seniors on the relay, next year Jayne will be the only senior and will be integral in rebuilding a new team. 

On to summer track.  I will post the schedule in the next couple of weeks.  Jayne wants to run the 100 and 400 meter dashes this summer, rather than the 100 and 200.  She realizes that college coaches are looking for versatility, and the 400 will be a great race for her to work on over the summer.

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