By Rob Whitmire

Long hours of training, starting back in March, culminated in a number of strong performances to cap off the 2016 season at the WIAA State Track and Field Championships held Friday and Saturday at Veterans Stadium on the UW-LaCrosse Campus.

Stevens Points’s Autum Shurbert-Hetzel runs in girls Division 1 800 meters at the 2016 WIAA State Track & Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on June 4. She finished 10th overall with a time of 2:17.43. (City Times photo)

The SPASH girls track team was led by the 4 x 800 meter relay (Autum Shurbert-Hetzel, Grace Belson, Mya Zajakowski, Abigail Hyland) which posted a seventh place finish at 9:30.55. Shurbert-Hetzel also took 10th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.43. Hyland posted a time of 2:18.09, good for 12th place.

Sam Danzcyk led the throwers with a ninth place finish in the shot put (39-0) and 13th place in the discus (166-04). Taylor Louis took 22nd in the shot put with a toss of 33-1.75.

Tatum Houlihan, competing in the long and triple jumps, took ninth in the triple (36-06.75) and 18th in the long jump at 16-7.5. The girls finished the meet at 50th place with two team points scored.

Top finisher for the Panther boys was Liam Belson who scored a third place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:55.41. Belson also anchored the fifth place 1600-meter relay team, which included Colton Kizewski, Chase Franz, Nolan Metz and Belson, who crossed the finish line at 3:19.70 — and the 3200-meter relay team, with Mark Stoskopf, Chad Franz, Matt Altmann and Belson. The 3200-meter relay team finished 19th in a time of 8:09.69.

Other finishers for the Panthers included Tyler Patoka who took seventh place in the 300-meter hurdles at 1:39.85, the 800-meter relay team; Patoka, Nolan Metz, Jacob Bielke and Colton Kizewski with a time of 1:28.40 and Alex Scott who took 16th place in the shot put with a toss of 50-07.0.

Stevens Point’s Sam Danczyk competes in the girls Division 1 shot put at the 2016 WIAA State Track & Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on June 4. Her best throw was 39 feet, and she finished ninth overall. (City Times photo)

The boys team finished the meet in 15th place with 15 points.

Both teams capped off a successful season which included Wisconsin Valley Conference Indoor, Outdoor and Relays championships.

The Pacelli Boys 3200-meter relay team, Jake Elliott, Hayden Jurgella, Andrew Blancker and Thomas Basala finished finished in the Division 3 Championships. Basala also crossed the finish line at 10:25.59 to finish 16th in the 3200-meter run.