Winnebago boys become state track champions

    The IHSA State Track Championship was held May 23-25, and the Winnebago boys became champs!

    Coach Janet Erd reflected on the day with this: “We started the day with our 4×800, all running a PR, and finishing fifth – only to find out they were disqualified for spiking the baton. We had to pick ourselves up and continue to compete. Blake Inglima finished 17th in the pole vault and it was a great experience to make finals. Our 4×100 Relay of Brandon Wiggan, Supreme Muhammad, Mitchel Cunningham and Eden Trotter-Krahn nearly dropped the baton but recovered for second (where we were ranked second after running our school records in prelims) and earning us our first eight points. Brandon Wiggan moved up in the triple jump to get us another six points and a fourth place finish. Up next was Nicolai Martinio in the 3200, who ran a perfect race to finish third and a PR along with seven more points. Supreme Muhammad then had a rougher start in the 100 – battling the cicadas at the start – but finished strong to win at the line for his first state title of the day and 10 points. After a short break, the same relay team of Wiggan, Cunningham, Trotter-Krahm and Muhammad broke the school record and finished second in the 4×200 and earned another eight points. From there, we needed some help. We were down two points going into the 1600 and the team in the lead had the top two seeds, but Martinio ran the smartest race and finished second, and those two boys went third and fourth. Giving us new hope as we were down seven with one runner for us left – Muhammad in the 200 the other team was out of events. He ran to his second state title of the day to win the 200 and guarantee our first ever State Championship Boys Team in track and field.”

    The team achieved:

    • 6 school records (4 at the State Meet)

    • 2 first place finishes

    • 3 second place finishes

    • 1 third place finish

    • 1 fourth place All-State performance

    • 1 Sectional Team Championship

    • 1 State Team Championship