Witt-Birn track and field team ready to get season started

Boys, girls teams both return talented athletes
By: 
Morgan Rode
Sports Editor

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School track and field team is eager to get back to competing after having its 2020 season wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic.

The last time the Chargers competed in 2019, several individuals qualified for sectionals. While the team has a couple of those athletes back, coach Mike Balliett is more concerned about how the athletes respond after a lost season.

“I think the biggest thing will be the experience that all of the athletes lost last year,” said Balliett. “A lot of the events, especially the field events, see incremental improvements from year to year. Will the athletes be able to overcome the loss of last season and this year’s indoor season?”

Senior Emma Herb and junior Jalynn Horacek are the 2019 sectional qualifiers back on this spring’s girls roster.

Herb qualified for sectionals in discus, while Horacek was a competitor in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles. Herb will again serve as a thrower this year, while Horacek competes in hurdles and jumps.

Herb was the team’s only athlete to earn a first-place finish at the 2019 Central Wisconsin Conference-Large Division Meet, doing so in discus.

Balliett doesn’t believe that the boys or girls team will be able to compete for conference titles with limited roster numbers. He also isn’t sure what teams will finish atop the conference after having a year off.

Senior Tommy Bruski will help lead the boys long-distance runners after a strong cross-country season this past fall. Junior Ruby Nowinsky will guide the girls long-distance runners.

“As a senior this year, I want to lead our team in long-distance running, including the mile and two-mile,” said Bruski.

“I think that now, as an upperclassman, I can help my teammates by leading and setting an example for always giving your all at practice and working hard,” said Nowinsky. “Also, I think that just being a kind and welcoming teammate, who is always ready to help or explain, makes it better for the new athletes as they join and become more familiar with the team.”

Junior Simon Schairer also has varsity experience. He will compete in jumps and serve as a intermediate-distance runner.

Making their varsity debuts this spring will be sophomores Craig Wendel, Reese Rogowski and Allison Linke.

Wendel is a long-distance runner. Linke and Rogowski are both sprinters, while Rogowski will also compete in some intermediate-distance events.

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