Posted: June 1, 2010 |(0) Comments

Whitefish Bay's Megan Palmer and Germantown's Liz Wendt are senior middle-distance runners who have enough credentials to demand statewide respect just by stepping on the track - and who have enough medals to crowd an overloaded trophy case.

So, it was no surprise that at the end of a stellar 1,600 relay race at Homestead's WIAA track sectional on May 27 - the last event of the evening - the two took the batons to anchor their respective teams just millimeters apart.

And that's where the pair finished up, with two-time state runner-up Wendt leading the Warhawks to victory in a school record 4:00.24 and the 2008 state 800 champ Palmer and Bay hardly a step behind her in 4:00.25. The two teams will be the second and third seeds, respectively, in the WIAA State Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday in La Crosse.

"I saw Bay coming and then I saw how close they were," Wendt said. "Then I saw Megan and that caught me a little by surprise."

But for Palmer, who also finished second in the open 1,600 (5:06.18), it was no surprise, it was just a matter of finishing a job that fell a little short of completion last season. She remembered that Bay's 1,600 relay team from 2009, anchored by all-time Blue Dukes sprint great Becca Schmidt, missed state by mere fractions of a second.

"It was hard last year not going," she said, "and we know it's really fun to be going as part of a relay team. Today, we just went out there with nothing to lose. We all just raced for each other."

Palmer, who is making her fourth straight trip to state, got help from Mady Vicker, Ally Spiroff and Kenzie Vicker.

State events at Memorial Stadium in La Crosse get under way at 9:30 a.m. Friday with all trials and some finals, while the remainder of the trials will be held on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

The relay effort highlighted a stellar day at sectionals for the Blue Dukes, as Bay finished fifth in the team standings with 48 points. The Blue Dukes also advanced Frankie Carroll in the high jump (second, 5-2) and Camille Schwartz in the pole vault (fourth, 10-6), who earned a spot as an extra qualifier.

But the highlight was that final relay, a race in which seven teams came in from the regionals all within three seconds of each other. The intensity of the event is mirrored in the state heat sheets, as Germantown and Bay lead a cadre of seven qualifying quartets all within three-quarters of a second of each other.

Event leader Bradley Tech has more than two seconds on that group.

The Warhawks and the Blue Dukes had heroes in that race. Bay's was Spiroff, whose breathtaking second leg put the Blue Dukes solidly in the hunt for state qualifying.

"I just felt good," she said. "I really wanted to do it for the team."

Because there's a chance that she and the remaining runners on the two relays will be called upon to do it again next week in La Crosse - this time with state medals on the line.

"There's always room for improvement," Wendt said. "We can run faster than that."

"We'll get them next week," chuckled Bay coach Ben Van Male.