Motivated Richter races to 800-meter state championship
WIAA DIV. 2 STATE TRACK & FIELD
Meredith Richter’s upset win in the girls 800-meter run at the May 22 WIAA Division 2 Colby regional certainly drew people’s attention.
Her win Friday proved it was no fluke. Seeded eighth based on sectional times going into Friday’s state championship 800-meter race at UW-La Crosse, the Medford junior pushed herself toward the front of the pack in the first lap of the 10-runner second heat. It appeared in the second lap that it was going to be a battle in the last 200 meters between Richter and her good friend and rival Nora Gremban of Northland Pines for the gold.
But that battle didn’t materialize as Richter’s kick coming out of the last turn pushed her out in front where she was not going to be caught.
Breaking her own school record from that regional meet with a time of 2:14.08, Richter went from underdog to a WIAA state track and field champion, Medford’s first since the 800-meter relay team of 2004. Wendy Roberts is the program’s only other girls state champion, winning Division 1 high jump titles in back-toback years of 1999 and 2000.
“I was just hoping for the podium,” said Richter, who won the sixth-place medal at state a year ago in the 800. “I saw the D3 times and I was like, they were cooking. The sixth-place time was my PR. I don’t know, the mile kind of set me off in a different mindset where I said I didn’t want to go back there. I just tried to stay positive and it worked out well.”
As Richter said, the 800-meter run was her second race of the day Friday. She placed 10th in the morning 1,600-meter run at 5:12.62, also breaking her own school record of 5:14.4 and taking a nice jump from her 14th seed. But, like most of the intense competitors you’ll find at the state meet, that wasn’t good enough for Richter. “I was pretty fired up after the mile,” Richter said. “It did not go how I wanted it to. So, coach (Shawn Sullivan) was like, ‘you run well when you’re mad, use that energy,’ so I did.”
After getting into some air conditioning on an 88-degree day, a one-hour nap and spending some time with Gremban, Richter said she felt re-energized for the afternoon 800-meter race.
In the six-runner first heat, Grafton freshman Claire Wille had the top time of 2:20.98, which seven of the runners in heat two beat.
The first key for Richter was being able to avoid the early congestion coming out of the eighth lane. She nudged past Brodhead-Juda’s Kalena Riemer to
Medford’s boys 3,200-meter team sets school record, earns 6th-place state medal. See page 7.
get into second place and finished the first lap in 1:06.56, just behind Freedom’s Claire Helmila (1:06.49).
“At the 100, where we could cut in, I expected Rachel (Ulrich of Osceola) and Nora to be up there because they were supposed to be, but they got boxed in,” Richter said. “I was like, ‘this doesn’t happen.’ So I just kind of bumped myself up and was thinking you can stay here. I felt good.”
Gremban was also moving up by the midway point and hit it in third place at 1:06.75. With 200 meters to go, it was Gremban, the two-time defending state champion in the event, and Richter out in front with Richter holding the inside position.
“Nora and I fought a little bit at that last corner,” Richter said. “I was like, ‘I got this, I got this, I’m kicking.’ I just kind of pulled ahead.”
Ulrich wound up finishing second at 2:15.64 and Helmila took third in 2:16.24. Gremban surprisingly faded to sixth at 2:18.16 behind Riemer (2:16.89) and Sophie Yetter of Winneconne (2:17.31) and she withdrew from the 3,200-meter run on Saturday. Gremban handily won the 1,600-meter championship Friday morning in 4:53.3, beating Mikaela Helling of Two Rivers by 4.12 seconds.
With both Gremban and Richter being juniors, there should be more good races ahead in Great Northern Conference and post-season competition next year.
“At regionals I beat her and it was the first time,” Richter said. “I felt like that’s not my place, I’m sorry, that’s where you’re supposed to be. We’re really good friends. She’s super sweet and understanding. I know she’s happy for me. I’m really happy for her. But when we got down to that last corner, we were like, this is a race, we were hitting each other, but it’s all fun and games because we’re really close.”
Richter finished her state competition on Saturday afternoon with a 10th-place finish in the 3,200-meter run. In the midafternoon heat of a 91-degree day, times were slower for several runners than their qualifying times from their May 25 sectionals, but not for those at the top. Richter finished in 11:50.17. Helling won it in 10:59.57, while Appleton Xavier’s Lilie Fouts took second in 11:07.31, cutting nearly eight seconds from her sectional time, and Barron’s Fran Peterson was third in 11:09.11, cutting almost 15 seconds from her sectional time. Also earning medals were fourth-place finisher Faith Wehrman of New Berlin Eisenhower (11:15.46), fifth-place finisher Sophie Yetter of Winneconne (11:21.53), who was almost 18 seconds faster than she was at her sectional, and Bella Grenier from the University School of Milwaukee (11:26.36).
Richter’s 800-meter win gave Medford 10 points in the team competition, good for a 23rd-place tie with Arcadia and GNC rival Antigo, who got a long jump championship from MacKenzie Wissbroecker (18 feet, 4.5 inches).
“(Hard work) really does pay off,” Richter said of her 800 title. “I didn’t expect it to pay off this well. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than this. At sixth place, I would’ve been the happiest girl in the world, but this is crazy. I don’t even know what to think right now. I’m still processing it.”
Medford’s Meredith Richter is a stride ahead of Dodgeville-Mineral Point’s Ellie Robinson and Peshtigo’s Rachel Nelson during the WIAA Division 2 girls 1,600-meter championship race Friday morning.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
