Local athletes have strong showing at state track meet
Hornet senior Lucius Cooley (left) battles Iola-Scandinavia sophomore Jensen Rice (right) in the finals of the Boys D3 110 Meter Hurdles race in the rain on Saturday morning. Rice would hold off Cooley for first. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
PdC junior Blake Thiry broke his own school record in the Triple Jump with a jump of 45 feet and 10.25 inches to place fourth in D2. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Prairie du Chien’s Tannah Radloff ended her junior season with a thirteenth place finish in the Girls D2 300 Meter Hurdles Race. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Wauzeka-Steuben’s Cooley (middle) and Seneca’s Tucker Stluka (right) both competed in the Boys D3 300 Meter Hurdles preliminary race last Friday evening. Cooley was first while Stluka placed sixteenth. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
River Ridge’s Shayna Graf competed in the Girls D3 Shot Put event last Friday evening. (A.J. Gates/Grant County Herald Independent)
Lucius Cooley clears a hurdle as he works to hold off his competition in the finals of the Boys D3 300 Meter Hurdles race. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Cooley concluded a terrific high school career for the Hornets on top of the podium at the state track meet as state champion. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Blake Thiry works to keep up with Appleton Xavier senior Ben Olvey during the finals of the Boys D2 110 Meter Hurdles race. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Olvey was first in a time of 14.89 seconds while Martin Luther’s Rylee Wendt (not pictured) placed second in 14.90 seconds with Thiry third in 14.93 seconds. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Seneca’s Tucker Stluka tries to catch Unity’s Holden Erickson late in the Boys D3 300 Meter Hurdles race. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Shayna Graf begins her Discus throw routine Saturday. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Prairie du Chien junior Tannah Radloff nears one of the final hurdles of the Girls D2 300 Meter Hurdles race Friday night. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
The scoreboard showing the times of the Boys D3 300 Meter Hurdles race won by Wauzeka-Steuben's Lucius Cooley. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Cooley gets ready for his next high jump attempt despite the rain Saturday morning. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Wauzeka's Lucius Cooley placed sixth in the Boys D3 Long Jump competition. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
This is how close the finish of the Boys D2 110 Meter Hurdles race was between Martin Luther’s Rylee Wendt (top, 2nd), Appleton XavierBen Olvey (middle, 1st), and Prairie du Chien's Blake Thiry (bottom, 3rd). (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
The Hawks' Thiry tries to gain ground on sectional rivals from Sugar River and Lodi during the finals of the Boys D2 300 Meter Hurdles. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Beloit Turner's Elijah Terrell watches Prairie's Blake Thiry jump during the Boys D2 Triple Jump event. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Thiry lands in the sand during one of his Long Jump attempts. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
By Derick Kelly
Wauzeka-Steuben senior Lucius Cooley capped off an impressive high school career on Saturday by winning the Boys D3 300 Meter High Hurdles race in 39.44 seconds. He claimed his first career WIAA State Championship.
Cooley’s state championship is the first by a Hornet athlete since Gavin Ralph (Boys D3 High Jump) in 2021.
Cooley also finished runner-up in the 110 Meter Hurdles (14.73 seconds) and High Jump (6-03 feet) events while also placing sixth in the Long Jump (20-05.25 feet). Cooley ended his high school career as an 11-time state qualifier for Wauzeka-Steuben, including all four years in the 110 and 300 Meter Hurdles races. He won eight medals during those 11 events.
Prairie du Chien’s Blake Thiry concluded his junior season by becoming just the second ever PdC Boys Trackster to place in the top five in four different events at one state track meet.
Thiry placed third in the D2 110 Meter Hurdles race in 14.93 seconds, fourth in the Triple Jump in 45 feet, 10.25 inches (breaking his own school record) and fifth in both the 300 Meter Hurdles race (40.30 seconds) and the Long Jump (21 feet and 8.50 inches). The D2 state record in the Long Jump was broken by the first and second place finishers.
The previous Hawk to do so was Babe Graap in 1937 in the 100 Yard Dash (fourth), 220 Yard Dash (third), 880 Yard Relay (fourth) and High Jump (second). Thiry is the first to accomplish the feat for Prairie in four individual events.
PdC junior Tannah Radloff earned a 13th place finish in the girls 300 Meter Hurdles during in Friday night’s preliminary race (48.79 seconds).
River Ridge senior Shayna Graf placed 10th in the Girls D3 Discus (108 feet, 6 inches) and 13th in the Girls D3 Shot Put event (34 feet, 2.50 inches).
Seneca junior Tucker Stluka placed 16th in the Boys D3 300 Meter Hurdles race in a time of 44.05 seconds.
Thanks to the eight combined medals won by Cooley and Thiry, both schools placed high in the team standings. The Hornets placed fourth in the Boys D3 race with 29 points while Thiry scored 19 points to lead the Hawks to a thirteenth place finish in the Boys D2 team race.
