Bay Recap: West De Pere sweeps team titles for fourth straight year

APPLETON – It was a fun day.

Those were the words of West De Pere track and field coach Craig Zellner at the conclusion of the Bay Conference championships May 12 at Appleton Xavier.

Zellner had just been splashed with water from an orange Gatorade bucket after it was announced the Phantoms had swept both team titles at the Bay meet for a fourth straight year.

The West De Pere boys won the team title by topping New London 185.5-146, while the girls held off host Xavier 186-178.

“We run with heart, we run with passion and we got a lot of guts,” Zellner said. “That’s what we did today.”

The West De Pere girls team won its fourth consecutive title by sweeping the four relays, including the 1,600, which saw anchor Kaitlyn Wall pass an Xavier runner on the last lap to win the race by four tenths of a second with a time of 4 minutes, 32 seconds.

“She’s battling a knee and ankle issue,” Zellner said of Wall, who was joined by Kaylee Kowalczyk, Sami Turriff and Kelsey Weyenberg on the relay. “For her to come here today and anchor that last one was awesome. That’s the type of kid she is. She’s a hard worker and has the right attitude. She has that take your lunch pale and hardhat and let’s go to work mentality.”

It was the third straight year the Phantoms won the girls 1,600 and 3,200 relays.

While its girls team didn’t claim any individual titles, West De Pere got runner-up finishes from senior Haley Teske (shot put), freshman Kaylee Kowalczyk (300 hurdles), freshman Addison Sanders (triple jump), senior Sam Carriveau (200) and sophomore Kaylee Olson (100).

Seniors Caroline Kandravi and Camille Billie also scored points in multiple events.

“We had 21 girls,” Zellner said. “We had 28 entrees, and everybody had to score and everybody had to step up.”

The West De Pere boys won eight of 12 running events and nearly swept the six open runs with brothers Tejay and Jermaine Evans putting together dominating performances.

Jermaine, a junior, posted wins in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, while his younger brother, Tejay, a freshman, recorded victories in the 200 and 400 in addition to placing third in the 100.

“(Jermaine’s) a guy where you tell him to do it, he does it,” Zellner said.

“(Tejay) loves that 100, but he’s starting to run better in that 400. We said, ‘That’s your race.’ He’s another hard-working kid with a great attitude. He’s a fun guy to work with. This whole team is fun.”

Senior Brandon Buck picked up the Phantoms’ other win in an individual event with a time of 16.13 in the 110 hurdles. West De Pere’s other victories came in the 1,600 and 3,200 relays.

Seniors Emmit Herrscher and Tony Vandenberg scored points in multiple individuals events. Herrscher was the runner-up in the 300 hurdles.

“Tony is fighting an injury, but he was a warrior today,” Zellner said. “He was tough. He did everything we asked him to and more today.”

G.B. West crowns two champions

Madeleine Steber wasn’t going to be denied this year.

After finishing as the runner-up last year, the Green Bay West senior won the girls 300 hurdles with a time of 48.77 seconds, which was almost 4 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Steber, who was a second-team all-conference player in tennis, will compete in track and field at Wisconsin Lutheran College.

But before then she hopes to break the Wildcats’ school record in the 300 hurdles and make a run at state.

“It feels nice,” Steber said about the Bay title. “I trained all offseason, so the hard work pays off.”

Meanwhile, Green Bay West sophomore Jason Wright won the boys shot put title.

Wright leads the Green Bay area with a personal-best throw of 55 feet, 9 inches this season.

Look for a feature on Wright later this week on PrepsAgenda.com.

Repeats and records

Jamyle Brantley put together some impressive marks at the jumping pits during the Bay Conference meet.

The Green Bay East senior won both the boys long and triple jump.

Brantley won the long jump with a mark of 22-5½ to break a 15-year-old Bay Conference record, while he repeated as the triple jump champion.

Meanwhile, Seymour senior Lauren Rottier repeated as the girls high jump champion.

It’s Rottier’s fourth individual conference title of her career. She also won the 300 hurdles in 2016 and the pole vault in 2017.

Seymour junior Erin Schuh took home the girls pole vault this year, while Seymour senior Helena Jefferson won the girls triple jump following a runner-up finish last season.

Click here for a full listing of results from the Bay Conference championship meet.

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