Denmark’s Kralovetz runs down runner-up finishes
Leah Kralovetz didn’t think this would happen.
After all, the Denmark junior was preparing to play soccer again just a few months ago.
“It was kind of a last-minute decision to do track,” she said.
After deciding to go out for track & field a week before the season, Kralovetz found herself near the top of the podium twice at the WIAA state track & field meet last weekend.
Kralovetz finished as the Division 2 state runner-up in the girls 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I just really wanted to stay with who was ever in the lead.”
Article: Denmark’s Kralovetz on a dominating run
Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau junior Dana Feyen was the D2 winner in the girls 1,600 (5 minutes, 0.20 seconds) and 3,200 (10:36.06) with some incredible times.
Kralovetz, however, recorded some amazing times of her own in her first full year of track & field.
She reset her school record in the 3,200 with a time of 10:53.55 last Friday and broke the Denmark school record in the 1,600 with a time of 5:01.04.
Kralovetz held the second position for a majority of the 3,200, but came up with a strong finishing kick in the final 200 meters of the 1,600 in order to move into second place and gain significant ground on Feyen at the end.
“Dana, she is a phenomenal runner,” Kralovetz said. “It was really cool to run against someone that can push me to do my best.”
What Kralovetz did this year was shatter Denmark’s school record in the 3,200 on multiple occasions. The previous record was 12:08.13 set by Shannon Nemetz in 2008.
At state, Kralovetz broke Nemetz’s school record in the 1,600 of 5:07.87.
Kralovetz’s times in the 1,600 and 3,200 rank sixth and fourth, respectively, on the Wisconsin Track Online’s state honor roll for the season.
“She handles that pretty well,” Denmark distance coach Terry Wetzel said about Kralovetz’s performance on the state stage. “She gets what I would call a healthy level of nervousness.”
Kralovetz’s pair of state runner-up finishes in track comes on the heels of placing fifth in D2 at the state cross-country meet in the fall.
“It has been really fun,” Kralovetz said. “Everyone is here supporting me. There is not really words to describe it. It has been a good year.”
Wyatt Gezella also had a pretty good couple of days at the WIAA state track & field meet to cap an excellent career.
The Denmark senior recorded a time of 49.98 seconds to place fifth for the second straight year in the D2 boys 400.
Gezella, who broke a school record with a time of 49.38 seconds in state preliminaries last year, achieved a season-best time of 49.87 seconds at the Freedom sectional to advance to state for a third time.
He had been to state as a sophomore as a leg on the 1,600 relay and also reached the podium as a member of the 800 relay, which placed fifth last year.
Gezella’s final high school race was against Rice Lake senior Kenneth Bednarek, who broke three D2 state records this year, including a blistering time of 46.73 seconds in the 400.
“It’s crazy,” Gezella said.
“I was a lot less nervous. It seemed like this was my last race and I’m going to give it all I got. I have nothing to prove to anybody anymore.”
Denmark sophomore Seth Alexander also finished 11th in the D2 boys long jump with a mark of 20 feet, 3 ½ inches in his first state appearance.
Alexander won the North Eastern Conference title in the triple jump this year and broke the school record in the long jump on May 1 at the Fox Valley Lutheran Quad with a leap of 20-10 to break the previous record of 20-7, which was set by his older brother, Sawyer, in 2016.
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