West De Pere trio reaches state podium
Jacob Carriveau felt like he was in a slump entering his first WIAA state track and field meet.
The West De Pere junior was excited to be able to jump out of it in La Crosse.
Carriveau cleared 6 feet, 6 inches in to place fourth in the Division 1 boys field.
It matched the personal-best mark he set almost a month earlier on May 2 at the Seymour Invite.
“It feels really good because I got 6-6 at Seymour and ever since that I just went downhill,” said Carriveau, who is a ½ inch away from the school record set in 1997 by Jerimiah Janssen. “It feels that I’m going back up now again. It feels really good.”
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Carriveau wasn’t the only West De Pere junior to end their season a high note.
Tejay Evans reached the state podium with a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.97 seconds.
Evans set a personal-best time of 21.91 seconds in preliminaries, as he comes ever closer to the school-record mark of 21.84 seconds set by Zach Rothering in 2012.
“I had faith in myself that I could compete with these top guys,” Evans said. “It was not easy make it up there. I just gave it all I had, and hopefully I would get up there.”
On the girls side, Kaylee Olson placed sixth in the long jump to reach the podium for the first time in her third state appearance in the event.
Olson’s leap of 18-4 with her third jump in preliminaries earned her a medal. The mark was 2½ inches off the school-record Olson set earlier in the season.
She already has her sights set on stepping up higher on the podium for next year and making it there in multiple events.
“It was really, really amazing to get up there,” Olson said. That was the goal this year. I mean it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I could have done better, but just to be on the podium is great.”