Sports Editor

Last year, Tomah’s Emily Haines was second at the WIAA state track & field meet.

This year, Haines won the meet that coaches describe as the state indoor championship.

Haines uncorked a triple jump of 36 feet, 8 inches to win the Wisconsin Track & Field Association Indoor Championships Saturday at UW-Whitewater.

Haines, a sophomore, edged Shalesa Smith of Milwaukee King by 1 1/2 inches. Less than two feet separated first from ninth place.

Thanks to Haines’ 10 points, Tomah finished 15th out of 43 schools.

Derek Storkel was Tomah’s only other placewinner. He was fourth in the boys 1600-meter run, four seconds behind winner Jack Hackett of Port Washington. His time was 4 minutes, 23.2 seconds.

Tomah went outdoors for the first time Tuesday at the Mississippi Valley/Coulee Conference Invitational Tuesday at Holmen High School.

Both the boys and girls finished fifth out of 10 teams. Every Coulee Conference team except Black River Falls and Westby and every MVC team except Sparta and La Crosse Logan sent athletes to the meet.

Rainy weather kept the boys pole vault and girls discus from being completed.

Tomah’s only first-place finisher for either the boys or girls was Storkel, who swept the two longest boys distance races.

Storkel was pushed by a pair of La Crosse Central runners in the 1600-meter run but still won by nearly three seconds over Mitch Wilson and five seconds over William Krumbach. Storkel’s winning time was 4:35.6 seconds.

Storkel won a more comfortable victory in the 3200 with a time of 10:10.85. Krumbach was second in 10:21.73.

Tomah’s other main source of points came in the shot put, where Tyler Butzler and Kyle Price put together a two-three finish. Butzler was second with a toss of 45 feet, 8 1/2 inches, while Price was third at 41-9. Butzler also finished fifth in the discus (114-6), which meant that Storkel, Butzler and Price accounted for 38 of Tomah’s 63.5 team points.

Other placewinners for the boys:

Second - 400 relay, :47.15.

Fifth - Joel Sweeney, 100, :12.08.

Sixth - 3200 relay, 9:19.54.

Seventh - Auggie Moser, 200, :24.53; 800 relay, 1:47.01; Alex Marten, high jump, 5-6

Eighth - Zurik Adler, 800, 2:18.98; Matt Ferry, high jump, 5-4.

Team scores: La Crosse Central 134, Gale-Ettrick -Trempealeau 111, Arcadia 110, Holmen 104.5, Tomah 63.5, West Salem 55, Viroqua 35, Onalaska 33, Onalaska Luther 10, La Crosse Aquinas 5.

The best finishers for Tomah’s girls were Abby Schonoover in the high jump (4-10) and Melissa Moravec in the long jump (16-0). Both finished second.

Tomah’s other placewinners:

Second - 400 relay, :53.35.

Fourth - Moravec, 100, :13.53; Samantha Hartshorn, high jump, 4-6; Angelia Larson, pole vault, 7-0; Moravec, long jump, 31-11.

Fifth - Haleigh Flottmeyer, 3200, 13:39.05; 3200 relay, 11:12.24; Emily Haines, long jump, 14-4.

Sixth - Shelby Hoeft, 800, 2:45.85; Flottmeyer, 1600, 6:07.83.

Seventh - Lauren Patterson, 100 hurdles, :18.16.

Team scores: Holmen 158, Arcadia 98, La Crosse Central 85, West Salem 76, Tomah 62, Viroqua 61.5, Onalaska Luther 54, Onalaska 26, La Crosse Aquinas 22, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau 18.5.