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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – When Marshfield senior Melissa May went to bed last Thursday after competing at the sectional track meet in Rice Lake, she thought her high school athletic career was over.
Friday morning she woke up, and all of that changed.
May will be among the nine Marshfield athletes competing in 11 events at the 2013 WIAA State Track and Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday and Saturday.
May had a shot put throw of 38 feet, 4¼ inches, placing fourth at the sectional. The top three automatically qualified for the state meet. However, those that finish in the top eight in each event statewide but didn’t finish in the top three at their sectional earn a spot of state as an extra qualifier.
“I didn’t think I was going, it was crazy,” May said. “My mom is my biggest fan. She was up early Friday morning getting all the stats. She woke me up and told me I was going to state. It was amazing.”
May is seeded eighth in the field of 25. She tossed a school record 41-1 ¼ at the Wisconsin Dells Invite earlier this season and said she is gunning to break that record again.
“A P.R. (personal record) would be absolutely amazing,” May said. “I haven’t been back up to 40 (feet) since I broke it. A P.R. would definitely put me on the podium (top six finish), I think.”
May will be joined by two other members of the Marshfield girls team – Yasmeena Ougayour in the discus and Martha Kupfer in the 200 meters. All three are going to state for the first time in their careers.
Ougayour is seeded 18th in the Division 1 discus and is confident she can move up the rankings at state.
“I am up against a lot of people,” Ougayour, a junior, said. “At conference I got second, regionals I got third and third again at sectionals. I just need to throw my best.”
Kupfer, a sophomore, said her confidence grew as the season wore on.
“I knew I could run,” Kupfer said. “A lot of people thought it was possible for me to go to state. I didn’t believe it myself, but the closer I got (to state), the faster I got.”
Junior Keiron Howlett is one of six Marshfield boys going to state. Having competed in seven events over the past two years, Howlett again qualified for state in four events.
Howlett earned a sixth-place medal in the long jump last year at state, and again it is his strongest event this season. Howlett is seeded third in the long jump and seventh in the triple jump. He also will compete in the 200 meters and is part of the 400-meter relay team, along with Riley Gebelein, Olin Boson and Ryan Trierweiler.
“I am hoping to place in the three (individual) events,” Howlett said. “I am working hard for that.”
Howlett will be joined by Matt Oestreich in the long jump and triple jump. Oestreich is seeded right behind Howlett in the triple jump at No. 8. He also will compete in the high jump.
Oestreich said he and Howlett, competing in the same events throughout the season, tend to feed off each other.
“He (Howlett) usually gets the first jump and it’s pretty good, so I just try and match it,” Oestreich said. “You just try to get really excited and have a good stretch and warmup and I should do fine.”
Nolan Redetzke also will be competing in the 3,200 meters on Friday for the Tigers, coming in ranked 17th out of the 27 competitors.
The 400 relay team is seeded 20th out of the 24 teams, however, its sectional time of 43.81 seconds is less than a second (42.89) off of the top time set by Appleton North.
The Division 1 competition begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday and continues at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.