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SectionalsContinued from Page IBOlson said the wind made Berry adapt on the fly, and he did it better than anyone else in the field.“I could see the wind moving the standards everywhere and Vinny had one (practice) jump where he went straight up and came back down in front of where the bar would have been,” OLson said. “We knew the environment was going to be a bit of a factor, but he handled it well. Vinny’s always done a good job of making adjustments and being really mentally into what he’s doing and making changes.”NehLs was seeded sixth in the 100 based on Monday’s regional results, but with seeds three through sue separated by only 0.03 seconds, the battle for the final qualifying spot was going to be anybody’s race. Nehls made sure it was his with a strong closing 50 meters to post a personal-best time of 11.16 seconds, beating his regional time — and fourth-place Tyler Lewis of Antigo — by 0.09 seconds.“It was a tough race,” Nehls said. “It looked like good competition. More or less I got a rough start, but came back down the home stretch and managed to take third. It was a good race all-in-all.”Olson said Nehls veered to the right slightly, costing him about a foot of distance, but Nehls more than made up for it in the second half of the race.“That means we’re training him (well) and he’s got the endurance,” Olson said. “A lot of times people think someone’s speeding up at the end of the race, but a lot of times it’s people slowing down. He’s trained well enough to be there.The key is that start. It’s such a short, powerful race. That start is such a big part of that race.”Nehls nearly made it a state qualifying double, but missed twice at 6-1 in the high jump, which proved costly. He cleared the height on his third and final attempt, but missed all three attempts at 6-2 to tie for third with Marshfield’s Matt Oestreich. Oestreich won the tiebreaker for the final state qualifying spot by virtue of fewer misses in the event.“It was a tough day for high jump,” Nehls said. “I don’t have too much to say, but it was good (experience) and I’ll be back next year for sure and getting higher heights.”Nehls had a make-or-break final jump at 6-2, but barely grazed the bar with his left hip, sending it to the mat.“We want him to rotate 180 degrees and he was rotating probably 210 (or) 220 degrees and his hip was (hitting the bar),” Olson said. “Usually we have problems with his front hip hitting the bar. This time it was his trailing Wp rolling over. Just a slight technicalglitch.”Wissbroecker set a school record at 5-4 last year at state in the girls’ high jump, but could never reach that height this year. She missed all three of her attempts at five feet as her high school track career came to an end.“It’s been an up-and-down year. I talked with her and, of course, she was disappointed,” Olson said. “There’s a lot of finality to your senior year so mentally, you can have all the skills, but it’s tough to repeat performances year after year, especially when everything comes down to it like this in the spring.”Berry and Nehls will get to make the trip to La Crosse this year, the first time Rhinelander has sent multiple athletes to state in the same year since Chris Sykes and Grant Oison made the trip in 2010.“That was one of my main goals this year, so it’s pretty good,” Berry said of making it to state. “I’ve just got to go there and bring my ‘A’ game. It will be fun. I don’t think I’ll be that nervous because that was my main goal this year. I was more worried about getting there. Now I’m there and I’ve just got to have fun with it.”“I’m really excited,” Nehls said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been to state. I think there’s going to be some really tough competition, but I think I’ll put up a decent fight against them.”Nehls will get the first taste of state competition. Preliminaries in the 100 will take place May 31 in the 4:3u p.m. session. Berry will get his shot at pole vault June 1 at 10:30 a.m.Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@rivernewsonline.com.
Newspaper Details
The Northwoods River News
Rhinelander, Wisconsin, US
Sat, May 25, 2013
Page 14
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USA 14 Dec 2022
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