Whitehall 800 relay team sets personal best at state
Whitehall sophomore Aiden Evans competed at his first state track meet last Friday in La Crosse as part of the Division Three 300-meter hurdles. (Times photograph by Zach Rastall)
Whitehall’s boys’ 800-meter relay team was under a half-second away from landing on the podium at this year’s state track meet. Despite the natural disappointment that comes with narrowly missing out on a medal, that group still had plenty to celebrate after setting a new personal best on the spring’s grandest stage.
The Whitehall relay quartet of senior Caydan Johnston, sophomore Devin Hutsell, sophomore Mason Przybylla and freshman Kevin Juresh set a new personal record with a time of 1:31.26, good enough for seventh in the finals of the Division 3 boys’ 800-meter relay at the 2025 WIAA State Track & Field Championships this past weekend in La Crosse.
The Norse posted a time of 1:32.41 in Friday’s prelims, leaving them with the eighth-best time in the two heats. The top 10 times among the 17 competing teams advanced to Saturday afternoon’s finals.
Whitehall shaved off over a second in the finals to bump up a spot into seventh, 46 hundredths of a second behind Marathon for sixth place and the final podium spot. Cambridge won the race with a time of 1:30.18.
Though this year’s state meet marked the end of the line for Johnston as he graduates and moves onto his next chapter, the performance last weekend only added more excitement for a relay group that was heavy on underclassmen this spring.
“Even before the race, I told them look, you’re already in finals. You’re top 10 in the state. There’s nothing to lose here and only things to gain,” said Whitehall head coach Leah Trempe. “So, I’m just proud of them and I’m proud of where they are and what they’re already doing and where they have yet to go.”
The success of Whitehall underclassmen this season was a theme reflected in the Norse’s two state qualifiers in individual events as well: sophomore Aiden Evans in the D3 boys 300-meter hurdles and freshman Bria Pank in the D3 girls’ triple jump.
Evans, who made it to Roger Harring Stadium by posting a career-best 41.73 seconds at sectionals, wound up in 14th overall in Friday’s prelims with a time of 42.53 seconds to miss the cut for the finals. Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah senior Brody Feldmann won the race and set a new state meet record with a time of 37.83 seconds. Feldmann also set new meet records while winning the 200-meter dash (21.69) and 110-meter hurdles (14.32) on Saturday.
Pank’s best leap in Friday’s triple jump was 33 feet, 7 inches to place 13th in the initial round of competition. The top 10 among the 16 competitors through three jumps continued to the final round consisting of three more jumps. Fall Creek senior Alena Sanfelippo’s leap of 37 feet, 6 inches won her the event. Sanfelippo also won the D3 girls’ pole vault for a third consecutive year.
“They’re still new to the world of track, so I’m really hoping it kind of inspires them to see this level of competition and to see how far they can really go,” Trempe said of Evans and Pank. “Even though they were here this year as freshmen and sophomores, that’s not the end. There’s still — maybe the goals just get a little loftier as they continue to go forward.”
