It was another successful year at the 2026 WIAA State Track and Field Championships in La Crosse this past weekend, where more than a handful of area athletes went to compete against the best of the best in D2 and D3 competition.

Northland Pines pole vault athlete Mason Minaudo podiumed in the D2 pole vault competition on Friday afternoon, where he tied for fourth place by clearing 13’6”.

The girls’ 400m relay team also hit the podium, becoming the sixth fastest 400m relay team around the state in D2.

For Three Lakes, junior Nolan Waltz finished eighth in the 3200m run Saturday morning and completed only one lap in the 1600m run later in the day in D3 competition. Fellow junior Zach Weavers placed 11th in D3 shot put to round out his junior season.

State bound, podium found

Northland Pines had a big afternoon on the opening day of festivities at the State track meet last Friday.

While the sun peeked in and out of the clouds with temperatures in the 80s, Minaudo opened the afternoon with his fourth-place finish in the pole vault. He cleared the first three heights of 12’6”, 13’ and 13’6”.

“Mason did a great job getting over his initial heights with zero misses, and that made a huge difference in his final standings,” stated Head Coach Josh Rhode.

Minaudo was one of five athletes who couldn’t clear 14’, but with no misses in his first three vaults, he ultimately put himself ahead of those other competitors due to them having at least one miss on the first three heights.

“Couldn’t have asked for more, really. Vaulted good, felt amazing, just had one bad vault on 14 and kind of just messed up my rhythm,” stated Minaudo directly after being announced on the podium. “But not mad about fourth place at all, happy to be here.

The Pines senior didn’t want to think about it too much, which is a mindset he has taken to all season long.

“Just not getting in my head, not worrying about my steps or my plant. Just doing what I’ve done all season and just getting over the bar,” he stated.
After he completed the pole vault, the 400m relay team of Ava Carrillo, Ella Hahn, Avery Renkes and Adelyn Thompson ran in the preliminary round of the D2 4x100 race with 16 other schools. The foursome smashed the school record time in the prelims race and finished with the seventh-best time in the event and finished fourth in their heat at 49.40.

That moved them to Saturday’s final, where the team used their exchanges to finish sixth and get on the podium.

“After taking seventh overall in the prelims and smashing the school record, they set a goal to get on the podium. Their exchanges made all the difference, and they finished sixth and earned a spot on the podium. They were so excited and happy with their new school record and overall finish. They ended up taking nearly two full seconds off of the school record, which had stood since 1988,” stated Coach Rhode.

Renkes and Carrillo also competed in the D2 100m dash and D2 pole vault. Renkes ran her 100m sprint preliminary race Friday evening and missed out on the final by a tenth of a second. She finished at 12.89, with the last qualifying time set at 12.88.

Carrillo cleared 10’ in pole vault competition to finish 13th in the event.
“This was one of the best State meet performances that I can remember. Every competitor from Pines got on the podium, which is always the ultimate goal,” mentioned Rhode.

Bluejays face altered schedule

After a great day for racing all morning and afternoon, inclement weather moved into the La Crosse area around 7 p.m. Friday, with roughly four events remaining. After a lengthy two-hour lightning delay, WIAA officials postponed the rest of Friday’s events to Saturday morning. That put Waltz in a position to run his two distance races in one day, when the original schedule puts them on separate days for rest purposes. Waltz was actually one of the biggest movers in the field, starting in 15th place after his first-lap time of 1:09.16. He finally jumped up to 11th after 1600m and finished in eighth place with a time of 9:44.62.

"Moving both races to Saturday definitely threw us both for a loop. With the weather delay, we knew we were probably in for a late night, but Nolan would still get rest in between. When they made the decision to move the 3200 to Saturday, Nolan took it in stride, but I knew that it would be a tough double," said Head Coach Nate Koch. "Nolan ran good during the 3200 and set a new PR for himself, although he wasn't as high in the standings as he would have liked."

He then went on to run just one lap of the 1600m run before coming off the track due to a foot injury that he has dealt with since regionals.

In field events, Weavers competed against seven other athletes who threw over 50’ in the event. Weavers threw three times before getting eliminated, where he went 45’ 8.50”, 48’ 5.50” and 49’ 9”.

"I think it was a good experience for him, and I know he's going to be working this off-season to continue to improve and get back to state,"  stated Koch. "I know he would love to double there next year with the shot and the disc."

Both Three Lakes athletes will look to make it to La Crosse again next year for their senior seasons.