Meredith Heller's Top-10 Effort Highlights Locals' State Track Weekend

In the final prep race of her career, Whitnall’s Meredith Heller made the finals of the 200-meter hurdles at the WIAA Division 1 State Meet over the weekend in La Crosse.

The senior just missed placing as she was ninth in 47.29 seconds. She claimed the 10th and final preliminary spot with a time of 46.83.

Milwaukee Riverside senior Valerie Thames set a state record in the race with 43.04, breaking a 16-year-old mark.

Fellow Whitnall senior Sam Mentkowski ran 19th in the 400 in 51.62, his only state race. Grafton junior Erick Huertas won in 47.76.

In her state debut, Jasmine Bickerstaff, a Whitnall freshman, was 23rd in the 100 hurdles in 18.67. Danielle Riggins, a Kenosha Tremper junior won in 14.23, just ahead of her Tremper classmate ToNaya Gulley’s 14.43.

Greenfield junior Robert Hopeful, also making his state debut, had an 18th-place distance of 41 feet, 5 ¾ inches in the triple jump, an event Milwaukee King junior Keyshawn Davis won with a 46-11 ¼.