Milwaukee Area Athletes Shine on Opening Day of WIAA State Track Championships

LA CROSSE - The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) State Track and Field Championships kicked off on June 5, attracting athletes from across the state, including several from the Milwaukee area. The event featured preliminary heats for sprints and finals for various distance and field events at the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus, with additional finals set for June 6. A weather delay occurred on Friday evening, pushing some events to later in the weekend.

Among the standout performances was Wisconsin Lutheran's Niyer Clayborn, who set a new record in the 110-meter hurdle prelims with a time of 13.80 seconds, surpassing his previous record of 13.92 seconds from 2025. Clayborn is gearing up to defend his state title and will be a key contender in the finals. Other notable qualifiers for the finals in the 110 hurdles included South Milwaukee's Shaundel Williams, Homestead's Jeridon Clark, and Wisconsin Lutheran's Cedric Bolden.

In the 300 hurdles, Clayborn again showcased his talent, finishing with the fastest time of 37.87 seconds, leading a group of five area athletes who qualified for the finals. These include Sussex Hamilton's Tristan Haigh and Oak Creek's Kenneth Mueller, among others.

Waukesha West had an exceptional day, breaking the meet record in the Division 1 800 relay with a time of 1:25.65, surpassing the previous record held by Arrowhead. The relay team, consisting of Nolan Schmidbauer, Ammonra Lomas, Josh Ziebell, and Cole Zielinski, also excelled in the triple jump, where Zielinski secured a gold medal with a jump of 48 feet, 2 inches. Zielinski expressed his excitement about the record and his performance, noting that he was motivated by the competition around him.

In the triple jump, Nicolet's Demian Harris and Donavin Bond also made their mark, finishing third and fifth, respectively. Harris reflected on the bittersweet nature of their final meet together, praising Bond's growth as an athlete. Waukesha West's Chetan Malkan clinched gold in the discus throw with a distance of 172-5, winning on a tiebreaker against Watertown’s Aidan Scholze.

The excitement continues as athletes gear up for the finals on Saturday, where they will seek to add to their state titles and personal achievements.