• Homestead High School finished as the D1 runner-up, just one point behind De Pere.

• Gianni Quintero of Marquette University High School set a new record in the wheelchair 1,600.

• Numerous other Milwaukee-area athletes achieved top finishes and podium placements in various events.

Day 2 of the WIAA state track and field championships June 7 at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex in La Crosse featured historic final heats across the three boys and girls divisions, as well as the wheelchair divisions.

Over the course of the weekend, 24 WIAA state records were set in what proved to be a testament to the skill and preparation of athletes statewide. Locally in the greater Milwaukee area, multiple records and state title wins were accumulated by area athletes.

Here are the highlights and takeaways from area boys athletes from the concluding day of WIAA state track and field.

Takeaways from day one can be found here.

Full results from the WIAA state track and field meet can be found on the WIAA website.

Homestead boys lead team finishers with D1 runner-up

While there were some smiles and pats on the back taking place among Homestead athletes and coaches around the runner-up trophy ceremony, there was also a sinking realization of just how close they had come to the program’s third-ever team title (1964, 2010).

The final Division 1 team standings featured De Pere as the champions with 46 points, followed by Homestead with 45 and four-time reigning champion Arrowhead with 44. De Pere scored in five events with performances from three athletes, including wins in the 1,600, triple jump and 3,200 and seconds in the shot put and discus throw.

Homestead scored in seven events, including three relays, the 100 dash, 800 run, 110 hurdles and shot put.

“We certainly didn’t just have a few guys that racked up the points,” Homestead boys coach Drew Dixon said. “We chipped away at the team score … it was a team effort, and I’m really proud of that, because that’s something that we’ve preached in our program.

People think track is an individual sport, well, it’s a team sport, right? So they were leaning on each other and cheering each other on, supporting each other, and I couldn’t be more proud of that.”

Homestead won the 400 relay (Jamir Erving, Sean O’Byrne, Jackson Montgomery, Lucas Mersky) in :41.50, the 3,200 relay (Sean Deguire, Elias Ulmen, Max Bennett, Jay Tally) in 7:47.55 and finished second in the 800 relay (O’Byrne, Hudson Nolte, Montgomery, Mersky) in 1:25.88.

Those finishes added to a WIAA record-breaking win for the junior Tally in the 800 on June 6 (1:51.21).

“Jay is as special as special gets,” Dixon said. “I have not seen him lose a race in quite some time.

That speaks to both his talent, his hard work, but also his exceptional drive and competitive nature.”

Along with junior Jeridon Clark’s sixth in the 110 hurdles (:14.73), Homestead got a gritty sixth June 6 from Terron McCall in the shot put to round out the weekend’s scoring. Dixon said that while McCall has not been “blessed with great health” this season, he lauded the senior’s progression over his time with the program.

“He’s had some knee issues, he’s had some pec issues, he turned an ankle, but a super, super gifted athlete and an awesome kid who has made just an exceptional amount of progress since he was a freshman,” Dixon said.

For those that return in 2026, Dixon hopes the frustration of coming up short by a single point can fuel a return to state next season.

“I think there’s a little bit of sour taste in their mouth, and they’re hopefully hungry,” Dixon said.

Quintero sets record in 1,600 while adding to medal count

Marquette University High School junior Gianni Quintero’s historic career continued on June 7 with a record-breaking performance in a wheelchair 1,600 win, finishing in 4:09.84.

The time unseated previous record holder Trey Roy of West Bend East’s 2011 time of 4:11.60.

It was Quintero’s state debut in the event, which he had only started earlier this year.

He said some inconsistent starts on shorter races was a risk he sought to mitigate with more forgiving longer heats.

“I started doing some 1,600’s, I think I went to a meet at Arrowhead and got a pretty solid PR, and I think that’s when we were like, ‘We should try or start trying to do more distance rather than just straight-up sprints,’ ” Quintero said.

Quintero also holds the wheelchair 800 record (1:56.02), set in 2024, an event he three-peated in June 6 as part of another fantastic weekend at WIAA state track and field.

After his wheelchair 1,600 win and a three-peat wheelchair 400 (1:00.20) win to cap a four-medal weekend, Quintero’s career medal count stands at 12. Those dozen medals include eight golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

While Quintero has already joined rare air among historic state wheelchair competitors, one summit has yet to be reached even in his own program.

Marquette 2014-2017 wheelchair athlete Joe Schubert is the state standard-bearer for career WIAA gold medals with 10. Quintero has qualified in four events at state each year of his career, now holds state records in two and has also now three-peated in two different events.

The chance to become the all-time winningest wheelchair athlete in state history is one Quintero himself may not dwell on, but can still appreciate.

“The cool part is I communicate with the people who have or had the state records here for the boys, Trey Roy and (400 wheelchair record-holder) Noah Eckelberg.

I communicate with them, and I kind of get to learn their knowledge, especially because Trey — I play basketball with Trey, which is awesome, and he also comes to a few other practices.

I kind of get to sit there and learn a bunch of different things, whether it’s drafting somebody or pacing yourself, learning how to push correctly.”

With another push or two in 2026, Quintero could find himself standing alone in the pantheon of Wisconsin’s greatest wheelchair track and field athletes.

Wisconsin Lutheran’s Clayborn wins 110 hurdles

Wisconsin Lutheran sophomore Niyer Clayborn’s 110 hurdles final time of :14.11 did not quite live up to his own WIAA state record of :13.92 from the preliminaries that took place on a potentially drier track the day before, but it was still enough to take home state gold.

Clayborn beat out West Allis Hale senior Maxwell St. Clair (2nd, :14.23), Racine Case junior Michael Farr (4th, :14.55) and Homestead’s Clark.

After an 18th-place finish at state as a freshman, Clayborn said he came into this season wanting to dominate and take what he felt was his.

“I didn’t want to go through that again. I was used to losing, and this year I just came back and I wanted it all,” Clayborn said. “And to the glory of God, I got it all.”

Clayborn also competed in the 300 hurdles, placing just off the podium in seventh (:39.83).

He hopes to build on his 2025 performances in his two remaining high school years as one of the state’s best young hurdlers.

Arrowhead sets record in D1 800 relay

Arrowhead not only repeated as 800 relay champions on June 7, but eclipsed its own WIAA state record time of 1:26.73 with its 2025 winning time of 1:25.88.

With three members of the 2024 record-breaking time returning (Presley Bencz, Ryan Heiman and Harper Hughes), the Warhawks were already poised for greater things with another year of experience together under their belts.

Trey Resch was in this year for the graduated Jackson Schulz, taking the second leg.

The road to another record time was not a straight one, as injuries put a damper on the early-season gelling as a unit.

“We didn’t have the best offseason, but we knew that if we kept working throughout the season, things were going to pick up for us, and we did just that,” Hughes said.

“We just worked our butts off all season.

We got our sticks nailed, practicing with our amazing coaches every single day really just got us to the point we are at right now,” Bencz said.

The performance added to a strong individual day for Arrowhead’s Heiman, who in addition to his relay leg finished second in both the 100 (:10.59) and 200 (:21.38) dashes.

Resch also made podium in the latter with his fifth-place time of :21.70.

Those placements, combined with John Kubisch’s second in the high jump June 6, led to a third-place team finish for the four-time reigning champions of D1.

Germantown’s Brunner wins D1 pole vault

Germantown senior Josh Brunner was a little disappointed in himself for not clearing what would be his final height of 16 feet, 3 inches due to some windy conditions, but his run to a D1 title in the pole vault had been perfect up until that point.

Clean attempts at 14-0, 14-9, 15-0 and 15-6 were more than enough to get the job done after no other competitor cleared 14-9.

“I’d done it a million times before, it came pretty natural to me,” Brunner said candidly. “I was hoping to knock out a state record.

State record for D1 was 16-8. I’ve done 16-6 in the past, so finishing a foot below my PR was a little rough.”

The UW-La Crosse commit will have plenty more days at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex to shoot for that PR in the years to come, but a WIAA state gold also comes as a rather shiny condolence prize in the meantime.

St. Francis’ Joran Ball wins D2 400

St. Francis senior Joran Ball won the D2 400 dash in :48.31 and in doing so became the first St. Francis athlete to ever win a WIAA state individual track event in school history.

St. Francis had not won an individual event state title on the track or in the field in over four decades before Ball’s win.

The last boys or girls state individual title was from girls shot put competitor Lynn Dusold in 1983.

Despite tweaking a previously pulled right hamstring the day before in a 200 prelim, Ball was able to recover enough to deliver a historic performance for his school.

“Ever since I started running, I knew I loved it,” Ball said. “Just being able to put my school out there a little bit, it’s honestly all I could ask for.”

MAS senior Gray highlights strong team performance

Milwaukee Academy of Science finished fifth in the D2 boys team standings (28.5), led by senior Cameron Gray and a June 6 high jump runner-up finish from Amare Jackson.

Gray was a star for MAS on June 7, winning the D2 200 in :21.32.

“I’m just honored to be here and it’s a pleasure to compete, I thank God every day,” Gray said.

Despite winning his preliminary 100 heat June 6 with a time of :10.84, Gray fell to a tie for sixth in the finals in a result still good for a second appearance on the podium.

The MAS 800 relay team anchored by Gray and also featuring Tyreek Patrick, Josiah Johnson and Tristan Porter also placed third (1:28.72).

Gray pointed to those results as evidence of a program with developing talent and more on the way.

“We’re rising as a program. We’ve always been a good program,” Gray said.

“Milwaukee Academy of Science is a good place to be a student-athlete.”

Oak Creek wins boys 1,600 relay to cap weekend

The final race of the 2025 WIAA state track and field meet was the D1 1,600 relay, which was won narrowly by Oak Creek (3:17.34) over River Falls (3:17.69), which served as the culminating tally of a sixth-place team performance for the Knights.

The relay-winning team consisted of Ethan VanPinsker, Maxwell Graceffa, Kenneth Mueller and Gabriel Olson.

The anchor held off a late move from River Falls right around the final handoff to bring home the win for Oak Creek.

“I was like, ‘I’m not letting this guy pass me, I worked way too hard for this.’ Just didn’t look back from there,” Olson said.

The win was Oak Creek’s second relay placement on the podium of the tournament.

A 400 relay team of Gavin Schilling, Dennis Morris, Mueller and Graceffa took fourth (:42.24).

Olson also finished second in the 400 (:47.88) and fourth in the 200 (:21.60) to earn three total medals on the tournament.

“400 was awesome, I’d been chasing :47.8 all year and got that. 200 they pushed me all the way out to lane 10, I was last qualifier in, but I just made due, and I PR’d by a lot,” Olson said. “4×4, I just give it up to all my guys, they’ve been pushing me all year.

At practice we go at it, I love these guys.

I appreciate everything they do for me, and our hard work really paid off.”

Other top area finishers

• In the D2 3,200 relay, Shorewood’s team of Benny Bejma, Sam Elliott, Angus Vigoren-Clark and Ryan Optekar placed third (8:01.50).

• In the D2 110 hurdles, Martin Luther junior Rylee Wendt placed second (:14.61).

• In the D2 100 dash, Delavan-Darien senior Ryan Walther placed second (:10.84) while Catholic Memorial senior Marvaneous Butler-Brown took third (:10.90 with MAS’ Gray tied for sixth to also make the podium (:10.95).

• In the D1 100 behind Arrowhead’s Heiman in second were Milwaukee Rufus King senior Jaiden Alvarado-Jones (4th, :10.84), Waukesha West junior Nolan Schmidbauer (5th, 10.87) and Oconomowoc senior Caeden Oppold (6th, 10.87), who all also made the podium.

• In the D1 400 on the podium behind Oak Creek’s Olson (2nd, :47.88) were Waukesha West senior Gabriel Ubert (3rd, :48.17), Sussex Hamilton senior Lucas Krause (4th, :48.79) and Marquette junior Jackson Myers (5th, :48.94).

• Joining event champion Homestead (:41.50), third-place finisher Arrowhead (:42.15) and fourth-place finisher Oak Creek (:42.24) on the podium in the 400 relay were Wisconsin Lutheran in fifth (:42.35) and Oconomowoc in sixth (:42.44).

• In the D1 300 hurdles, Brookfield Central junior Rece Hopfensperger placed third (:38.99).

Brookfield Central also got another third in the 200 dash from senior Bobby King (:21.57).

• Just as he did June 6 in the 1,600 run final, Slinger junior Reed Grotenhuis finished third (9:05.76) in the D1 3,200. Cedarburg senior Ryan Severson finished fourth (9:08.47) to round out area performers that reached the podium.

• In D2, Shorewood junior Ryan Lien (9:19.76) finished fifth.

• In the D1 discus throw, Marquette senior Matthew Griffith took third with his best throw of 186 feet, 11 inches.

• West Allis Hale senior Thomas Medley finished fifth (170-1) to also make the podium.

• In the D1 triple jump, Nicolet junior Demian Harris (4th, 47-0.75), Whitefish Bay junior Nayawn Peterson (5th, 46-6.50) and Menomonee Falls sophomore Kaleb Napoleon (6th, 46-5.75) all made the podium.

Also reaching the podium in the D1 1,600 relay were Marquette in third (3:20.45), Waukesha West in fourth (3:21.43) and Wauwatosa East in fifth (3:21.61).