Lakeside Lutheran track & field chasing seventh school record

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Lakeside Lutheran has a shot at breaking their seventh school record this season at the WIAA State Track & Field Championships.

Senior Ben Buxa broke the school record in shot put last weekend at sectionals, and is four inches away from the school record in discus.

“I hurt coach’s hand after I high-fived him,” Buxa said. “It was so exciting to do that and now I’m hoping to do that again on Friday. Everything I’ve done, all this hard work I’ve put in it’s actually finally paying off now and it’s just fun to see that happen.”

Co-Track and Field Coach at Lakeside Lutheran, Justin Vanderhoof said as one of their team captains, Buxa does everything you’d expect your athlete to do.

“He has the confidence to know he’s done it before and can do it again,” Vanderhoof said. “He leads by example and keeps working, he’s very coachable.”

Along with Buxa, Lakeside’s 4x400 and 4x200 relay teams also broke school records and are hopefully for a successful weekend in La Crosse.

The 4x200 school record was broken last week at sectionals, with a team made up of Ben Krauklis, Alex Reinke, Issiah Sampson and Jay Yahnke. Last year Lakeside Lutheran also made it to state in the 4x200, and made it to finals on Saturday, but in the last leg of the relay there was a bad exchange and the baton was dropped. Reinke said that moment he experienced last year at state has motivated him this season to get back to the state championship.

“I think it’s been motivation especially for me because I was part of it and so far we’ve had great handoffs nothing wrong has happened,” Reinke said. “We’re trying to focus and get our steps in right and everything should go well.”

The 4x400 school record was broken twice this season, once at the conference meet, and then again at sectionals with a team made up of Alex Reinke, Ben Krauklis, Tyler Dahlie and Karsten Grundahl.

The WIAA State Track & Field Championships will take place June 2 and 3 at Veterans Memorial Stadium Complex in La Crosse.

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