SUN PRAIRIE — Janesville Craig and Janesville Parker competed in the 2026 Big Eight Conference track meet Friday afternoon at Sun Prairie East High School.
In the boys meet, Verona piled up 139 points en route to a first-place finish. Parker placed third with 94 points and Craig finished in eighth place with 25 points.
The Sun Prairie East girls won the meet with 157.5 points, while the Vikings finished in sixth with 56 points and the Cougars took eighth with 38 points.
Boys meet
The relays have been a strong point for the Vikings all year, and Friday was no different. In the 4x800-meter relay, the Vikings, consisting of Joshua Grinvalds, Brady Flynn, Owen Williams and Jayvion Hill, recorded a first-place time of eight minutes, 22.49 seconds.
Parker placed second in the 4x200-meter relay. Ashton Smith, Nolan Ziegelmann, Jayden Koestler and Riley Kinney ran a time of 1 minute, 31.6 seconds. First-place Verona narrowly edged Parker with a time of 1 minute, 31.51 seconds.
The Vikings 4x400 team, consisting of Hill, Alec Betlach, Koestler and Avery Eastman, completed the event in 3 minutes, 25.16 seconds, taking second. Sun Prairie West put together a first-place time of 3 minutes, 23.93 seconds.
“Three out of the four, we did really well in,” Parker coach Richard Schuh said. “Relays have been very good for us this year. We’ve had to shuffle our lineup because we had some injuries. I know in the 4x8, our best 800 runner (Kenton Kransel) did not run because he tweaked something early in the week in practice. But our other guys obviously ran great.”
Eastman, a senior, ran a time of 51.71 seconds to take second in the 400-meter dash. In the 300-meter hurdles, Koestler took third with a time of 43.07 seconds.
Joshua Grinvalds recorded a third-place time of 9 minutes, 42.64 seconds in the 3,200-meter race.
Koestler and Janesville Craig’s Nathan Daskam battled in the high jump. Koestler secured first with a mark of 6 feet, 4 inches, while Daskam nabbed second with a mark of 6 feet, 2 inches. Daskam took second in long jump with a mark of 22 feet, 2.25 inches.
Betlach cleared 13 feet, 6 inches en route to a first-place mark in the pole vault. Craig’s Hayden Kerbel placed fifth with a mark of 12 feet, 6 inches.
Betlach finished in third in the triple jump with a mark of 40 feet, 11.75 inches. In the discus throw, Parker’s Evan Curlee had a third-place mark of 148 feet, 6 inches.
Girls meet
The Vikings’ 4x400-meter relay team of Trista Anderson, Ramsey Brandenburg, Stella Brown and Harper Brandenburg, finished as conference champions in the event with a time of 4 minutes, 6.60 seconds.
“It was a new (personal record) for them,” Parker coach Kat Reilly said. “It was a second faster than they ran last week at Myrhum. Just watching the girls, especially our freshman Ramsey and Stella, they are learning.”
Reilly added the Vikings have been practicing getting out right away, saying they pulled through on that.
Harper Brandenburg took first in not only the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.53 seconds, but also the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.16 seconds.
“Harper was a conference champion in three events, so that’s huge,” Reilly said. “You know, a lot of these girls are relentless and they are motivated, especially with our next meet being regionals and the start of the state tournament.”
In the pole vault, Parker’s Alivia Olson cleared 9 feet, 6 inches to take second. Craig’s Maya Wojcik cleared 9 feet to take third in the event.
Also for Craig, Olivia Schober took third in long jump, with a mark of 16 feet, 11.75 inches. Lakyah Dozier took fifth in discus with a mark of 96 feet.
“These kids really poured it all out there in one of the toughest conference meets in the state, which will most likely be even tougher than our sectional,” Craig coach Andrew Peterson said.
Janesville Craig and Janesville Parker will take on regionals at Beloit College on Tuesday, May 26, at 4:30 p.m.
BIG EIGHT CONFERENCE TRACK MEET RESULTS
BOYS TEAM SCORES
Verona 139, Sun Prairie East 137, Janesville Parker 94, Middleton 86, Sun Prairie West 84, Madison La Follette 63, Madison Memorial 40, Janesville Craig 25, Madison West 22, Madison East 12
EVENT WINNERS PLUS TOP EIGHT JANESVILLE FINISHERS
100—1. Kingston Penn (MID) 10.41. 200—1. Kingston Penn (MID) 21.46. 400—1. Joshua Swanson (SPW) 49.85. 2. Avery Eastman (JP) 51.71. 800—1. Riley Kuehn (MID) 1:59.12. 4. Rett Thompson (JC) 2:01.29. 1,600—1. Aiden Frey (V) 4:27.94. 3,200—1. Aaron Yarbro (VA) 9:34.21. 3. Joshua Grinvalds (JP) 9:42.64.
110 hurdles—1. River Moll (MID) 15.48. 5. Henry Flister (JP) 16.73. 300 hurdles—1. Fabian Correia (V) 41.66. 3. Jayden Koestler (JP) 43.07.
400 relay—1. Sun Prairie West 42.41. 7. Janesville Parker (Ashton Smith, Nolan Ziegelmann, Alec Betlach, Riley Kinney) 44.38. 800 relay—1. Verona 1:31.51. 2. Janesville Parker (Ashton Smith, Nolan Ziegelmann, Jayden Koestler, Riley Kinney) 1:31.60. 1,600 relay—1. Sun Prairie West 3:23.93. 2. Janesville Parker (Jayvion Hill, Alec Betlach, Jayden Koestler, Avery Eastman) 3:25.16. 3,200 relay—1. Janesville Parker (Joshua Grinvalds, Brady Flynn, Owen Williams, Jayvion Hill) 8:22.49.
Shot put—1. Liam Scanlan (SPE) 52-1. 7. Isaac Tearman (JP) 41-6. Discus—1. Mason Campbell (SPE) 163-8. 3. Evan Curlee (JP) 148-6. High jump—1. Jayden Koestler (JP) 6-4. 2. Nathan Daskam (JC) 6-2. Long jump—1. Brady Kaufman (SPE) 22-8. 2. Nathan Daskam (JC) 22-2.25. Pole vault—1. Alec Betlach (JP) 13-6. 5. Hayden Kerbel (JC) 12-6. 6. Logan Zimmerman (JP) 11-6.
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
Sun Prairie East 157.5, Verona 135, Middleton 81.5, Madison Memorial 65, Madison La Follette 64, Janesville Parker 56, Madison West 50, Janesville Craig 38, Sun Prairie West 28, Madison East 27
100—1. Harper Brandenburg (JP) 12.16. 200—1. Makayla O'Malley (SPE) 25.68. 4. Ramsey Brandenburg (JP) 26.23. 400—1. Harper Brandenburg (JP) 57.53. 5. Lucia Coleman (JC) 1:01.51. 800—1. Samantha Camp (SPE) 2:21.77. 4. Trista Anderson (JP) 2:23.87. 5. Zoey Ziegler (JC) 2:25.16. 1,600—1. Samantha Camp (SPE) 5:14.04. 3,200—1. Violet Wickizer (MW) 11:20.19.
100 hurdles—1. Sofiia Dergacheva (MID) 15.40. 8. Abigail Caas (JP) 17.81. 300 hurdles—1. Emma Kidarsa (MM) 47.19. 8. Kaitlyn Rye (JC) 51.37.
400 relay—1. Verona 49.72. 7. Janesville Parker (Ramsey Brandenburg, Stella Brown, Alivia Olson, Elizabeth Larson) 52.87. 8. Janesville Craig (Mara Gondreau, Maya Wojcik, Leah Staack, Lily James) 53.44. 800 relay—1. Middleton 1:47.01. 5. Janesville Craig 1:52.33. 1,600 relay—1. Janesville Parker (Trista Anderson, Ramsey Brandenburg, Stella Brown, Harper Brandenburg) 4:06.60. 7. Janesville Craig (Lucia Coleman, Zoey Ziegler, Haeley Hanson, Olivia Schober) 4:30.96. 3,200 relay—1. Madison West 9:55.35. 7. Janesville Craig (Harper Ennocenti, Haeley Hanson, Annabelle Richard, Breanna Grimstead) 11:15.12. 8.Janesville Parker (Jordyn Upham, Haley White, Kylee Helmer, Madolyn Rosburg) 12:19.90.
Shot put—1. Dabere Omejata (MLF) 39-6. 6. Lakyah Dozier (JC) 31-8. 7. Ulina Harper (JP) 31-5. Discus—1. Taylor Holmes (SPE) 121-2. 5. Lakyah Dozier (JC) 96-0. 8. Lily Stilen (JC) 85-6. High jump—1. Brooke Brakmanis (SPE) 5-4. Long jump—1. Ellyson Wos (SPW) 18-5. 3. Olivia Schober (JC) 16-11.75. Triple jump—1. Maya Competente (MLF) 35-9.50. Pole vault—1. Ella Grace Olsen (SPE) 10-6. 2. Alivia Olson (JP) 9-6. 3. Maya Wojcik (JC) 9-0. 7. Abigail Caas (JP) 9-0.
