Xavier, Appleton North, FVL combine for 17 medals at WIAA State Track & Field Championships

Fox Valley Lutheran’s Jacoby Dobberstein, right, finished fourth in the Division 2 boys 300-meter hurdles to earn a medal at the 2026 WIAA State Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. (Photo by Julie Detjen)

By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com

LA CROSSE – A pair of Xavier athletes won titles and were among 18 state medalists from the Appleton high schools at the 2026 WIAA State Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Xavier senior Wyatt Rouamba won the Division 2 boys triple jump with a leap of 47 feet, 11½ inches, and teammate Caroline Basehoar, also a senior, won the D-2 girls pole vault with a vault of 12-3 as the Hawks won seven medals in all.

The Appleton North girls also picked up seven state medals, and the Fox Valley Lutheran boys earned three.

The Appleton North girls also placed third in the Division 1 team standings behind Hartland Arrowhead and Neenah, and the Xavier girls took third in the Division 1 standings behind Bloomer and Kettle Moraine Lutheran.

Appleton North’s Eva Busch was the runner-up in the Division 1 girls 3,200 meters on Saturday, running in 10:37.03, after placing fifth in the 1,600 on Friday in a time of 4:53.32.

The North girls also had three bronze medals winners as Ashley Parrish placed third in the long jump (18-10½), and teamed with Jada Ellis, Maddie Loken and Emily Thompson to take third in the 400 relay in 47.05 seconds. The Lightning’s 3,200 relay team of Audry Dehlinger, Elise Brazzale, Sophia Busch and Ava Helmbrecht also took third, running in 9:11.30.

Isabel Parrish placed fifth in the 100 hurdles (14.71) and Helmbrecht was sixth in the 800 (2:14.55) to also win medals for the North girls.

Xavier’s 400 relay team of Hailey Hafner, Bryce Hietpas, Basehoar and Kayla Fourmiller earned a Division 2 silver medal, finishing in 48.49 seconds, while the Hawks’ other two relay teams at state placed third.

The 800 team of Lauren Erickson, Basehoar, Grace Hackl and Fourmiller ran in 1:42.73, nad the 1,600 team of Erickson, Bernice Geurts, Lily Renz and Hackl was third in 3:57.97.

Hafner also took a pair of individual medals back home to Appleton after placing sixth in both the long jump (17-6¼) and the 100 hurdles (14.70).

Grant Wolfrath and Jacoby Dobberstein won state medals for the Fox Valley Lutheran boys. Wolfrath took fourth in the Division 2 110-meter hurdles in 14.80 seconds, and Dobberstein placed fourth in the 300 hurdles in 38.95 seconds.

Also earning a fourth-place medal for the FVL boys was Tyler Dequaine in the long jump (22-8).

Competing at state but not earning state medals from the area were:

BOYS
Division 1
Appleton East
1,600 relay: Birk Kozlowicz, Preston Schefe, Abiatar Massingue, Allan Massingue, 15^th in preliminaries, 3:23.47.
Triple jump: Collin Hanson, eighth, 44-6.
Appleton West
1,600: Kegan Phalin, 24^th, 4:33.84.
Division 2
Fox Valley Lutheran
200: Kaleb Williams, did not race.
400: Kaleb Williams, 13^th in preliminaries, 50.31.
800: Zachary Muenster, 12^th, 1:59.64.
300 hurdles: Grant Wolfrath, ninth, 40.75.
400 relay: Tyler Dequaine, Blessings Kapande, Cameron Williams, Jackson Mayer, 13^th in preliminaries, 43.06.
800 relay: Dequaine, Kapande, Mayer, Jacoby Dobberstein, eighth, 1:29.71.
3,200 relay: Mason Dobberstein, Henry Laabs, Tom Needham, Muenster, 13^th, 8:19.24.
GIRLS
Division 1
Appleton North
100: Emily Thompson, 17^th in preliminaries, 12.73; Ashley Parrish, ninth in finals, 12.36.
300 hurdles: Isabel Parrish, disqualified.
1,600 relay: A. Parrish, Jada Ellis, Elise Brazzale, Sophia Busch, eighth, 3:57.09.
Division 2
Xavier
100: Kayla Fourmiller, ninth, 12.54.
Fox Valley Lutheran
400: Claire Fischer, 15^th in preliminaries, 1:00.50.