2026 WIAA Division 1 State Track Preview: Records, Favorites & the Photo Finishes

The deepest fields at the 2026 WIAA State Championships belong to Division 1, and the big-school races in La Crosse (June 5–6) are stacked with all-time record holders and photo-finish duels.

More previews: State meet overview · Division 2 · Division 3 · State Meet hub

Boys: a 100m too close to call

The blue-riband sprint is a dead heat — Middleton's Kingston Penn and Antonio Jackson are both seeded 10.41 in the 100m. Arrowhead's Trey Resch leads the 200m (21.15) and Oak Creek's Gabriel Olson the 400m (47.94). The distances are razor-thin: De Pere's Grady Lenn (4:06.22) tops the 1600m, while Oconomowoc's Owen Sayles holds the 800m by two-hundredths over Lucas Tanner (1:51.69 to 1:51.71). Wisconsin Lutheran's Niyer Clayborn is the class of both hurdle races (13.59 and 37.92).

In the field, Waukesha West's Cole Zielinski chases a jumps double, leading the state in the long jump (24-04.25) and triple jump (47-09.50). Homestead's Luka Ivancevic is the only D1 boy past 60 feet in the shot (60-11), Green Bay Preble's Maximus Davis heads the vault (15-04), and Germantown's Aiden Dykstra the high jump (6-08). Don't blink in the 4x400 — Brookfield Central edges Brookfield East by 0.02 (3:18.59 to 3:18.61).

Girls: records and a distance double

Two of the greatest marks in Wisconsin history headline the D1 girls. Neenah's Emma Severson brings the all-time state shot put record (49-11) — six feet clear of the field — while Arrowhead's Elise Schroeder owns the all-time pole vault record (14-0). Teammate Payton Eicher ranks third all-time in the long jump and is the favorite in both horizontal jumps (20-0, 38-11.75).

On the track, Menomonie's Lauren McCalla doubles in the 800m (2:12.00) and 1600m (4:45.79), her 1600m among the 10 fastest in state history. The 100m is a one-hundredth affair, Holmen's Lydia Lazarescu (11.87) over Brookfield Central's Kyenret Rinkam (11.88); Rinkam, eighth all-time in the 100, comes back to lead the 400m (55.63). Whitefish Bay's Karstin McCabe owns the 3200m.

The team race & the iron athlete

Arrowhead is the team to beat, bringing more top-three marks than any school in the division — Schroeder, Eicher, sprinter Avery Bott, high jumper Addison Pommerening, and a state-leading 4x100. Brookfield Central, Hamilton and Menomonie lead the chase. And watch West Bend West's Rylee Faehling, the state's No. 1 300m hurdler (42.25) and its most versatile athlete — ranked top-15 statewide in five more events this season. She can enter four in La Crosse, and she's a podium threat in any of them.

Follow every D1 final on the State Meet hub. Results and athlete profiles are always free on WI Athlete.