BANGOR – For the second straight season, Belmont senior Jacob Wedig has thrown his way to state.
    Wedig locked up a pair of state berths in the throwing events by winning the sectional title in the boys’ shot put with a career-best toss of 57’2” and finishing third in the discus with an impressive mark of 146’10” at the 2018 WIAA Sectional Track and Field Meet hosted at Bangor High School on Thursday, May 25.
    The 2018 WIAA State Track and Field Meet will be held at UW-La Crosse’s Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday and Saturday, June 1-2. Friday’s Division 2/3 competition will begin at 3 p.m., and Saturday’s competition begins at 9:30 a.m.
    Wedig will throw the discus right away on Friday afternoon, coming in as the eighth seed in the event; and he will be the top-seed in the D3 shot put, which will start around noon on Saturday.
    Wedig placed second in the shot put and sixth in the discus at state last year, so he will try to better those finishes this weekend while trying to join his brother, Tucker, as a state champion at Belmont. Tucker holds the school record marks of 58’2.75” in the shot and 169’5” in the discus.
    “Jake is a young man who is capable of doing anything he does well. He has been throwing his shot put amazing this whole season. He’s been throwing farther from the beginning of the season than he did at state last year when he took second. I am so excited to see him throw at state,” said Belmont head coach Amber Eisele.
    Junior Seth Peters just missed joining his teammate in La Crosse after finishing fifth in the boys’ 800-meter run with a time of 2:06.810. The top four placers in each event earn an automatic state berth, but Peters came in .008 seconds behind fourth-place Brandon Dick of Whitehall to miss out on a state berth by the narrowest of margins.
    “It is a very bitter moment that we were there, but fell short. I guess it gives him a pushing point for next year,” replied Eisele.
    Senior Holly Rath was sixth in the 300-meter low hurdles (49.46) and sophomore Lizzy Haag placed seventh in the 800 run (2:33.08), and the duo teamed with senior Taylor Reuter and junior Lori Moctezuma-Zayas to place 14th in the 3,200-meter relay (11:48.95) for the Lady Braves.
    Senior Isaac Wiegel placed eighth in the 400-meter run in a personal-best time of 54.83 seconds, while junior Anderew Weber placed 14th in the triple jump (37’7.25”) for the Braves at the sectional meet.
    “The Belmont athletes did a phenomenal job last night. Our girls 4x800 PR’d by like two seconds, and Issac ran really well and got a season PR,” noted Eisele.