LA CROSSE – The first day of the WIAA state track and field meet June 5 was highlighted by two Green Bay-area athletes winning championships.
Was there ever a doubt one of them would be Grady Lenn?
The De Pere senior continued to put the finishing touches on a decorated prep career, not just winning state titles but doing it in record-breaking fashion.
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Lenn captured the Division 1 3,200-meter championship in a state-record time of 8 minutes, 49.15 seconds, breaking his mark of 8:52.79 set last year.
The University of Wisconsin commit would probably have finished even faster if he had wanted to, but he instead spent the final stretch of the race showing his appreciation to those watching from the stands at Veterans Memorial Stadium with a few gestures of love that included the blowing of a kiss.
“It feels great, just a cherry on top,” Lenn said. “I think it was cool to be able to take it in the last 100 and kind of celebrate the day and stuff.”
Lenn let Milwaukee Marquette senior Brendan Reardon hang around for much of the race, with Reardon leading the pack after the first 2,000 meters.
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It was the Lenn show for the final 800.
He overtook Reardon and left him and the rest of the field well behind.
Lenn finished more than 13 seconds better than Reardon, who was runner-up in 9:02.85. Milwaukee King sophomore Logan Zeise was third in 9:03.28.
It’s not the first time during the 2025-26 school year that Lenn and Reardon faced each other on the big stage.
Lenn won his first state cross-country title in October, a race in which Reardon placed fourth.
“I think I just had a little bit of a different race plan, just kind of was going to wait around and take it later,” Lenn said. “Then ended up running really fast thanks to Brendan taking it. Wasn’t really expecting to run that fast or to run a meet record. Kind of surprised, honestly, to come out with the time.
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“Just happy with how I executed my race plan well.”
Lenn is the third athlete in program history to win at least back-to-back state titles in the same event.
Former Redbirds standout Chad Yenchesky won three straight D2 shot put championships from 1991 to 1993 while Andrew Cartier won consecutive D1 triple jump titles in 2024 and 2025.
Lenn is tied with Yenchesky for the most individual state titles at three and entered the final day of the meet with the opportunity to win a fourth as the defending champion in the 1,600.
But he has not spent time pondering the legacy he is leaving at De Pere.
“Not really,” Lenn said. “I mostly just think about how thankful I am for my coaches and everyone at De Pere for just believing in me. Not only changing me as an athlete, but as a young man.
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“I’m just really thankful for them for that.”
Jim Flanigan was one of the all-time best shot put and discus throwers in the state during his time at Southern Door in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
His two sons have carried on their old man’s legacy quite well in recent years.
Notre Dame junior Richie Flanigan joined his father and older brother, James, as a state champion for the first time after winning the D2 discus title with a throw of 176 feet, 8 inches.
His top throw came on his fifth attempt and beat out runner-up Hudson Samolinski of Winneconne, who had a 173-10 on his fifth attempt.
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Flanigan and Samolinski were the only two to finish with a 170 or better.
Samolinski entered with the best sectional performance in the state with a 177-10, while Flanigan had the sixth-best with a 161-10.
That didn’t matter much after this one.
Flanigan, who will play football at the University of Notre Dame, helped the Tritons win a team state championship as a sophomore last year by finishing fourth in the shot put and eighth in the discus.
With one title already, he enters the second day of state hoping to pull off a similar feat in the shot put.
As for the Flanigan men?
It’s the sixth discus state championship for the trio.
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Jim Flanigan won three straight Class B titles from 1988 to 1990, while James Flanigan won the D2 discus in 2023 and 2025.
The Preble boys kicked off the state meet with a notable performance in the 3,200 relay.
The quartet of Brayden Michaels, Louis Jean-Baptiste, Jacob Nuthals and Jordan Escobar-Goral finished runner-up to Mequon Homestead.
Homestead’s group of Sean Deguire, Elias Ulmen, Athan Speck and Jemekhi Tally finished in 7:43, while Preble was at 7:45.95.
The Hornets were fourth out of 24 teams after 2,800 meters before Escobar-Goral, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee commit, overtook both Milwaukee Marquette and Hartland Arrowhead down the final stretch to give Preble the second-place finish.
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The Hornets’ good day continued with the pole vault.
Maximus Davis entered with the best sectional vault in the state, and he lived up to the hype.
Davis and River Falls senior Blake Schneider were the only two vaulters to clear 15 feet, 6 inches.
Schneider did it on his first attempt, while Davis did it on his third and final chance.
Neither was able to clear 15-9, and because Schneider cleared 15-6 on fewer attempts than Davis, he took home the championship.
Still, it was a remarkable improvement for Davis in the event. He went from 16th in his first state appearance as a sophomore to runner-up as a junior this year.
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“I mean, the guy is a weight room junkie,” said Preble pole vault coach Brad Boockmeier, who also is the Hornets’ football coach. “He’s a wrestler, too. The body control. He’s a pole vault junkie.
“He just loves competing. Last year as a sophomore, he was shaking in his boots. This year, he got down to the final two. All those things combined, all those situations he’s been in as a sophomore and junior are going to pay off next year. I have got a good feeling.”
That experience is why Davis wasn’t nervous entering his final attempt at 15-6.
It was the exact opposite. He went up to Boockmeier, gave his coach a fist bump, and told him it was for the championship.
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Go get it.
“I was super confident,” Davis said. “I’ve been No. 1 all year, but it didn’t work out how I planned. But I was a lot more confident than I was last year.”
Davis was attempting to become the fourth Preble pole vaulter to win a state title, joining Jake Wallenfang (2013), Lucas McCormick (2017) and Augustus Counard-Ciechanowski (2024).
The 15-6 vault by Davis would have been good enough to win the state title in each of the previous two years.
His goal will be even bigger as a senior.
“The main goal is the state record [of 16-8 by Hartford Union’s Aaron Cummings in 2023]. I shoot high. This year, I shot pretty high and I got a lot better.
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“I’m shooting high, and if I don’t get it, but I end up being the state champion in the process, then I still reach what I wanted to.”
Davis already helped make school history a week before state after Preble placed three athletes in the pole vault.
It’s the first time in program history three individuals have qualified in one state event.
Along with the runner-up finish by Davis, senior Jacob Peruzzi tied for ninth with a 14-0, while junior Caleb Wilke tied for 14th with a 13-6.
“It was awesome,” Boockmeier said. “These three guys are the best of friends, too, so they go jump together all the time in the offseason. They work out together. They hang out all the time.
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“For them to all be here and experience this together was pretty cool.”
Pulaski senior Emerson Fabry placed fifth in the D1 800 for the second straight year, finishing in 2.14.11 after her 2:14.13 in 2025.
Fabry entered with the second-best sectional time in the state and had expectations of competing for a championship, but it perhaps was made more difficult because of her other accomplishments.
Fabry earned a trip to state for the first time in the 1,600. She placed 10th, and although she ran a personal-best 5:03.42, running that race to start her day didn’t help in the 800, which is her best event.
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“I’m pretty happy with the time, but I think it took it out of me a little bit,” Fabry said. “I definitely know I could have been state runner-up today [in the 800] had I not done the mile, but I’m still really happy I did both. I know sometimes when you are already tired going into a race, you have to put your best foot forward and just get after it.”
Was there any consideration not to do the 1,600 and just concentrate on the 800?
“I think I’m a very talented 1,600-meter runner, and I wasn’t going to give up the opportunity at the state level to not compete,” Fabry said. “I’m happy I did both, but the 800 is definitely my thing where I excel the most.”
Fabry’s running career is far from complete.
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She signed a letter of intent in November to run cross-country and track at NCAA Division I Northern Illinois.
“Getting into running my freshman year, I didn’t really take it very seriously,” said Fabry, who was named the Fox River Classic Conference girls track athlete of the year this season. “I feel like I’m just so grateful for what running has given. Confidence, and the relationships that I’ve built along the way and the coaches that I’ve met.
“If I didn’t have running, I would definitely be a different person. It has helped me so much in so many ways. I’m super happy overall with my career and I’m really looking forward to next year at NIU.”
Inclement weather hit late on the first day, forcing a lightning delay of more than one hour and eventually leading to the postponement of several D2 and D3 events.
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∎ Kewaunee senior Hannah Miller placed fifth in the D3 1,600 with a 5:03.42.
∎ Coleman sophomore Hunter Dehart finished fourth in the D3 discus with a throw of 179-11.
∎ Southern Door senior Frankie Nellis placed fourth in the D3 long jump with a jump of 17 feet, 7.75 inches, while Eagles senior Grant Pieschek tied for fifth in the pole vault with a 14-0.
∎ Northeastern Wisconsin Lutheran senior Kiera Adams-McIntosh was sixth in the D3 shot put with a 38-4.75.
∎ West De Pere senior Daniel Nehls finished third in the 800-meter wheelchair. Marquette senior Gianni Quintero set a state record in the event with a 1:54.75.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: De Pere’s Lenn, Notre Dame’s Flanigan win state track and field titles
