WIAA Track: Brookfield East Boys Win State

“Destiny is to be achieved. Don’t wait on it.”

That’s the motto emblazoned on the back of Brookfield East’s boys track shirts.

The Spartans didn’t wait around at all as they competed in an amazing 14 events involving 18 different individuals en route to their first Division 1 state track title in school history.

“(Our depth) has been key all year,” East head coach Mike Steiner said. “I think we scored in eight events at this meet. That’s been the key for the whole season. Our depth is phenomenal. We cover a lot of events; we have heavy hitters in a lot of events and when you put that all together it’s a pretty darn good recipe.”

Although they had plans to finish on top heading into the day, it wasn’t always clear that would happen.

Early on in the sun-scorching day, East was doing well enough to land on the podium but only finished in the top spot twice.

Never backing down from a challenge, the Spartans had two of their biggest guns waiting at the end.

Senior Aaron Dillon had an impressive jump of 47 feet, 1.5 inches in the triple jump to take first in the event, leaving just the 4x400 relay remaining, an event the Spartans have owned all year.

While things looked a little shaky at times, senior Aaron Thompson closed down La Crosse Central’s anchor to take the top spot and ensure the overall team top finish.

“Aaron (Thompson) has been our anchor all year,” Steiner said. “He went through some tough times because he didn’t make it through in the 300 hurdles (where he was the top-rated individual in the state).

“His role became being a solid guy in those two sprint relays and he responded. He got the baton in a tough spot there, but he’s special. He can close and he can finish; the kid’s got a different gear.”

In all, East finished with 57 points, well ahead of second-place Arrowhead (39.33) to claim their first school state title since 1997.