Milwaukee, WI
15 Milwaukee-area champions crowned on Day 2 of WIAA state girls track
New Berlin West, Pius XI Catholic speak after relay title victories
Pius XI Catholic and New Berlin West each won WIAA Division 2 state relay track titles. Hear from both squads after their victories.
LA CROSSE – The 2026 WIAA state girls track and field season concluded Saturday, June 6 with the state meet at Veterans Memorial Complex on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
The event schedule was altered due to lightning and rain toward the end of competition Friday that resulted in some Division 2 and 3 events, along with the wheelchair shot-put competitions, pushing to Saturday.
Here’s a recap of Day 2 action, including 15 state champions crowned from the Milwaukee area. Arrowhead also won its third straight Division 1 state team title in dominating fashion, becoming the first team since Milwaukee Bradley Tech from 2009-11 to three-peat in the state’s biggest division.
Arrowhead’s trio of Bott, Eicher and Schroeder bring home four titles and relay win
Before the Myrhum Invitational in May, Arrowhead boys track and field coach Chris Herriot said this version of the girls team might be the best unit in program history.
Four individual titles and a relay title later, and Herriot may have been correct in his analysis of the back-to-back-to-back D1 state team champion.
Arrowhead’s charge to 70 points was sparked by its talented trident of Avery Bott, Payton Eicher and Elise Schroeder. Bott captured the 400 meters after finishing second as a junior. Eicher won the long and triple jump double, while Schroeder shattered the D1 pole vault state meet record of 12 feet 9 inches by going 13-6 for her third straight title. Eicher and Schroeder added a relay title and 10 more team points with fellow seniors Josie Bularz and Giselle Huggett in the 400 relay(46.52 seconds).
“It’s really exciting,” Eicher said. “We’ve been running relays together since freshman year, so, like, getting to this point where we’re still, we’re able to be so confident in our abilities that we can just have fun with it and feel relaxed and do our best.”
It was a bittersweet day for the Warhawks in a final adieu to the program for its core group of seniors.
“It’s been a year of gratitude,” Huggett said. “Standing on the line, it felt like we were all sad. I was crying at the starting line. We’ve just been through it all together as a team. We were second in the 4×1 last year and winning it after last year for us was really special.”
Brookfield Central’s Rinkam does the sprint double despite scary tumble
One of the weekend’s biggest gasps from the crowd at Roger Harring Stadium came at the end of the D1 100 final that saw Brookfield Central junior Kyenret Rinkam repeat as champion. Rinkam became the first back-to-back champion in the event since Dezerea Bryant from Milwaukee Bradley Tech in 2010 and 2011.
But Rinkam took a hard stumble across the finish line that made many worry for a moment. Despite some cuts to her left shoulder and skin coming off her chin, Rinkam rolled over without missing a beat into her arms raised to signal the repeat had been completed. She got bandaged up, won the 200 final and also helped the Lancers make the podium in the 1,600 relay final with a fifth-place finish.
“It was really cool,” Rinkam said with a giant smile on the win despite the fall.
“But I don’t think I realize … I didn’t notice my shoulder was all banged up, so someone just told me, ‘Kenny, your shoulder!’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ It was a lot worse than I thought it was. It’s definitely a little sore. The top layer of my skin isn’t there, so it’s not the greatest situation, but overall, the muscles are perfectly fine.”
Dominican’s Knautz ends career with three medals
Dominican senior sprinter Sydney Knautz’s mentality heading into her final day with the Knights program was simple: run to win.
The UW-Parkside commit broke the D3 100 meet record in the preliminary heats and then broke her own record to win the final in 11.94 in a dead heat with Madison Country’s Batteh Doumbya.
“Run to win,” Knautz said. “I wanted to come out here and win. I’ve dreamed of being here and winning a state title for so long. This was amazing.”
Knautz came within 0.04 of a second of Mishicot’s Juliana Doerner in another epic battle to the line in the 200. But three medals, including a sixth-place medal in the 400 relay with Laylah Bly, Alaya Scott and Flynn Martin-Burd Aronin, capped a strong showing.
“I wouldn’t be here without my coaches,” Knautz said. “They’ve always had the belief in me to do great things and I wouldn’t be here without them. They push me to be great.”
New Berlin West three-peats as D2 800 relay champ
Death, taxes and New Berlin West winning relay titles.
For the third straight year, the Vikings won the D2 800 relay, breaking their meet record with a time of 1:40.25. They became the first school since Catholic Memorial from 2016-18 to three-peat in the 800 in any division.
“We’ve ran together for the past four years, we’ve broken this record together three times,” Caroline Gerovac said. “I’m grateful for every second, every moment. I’m really gonna miss this group.”
Gerovac, along with Aubrey Lane and Ashley Babcock, have been the foundation of the team during their three-year dominance. The faces have changed three times with the graduating Natalie Leupi, sophomore Raquel Gerovac and freshman Harmony Billups joining the quartet this season, but the beat goes on.
The Vikings added one more relay title for good measure, storming through the staggered start in Lane 1 to bring home another gold medal in the 1,600 with Caroline’s sister Raquel joining the team with Babcock and Lane.
“Being with three seniors, I just put my heart into it and get behind them and do whatever they can do,” Billups said. “I just try my best to keep up with them.”
Pius XI Catholic rolls to 400 relay title with senior-less lineup
No seniors, no problem for Pius XI Catholic’s 400 relay unit.
Pius’ group of TyJah Horton, Samara Crowley, Nyomi Seals-Presti and Alanna Loyd couldn’t dethrone New Berlin West in the 800 final, but a crown resides on their heads after setting a meet record in the D2 400 relay final in 47.76.
“Really practicing hard and keeping our stamina up to do these relays back-to-back like this,” Horton said on what’s been the secret to their success.
“We check up on each other and make sure we’re all good. We’re really going for it all,” Seals-Presti added.
The group has two juniors in Seals-Presti and Loyd, but with sophomore Horton and a freshman in Crowley, the sky’s the limit fmoving into next season.
“The flow of the relay, the communication with everybody, that plays such a crucial role,” Loyd said. “If there’s bad communication, it’s not gonna go how you want it to go. But if the communication’s good with us, it’s going to be smooth every single time.”
Whitefish Bay’s McCabe overcomes stress fracture to win 3,200 title
Missing six weeks with a stress fracture in your foot isn’t the most ideal way to start your high school athletic career, but for Whitefish Bay freshman Karstin McCabe, she’s not just any other freshman.
It took some recovery time, patience and belief she could return from the foot injury to a high level, and that setback set up for a true comeback. Not only did McCabe return from the injury to finish third in the D1 state cross-country meet this past fall, she’s now a state track champion after cruising to a 3,200 title in her first appearance in La Crosse.
“A really big tool that I used was an anti-gravity treadmill,” McCabe said about the recovery process. “I feel like I learned a lot of things from that and I learned a lot of things about myself and what my body can and cannot do. It was a really big learning experience for me.”
McCabe had been one of the top 3,200 runners in the state all season and proved it in the final, racing to a time of 10:24.22, almost 13 seconds ahead of second place.
“I felt super happy,” McCabe said when she stepped to the top step on the podium. “I was thinking back at all those times I was in the boot during cross-country season and just dreaming about times like this. I was really, really happy about it.”
Other Milwaukee-area champions
Slinger freshman Lucy Rate had a wonderful debut at state, capturing titles in the 100 and 400 wheelchair events. Rate was a one-woman show, capturing the wheelchair division’s runner-up trophy with 31 points across four events.
Mukwonago’s 800 relay of Rileigh Black, Libby Gnewuch, Emma Craig and Laela Presendofer won the D1 title in 1:39.39, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the area with Arrowhead in second (1:40.52) and Germantown third (1:41.504). Presendofer took home three medals to conclude her career with a third in the 100 and a fourth in the 200.
West Bend West senior Rylee Faehling had been the top 300 hurdler in the state all season and she capped her career with a state title. Faehling went 42 seconds flat in the D1 event, her third medal of the day after finishing third in the 100 hurdles and running the anchor leg on the Spartans’ fifth-place 800 relay team.
Other area athletes with podium finishes
- Grafton’s team of Callie Faust, Abby Barthelemy, Emily Sewell and Cali Tagliapietra finished third in the D2 3,200 relay in 9:20.01. University School’s quartet of Ksenija Marich, Anastasia Marich, Cate Kohli and Ainsley Polston finished fourth in 9:34.27. Sewell, Barthelemy, Tagliapietra and Melanie Morgan also finished second in the 1,600 relay in 3:57.41.
- Slinger’s 3,200 relay team of Stella Gruendemann, Piper Schuster, Ava Dziedzic and Olivia Helmle finished as runner-up in D1 in 9:06.30, just over two seconds behind Menomonie (9:04.13).
- Sussex Hamilton’s Macy Price completed the podium in the D1 100 hurdles in sixth in 14.71 (14.708) seconds. Price added a second hurdles medal with a time of 44.27 in the 300 to take third.
- Pius XI Catholic’s TyJah Horton finished fifth in the D2 100 in 12.434 seconds. Horton, Samara Crowley, Alanna Loyd and Nyomi Seals-Presti also finished second in the 800 relay in 1:41.48. Loyd finished sixth in the 200 final in 25.28. Pius senior Mya Gencuski finished third in the pole vault at 12 feet even.
- Five of the top six finishers in the D1 100 came from the area. Mukwonago’s Laela Presendofer took third (11.83), Arrowhead’s Payton her took fourth (11.827), Kettle Moraine’s Caitlin Blawat was fifth (11.97) and Arrowhead’s Avery Bott was sixth (11.98). Bott also finished third in the 200 in 24.10. Presendofer finished fourth in 24.29, while Blawat was fifth in 24.40.
- New Berlin West sophomore Raquel Gerovac finished fifth in the D2 800 in 2:16.75. She also ran the third leg on West’s title-winning 1,600 relay. Gerovac’s relay teammates Ashley Babcock went third-fastest in the 200 final in 24.52, while Aubrey Lane was fifth with in 24.93.
- Brookfield Central junior Ava Mohns finished fifth in the D1 discus with a best throw of 133-5.
- Catholic Memorial’s quartet of Evelyn Melzer, Kayla Campione, Julia Nicholas and Samantha Sarner took fifth in the D2 1,600 relay in 3:59.73.
- Five of the six podium places belonged to Milwaukee-area teams in the D1 1,600 relay won by Stevens Point as Waukesha West (3:52.39) took second, Germantown came back to take third (3:52.77), Pewaukee finished fourth (3:52.91), Brookfield Central took fifth (3:55.00) and Brookfield East grabbed the final podium spot in sixth (3:55.64).
Top 10 team finishers across each division
Division 1: 1. Arrowhead 70, 2. Neenah 42, 3. Appleton North 38, 4. Menomonie 30, 5. Oshkosh West 29, 6. Mukwonago 28, 7. Slinger 27, 8. Holmen 26, 9. West Bend West 25, T-10. Brookfield Central 21, Germantown 21.
Division 2: 1. Bloomer 56, 2. Kettle Moraine Lutheran 37, 3. Xavier 36, T-4. Osecola 35, New Berlin West 35, T-6. Pius XI Catholic 34, Hayward, 8. Mount Horeb, 33.5, 9. Berlin 27, 10. Edgewood 21.
Division 3: 1. Ladysmith 34.5, 2. Assumption 34, T-3. Cameron 33, Cochrane-Fountain City 33, 5. Deerfield 27, 6. Kickapoo/La Farge 24, 7. Randolph-Cambria-Friesland 23, 8. St. Mary Catholic 22, 9. Dominican 21, 10. Mishicot 20.5.
Wheelchair: 1. Sun Prairie East 52, 2. Slinger 31, T-3. Viroqua 24, Greenwood 34, T-5. Chippewa Falls 6, Brookfield East 6, 7. Wauwatosa East 5, 8. Kenosha St. Joseph 3.
Penelope the corpse flower is in bloom at Milwaukee’s Mitchell Park Domes.
Penelope, which last bloomed in 2024, will be open and stinking for the next 24-48 hours. This rare and very large flower only booms every couple of years; when it does, it emits a powerful – and disgusting – odor.
“Typically they only bloom once every six to eight years, ” said Amanda Garchow, horticulturist at the Domes. “Penelope’s a little different in our case; this is her second bloom in two years, so it’s extra exciting for us because it’s a rare event that’s she’s blooming so soon.”
The ephemeral nature of this plant and its experience has gathered somewhat of a cult following, according to Bryan Connolly, botanist and associate professor of biology at Eastern Connecticut State University, who once had someone visit his greenhouse with a corpse flower tattoo on his leg.
Below, with some help from Connolly and Garchow, we answer questions about this fascinating plant.
What exactly is a corpse flower?
The corpse flower, also known as a Amorphophallus titanum to scientists and “titan arum” to fans of David Attenborough’s “The Private Life of Plants,” is a flowering plant native to rainforests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is known for its putrid smell, often compared to the scent of rotting flesh, and for only blooming for 24-48 hours every couple years.
Why does it take so long to bloom?
It needs to accumulate enough nutrients. The corpse plant starts as a seed or, if it’s already bloomed, an underground tuber-like corm (think potato). Both produce a really large leaf, which can be up to 15 feet tall.
“There’s no stem when it’s not flowering, and so it has a petiole, which is part of the leaf that looks kind of like a stem, but it’s not a stem,” Connolly explained. “They can get very large, like bigger than your thigh around.”
The leaf generates sugar – food for the plant – and stores it in the underground corm.
After a year, the leaf dies, and the tuber rests for four months. Then it produces a new leaf and repeats the cycle until the tuber becomes large enough. This takes about seven to 10 years for a new seed and three to four years for a corm that’s bloomed before.
The corm of a corpse flower is the largest of any flowering plant. According to Connolly, the biggest one has been up to 200 pounds, but they’re typically more like 60 pounds.
Why the rotting meat smell?
To attract pollinators. After years of tuber growing, the tuber eventually produces a spike, formally known as a spadix, of flowers wrapped in a specialized leaf called a spathe. Female and male flowers grow in a ring at the bottom of the spadix. This stage is called an inflorescence, which is a group of flowers.
The corpse flower is the world’s largest unbranched inflorescence or group of flowers.
Eventually, as the spathe opens, the spadix heats up to about 99 degrees F and the flowers begin to emit pulses of powerful odor to attract insects, like carrion beetles or fruit flies, that typically eat or lay their eggs on rotten meat. These insects pollinate the flowers at the base of the plant.
Are there benefits to being pollinated by insects like fruit flies and carrion beetles instead of more common pollinators like bees?
Not really.
According Connolly, it may be related to the plant’s native environment. Corpse plants can be miles apart in a rainforest, and since they bloom infrequently they can only be pollinated and reproduce every few years. Because of that, it could be advantageous to seek pollinators that are willing to travel long distances between plants.
What makes it smell so bad?
Chemists have isolated identified over 40 compounds that make up the odor released by the plant. Some of the chemicals include two that smell like garlic (dimethyl trisulfide and disulfide), one that smells like sulfur (methanethiol), one that smells like citrus (limonene), one that smells like feces (idole), and one that smells like urine (phenylalanin).
Why should I care?
There is inherent intrigue to a smelly plant named Penelope. But also, corpse flowers are an endangered species due to loss of habitat, climate change and encroachment from invasive species. Garchow said that it’s estimated there are only 800 left in the wild.
Additionally, these plants are difficult to conserve via seed preservation because their seeds aren’t viable after drying.
Therefore, they must be conserved in living collections in gardens, research labs or greenhouses and conservatories like the Domes.
Since they can’t self-pollinate, despite having both male and female flowers, they must be pollinated by another plant. Different research labs and greenhouses often rely on sending stored pollen to each other to keep these plant lines going.
“I’m really thankful that we have this giant, smelly, weird plant that, you know, kind of brings botany to the public,” said Connolly with a smile. “And just the conservation of plants and of the species in general.”
The Domes will have extended hours on Saturday and Sunday to accommodate visitors who want to see the corpse flower in bloom, though the smell will mostly fade by Sunday. Stop by to see Penelope, support important conservation work and acquire a unique, albeit smelly, experience.
The Dome, 524 S. Layton Blvd., will host extending hours for this event, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Admission is $10 for adults ($9 for residents), $6.50 for ages 3-12 and free for children younger than 2. Due to road construction and the closure of the 27th Street bridge, the Milwaukee Domes Alliance suggests using GPS to plot a route. Directions and more information, including specific discounts, are available at www.MilwaukeeDomes.org.
Reach Donnisa Edmonds at DEdmonds@usatodayco.com.
Garrett Mitchell celebrates with third base coach Matt Erickson after hitting a two-run home run against the Chicago Cubs. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE – Garrett Mitchell and William Contreras homered, Jacob Misiorowski delivered another winning performance, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the rival Cubs 6-2 at American Family Field on Friday night.
Jacob Misiorowski
By the numbers:
Misiorowski (9-3) struck out eight over six innings and 105.5 mph, tied for the third-fastest since pitch tracking began in 2008. He allowed one earned run – a Seiya Suzuki home run in the fifth – on two hits but walked four. His earned run average for the season now sits at 1.45.
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Home runs at AmFam
By the numbers:
Milwaukee trailed 1-0 when Misiorowski threw his final pitch of the night, but Mitchell belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to put Miz in position for the win. David Hamilton made it 3-1 with a triple that scored Cooper Pratt later in the sixth.
Contreras added insurance with a two-run home run of his own in the seventh. Suzuki drove in Pete Crow-Armstrong with a sacrifice fly in the eighth to close the gap for Chicago, but Christian Yelich doubled home Pratt in the bottom half.
Abner Uribe pitched a scoreless seventh for his eleventh hold of the season, Aaron Ashby gave up the sac fly to Suzuki in the eighth and Trevor Megill walked one but worked a scoreless ninth.
Former Milwaukee pitcher Colin Rea pitched five innings in the start for Chicago, but Ethan Roberts was credited with both the loss and a blown save.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who had surgery Thursday for a ruptured disk in his back, guided his club from a safe spot near the dugout.
Saturday’s game
What’s next:
LHP David Peterson (3-6, 6.09 ERA) makes his Cubs debut after being acquired Thursday from the New York Mets for minor league third baseman Cole Mathis. LHP Kyle Harrison (8-1, 2.50) starts for the Brewers.
The Source: Information in this story is from Brewers.com. The Associated Press contributed.
There are few things that the Milwaukee Brewers haven’t done right so far in 2026.
Milwaukee has navigated difficult injuries all season and yet it is 49-29 and has the second-best record in baseball behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (52-29) heading into an important series against the Chicago Cubs. How many teams out there could accomplish this feat when guys like Andrew Vaughn Christian Yelich, Quinn Priester, Jackson Chourio, and Brandon Woodruff all missed significant time at various points in the season? These are legit, star-level pieces and the Brewers navigated the losses admirably.
Right now, all of them are healthy, except Priester. The young starter will miss the entire season. Now, Milwaukee is firing on all cylinders and yet it could be even better. Soon enough, Logan Henderson will be back. Also, the offense would arguably be even better if Vaughn was given more opportunities. Since May 4, Vaughn is only eighth on the team in plate appearances, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Despite this, Vaughn has done nothing but tear the cover off the ball. In 39 games, he has slashed .355/.444/.542 with a .987 OPS, two homers, 12 doubles, and 23 RBIs. That’s the type of production you need in the lineup every night, regardless.
The Brewers Need To Give Andrew Vaughn More Time
Brewers manager Pat Murphy acknowledged that Vaughn has had a weakness with some righties, as transcribed by Hogg.
“Heavy east-west sometimes is more troublesome for him,” Murphy said. “But for him this year you can look at it and go, ‘Yeah, against the two-seamer he’s been [worse]. But what about the times against the two-samer that he took it and got something else? You don’t get credit for being good against the two-seamer when you take it. You only get dinged when you swing at it.”
Still, this is a guy batting .355 since May 4. He’s obviously not perfect, but Milwaukee’s offense is better with him in it. Even if the club has to get creative. Jake Bauers has made his mark this season and needs playing time as well and both play first base, among others. Throughout Vaughn’s career, he has seen time at third base, second base, left field and right field, along with first base. Throughout the season to this point, there’s been chatter about how the Brewers haven’t had enough offense on the left side of the infield.
They recently promoted Cooper Pratt to play shortstop, so third base has been handled by David Hamilton and Joey Ortiz. Maybe a good idea could be trying to shift Vaughn to third base for the time being because they could then get his bat and Bauers’ bat in the lineup consistently. In that scenario, the Brewers could also consistently roll with an outfield of Chourio in left field, Garrett Mitchell in center field, and Sal Frelick in right field.
At the end of the day, the Brewers need Vaughn’s bat in the lineup every day. If you can bat .355 over a 39-game stretch, you deserve significant playing time.
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