Arrowhead girls track and field coach Bradley Clark called the upcoming Myrhum Invite on May 8 “the best meet in the state.” His team is arguably the best team in the state as the march toward a third straight WIAA Division 1 state team title continues for the Warhawks. Another state title would mark the first time a team has three-peated in D1 since Milwaukee Bradley Tech won three titles in a row from 2009 to 2011.
Truthfully, not many would attempt to argue such a claim. The two-time defending D1 team state champions have added five new marks to the top-50 times and distances record book in state history in three different events, and that’s just since April 19 at the M-Club Relays hosted by Mukwonago. That also doesn’t include senior pole vaulter and defending state champion Elise Schroeder clearing 14 feet at the Millrose Games in New York in early March to set an all-time overall state record in the vault event.
“They’re easily a once in a coaching career-type of class,” Clark said. “How often do you have a record setter in 100 [meter], 200, 400, the [pole] vault, the long jump, the 4×1, the 4×2 and the high jump? We have a special group of girls and they can do big things.”
It has been a monstrous season of broken records for the program, led by an extremely talented senior-laden group of Avery Bott, Josie Bularz, Payton Eicher, Giselle Huggett and Schroeder, who also helped the Warhawks set the fourth-fastest time in 4×100 relay state history with a time of 46.61 seconds at the Classic 8 Conference Relays on May 4 with Bott, Eicher and Huggett.
“I think the most important thing is having a good relationship with everyone, on and off the track, but especially off because we’re all pretty super close,” Bott said on what fuels the Warhawks to continue to set a new bar of expectations.
“I feel like if we didn’t have that sort of relationship, maybe things wouldn’t go the way they’ve been going. That’s a really important thing.”
“Track is a special environment because everyone supports one another,” Schroeder said. “It’s so fun to be a part of.”
“We’re all rooting for each other. It’s one of the sports where I feel like everyone just wants the best for one another because you never know who’s individually competing, with us, we’re team competing … there’s so many different things happening. It’s truly a sport for everyone,” Bott added.
Eicher, who became the first jumper in Classic 8 Conference girls track history to register a long jump of at least 20 feet at the Lancer Invitational on May 2, has battled back from a nagging quadricep injury last season and a pair of stress fractures in her back from gymnastics as a sophomore. The Youngstown State commit has been a massive piece to the puzzle within the senior leadership group for the Warhawks and continues to leap toward stardom with every jump into the sand.
“I still feel like I haven’t fully processed it,” Eicher said with a laugh on her record-setting jump.
“It’s been so much fun this season too because we generally don’t get to run with Avery because she’s our big opens girl [in the individual sprints]. It’s been really neat when the relay girls get to run with her because we try to take that opportunity to try and get even more really crazy records.”
The constant hunt for championships and records for Arrowhead brings Clark’s post-state title win thoughts back to the forefront after his girls dominated the action on their way to a second straight team title, becoming the first program since Milwaukee King in 2017 to repeat as D1 team state champions.
“I just put their names on the sheet. They do the rest,” Clark said last June.
Warhawks flying into Myrhum with all the momentum they could ask for
On top of the countless records the Warhawks have set within the program this year, the defending champions aren’t satisfied with the target on their back continuing to grow. Their title defense resides in the near future come postseason time, but the excitement is building toward one of the biggest days on the calendar.
The Myrhum Invitational hosted by Arrowhead began in 1982 and outside of 11 total instances – including two cancellations of the event in 2004 and 2020 – the Warhawks have won the overall meet on the girls side.
Bott and Schroeder also hold the top spot in a pair of events in Myrhum history. Bott, the future Penn State Nittany Lion runner, ran a time of 23.94 seconds in the 200 last year to set a meet record. Schroeder vaulted 13 feet, 8 inches to clear the meet record by over a foot in last season’s meet. If Eicher touches 20 feet in the long jump again, she would also set a meet record.
It’s a stiff field to crack across any division, as all three will be represented among the field on May 8 with minimum time and distance standards that athletes are required to hit to qualify for the event on both the boys and girls sides. Five of the top six team finishers at last year’s D1 state meet will be at the Myrhum, including Arrowhead. It’s also Bott’s first “triple” day of the season as she’ll compete in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter heats. She finished in the top three at state in all three events, including capturing the 200-meter state title.
“You’re still obviously nervous like anyone would, but being in the position to run with your competition [at the Myrhum] and know who you’re going to be up against, it almost feels like a given you’ll see them again at state because there’s so many great girls,” Bott said. “I feel like it definitely prepares you a lot mentally, but it can prepare yourself in other ways when you’re going to state later.”
“I love it because I get to jump with many people,” Schroeder said. “It’s so fun. That’s why I’m especially excited for this meet because there’s gonna be some girls I can jump with and compete with. And then obviously, setting another meet record would be cool.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Arrowhead girls track flying toward Myrhum, third straight state title
Reporting by Michael Whitlow, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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