Cheers and Jeers
Sportswriter Steve Tietz will use this blog to try to duly reward the great, praise heartily the hard-working, uncover the unsung, and take to task the spoilsport, the foul-mouth and the crass in the local prep sports scene. He'll try to remember that kids are just kids and that coaches aren't in it for the money. He'll try to gently remind parents that the kids are playing for fun, not for profit and that the officials, though occasionally human and therefore prone to error, are there to ensure fair play and not out to get anyone.
As Falls' Widule ups the ante' in the high hurdles, GT's Schleis stays apprised
Adam Schleis couldn't help himself.
The 2005 state 110-meter high hurdle champ for Germantown and current assistant coach for Homestead was doing his job at the North Shore Outdoor meet on Tuesday in Whitefish Bay when he got a text message from Menomonee Falls, site of the Greater Metro Conference meet.
The message was simple, defending state champ Matt Widule of the Falls had broken through the barrier, running the fastest fully automatic 110 high hurdle time in state history with a 13.96 second clocking.
So what does Schleis do? He, of course tells his little brother Dexter of Germantown about it right before Dexter was to run his own 110-meter final. Dexter Schleis and Widule have been dueling for state hurdling bragging rights all spring in both the 110 and 300 intermediate distances.
"I couldn't help myself," Adam said.
No matter, little brother held his composure and easily won the highs in a time of 14.46, an effort that tied his personal best.
"No, it didn't bother me," Dexter said that night. "Though that time is now definitely stuck in my head. That's fast, that's really fast. But we both know that it's really a mental game and that you can't get caught up thinking about it too much. I did just send him a text message, though, saying '13.96, I love that!'"
"I can't wait for the next couple of weeks (WIAA regionals, sectionals and state). I know we have a couple of 37s in us (in the 300s)."
Widule was pleased that his old hurdling buddy took the effort with good grace and he by no means thinks he's got things easy going into the WIAA championship series.
"He (Dexter) did that to me with his (state best) 55 time indoors," he said, "So now we've done it to each other. I know he'll still be right there at the end. I have no doubt about that."
And it's not as if the pair have a mortal lock on state titles in the two races. At the Monona Grove Invitational last Friday, Madison Memorial's Lechein Neblett, himself a returning state placewinner, temporarily knocked Widule off the top stand of the high hurdles with a 14.32 effort and slipped Schleis to second and Widule to third in the intermediates with a smoking clocking of 38.29.
"That 300 time really caught Matt's attention," said Indian coach Mike Burling. Neblett continued to raise the level of his game at Tuesday's Big 8 Conference meet, as he turned in a high hurdle time of 14.18, which also ranks in the state's all-time top five.
Burling, who sent out an e-mail to all those concerned Tuesday night that simply said '13.96' with multiple exclamation points behind it, thinks this relentless game of oneupmanship is good for the sport.
"I think we're in for something special (in the next couple of weeks)," he said.
Widule also has no doubt about that.
"Hey, it's the hurdles, anything can happen," he said.
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