One throw is all it took for Pardeeville junior to win state shot put (2024)

LA CROSSE — A little confidence was all that Chloe Kessenich needed Friday afternoon.

A positive mark after two scratches not only lifted her into the Division 3 girls shot put finals, but helped the Pardeeville junior breathe a sigh of relief.

It was the perfect mental boost Kessenich needed, as she repeated the feat to ultimately win the event as the Bulldogs' first shot put champion at the WIAA state track and field championships at the Veterans Memorial Field Complex.

“It’s amazing to me that I can come back from such a mental block, where I felt like I couldn’t have done it in those first two throws,” Kessenich said.

Kessenich delivered a throw of 40 feet, 3 inches on her final attempt of the day, edging out Fennimore’s Rachel Schauer by three-quarters of an inch to become Pardeeville’s first individual champion since Mikayla Brouette won the triple jump in 2017.

Kessenich’s winning throw nearly didn’t happen, twice.

The returning sixth-place medalist scratched on each of her first two attempts of prelims. It forced Kessenich into a make-or-break situation, one she rose to the occasion in with a throw of 39-6¾.

“Coming back with that 39-foot throw … I had a little bit of confidence left in me,” Kessenich said.

As much confidence as it gave her, Kessenich wound up in the same spot as she scratched on each of her first two final three throws. Having been there under an hour ago however, Kessenich was up to the task for a second time.

She pulled through with her winning throw, as Schauer failed to edge back in front.

“It was so amazing, to actually feel like I could do something like that, because for a second I thought I lost it,” Kessenich said. “Knowing I could do it, and that I did that, it found a spot in my heart where, ‘I am this good, and I can be this good if I have confidence.’”

Bulldogs boys battle to runner-up finish

Kessenich wasn’t alone in standing toward the top of the podium as the Pardeeville boys 3,200 relay kicked off the afternoon finishing second.

The team of Brody Motsenbocker, Nicholai Undraitis, Will Becker and Colin Smith combined to run a time of 7 minutes, 59.24 seconds, just under a second behind champion Fennimore (7:58.44). Despite finishing short of the team’s first relay championship in 11 years, the Bulldogs had plenty to be happy about, shattering their school record time of 8:11.85 that they set at sectionals.

“As fun as it would be having that state title, it’s everything we’ve ever dreamed of, but you can’t complain at the end of the day,” Smith said.

“You do that at state, you can’t complain at the end of the day. It was a great last race with my boys on the 4x8.”

It was the final go-around for the quartet, who were part of Pardeeville’s eighth-place team at the WIAA Division 3 state cross country championships in the fall.

“It was pretty sweet just to come into track never making it before, and then to show up and take second,” Undraitis said.

Motsenbocker was in attendance when Smith, who will compete in Saturday’s 800, ran at state last season. With three of the four runners — Motsenbocker, Becker and Undraitis — set to return next year, the first true taste of state was “an amazing experience,” for Motsenbocker.

“Seeing all these people here, your anxiety level is up there,” he said. “I was so nervous into the starting line, and it was amazing to see all the people come support us, too.”