Ashwaubenon’s Schroeder thankful to make another state run

Mara Schroeder has been wearing the bracelet during the home stretch of the track and field season.

It’s made out of the top portion of a Ziploc bag, which is fitting because the Ashwaubenon senior put together some fast times to seal another trip to the WIAA state track and field meet.

“It was kind of a random thing that I forgot to take it off before a race,” Schroeder said about the bracelet she received from Caitlin Morris, a fellow senior in her calculous class.

“She made it for me, and I wore it one time and broke our school record by like a half a second.”

This will be Schroeder’s second state appearance. Perhaps no returning qualifier from the Green Bay area is happier about getting another run at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse than her.

That’s because she had to wait two years for it.

After finishing 12th in the 400-meter run as a sophomore, Schroeder had most of her junior season wiped out due to nine stress fractures in her left foot.

“It was just about every bone there,” said Schroeder, who qualified for state this year in the 400 and as a leg on the Jaguars’ 3,200 relay.

“I’m just so grateful for every single race I can get. Making it to state this year as a senior, I’m just so thankful.”

Schroeder’s school-record time in the 400 is 57.73 seconds, which she recorded at the Fox River Classic Conference meet on May 15 at Pulaski.

Unfortunately, a couple of Ashwaubenon’s other stellar runners were scratches for the meet

Junior Sage Wagner sustained an Achilles injury that kept her out of the FRCC meet, while senior Jose Guzman has missed a large portion of the outdoor season with a hamstring injury.

Guzman, a two-time state champion in the 400, battled through the injury to punch his ticket back to state in the event for a third straight year.

“It has been a tough year,” Ashwaubenon track and field coach Cal Kromm said. “Jose pulled it again within 20 meters here, so he was on one leg.”

Wagner bounced back from missing the FRCC meet to win regional and sectional titles in the 800. She owns the school record in the 800 with a time of 2:17.66, which ranks sixth in the state, according to Wisconsin Track Online.

After advancing to state in two open runs the past two years, Wagner qualified in the 800 and as a leg on the 3,200 relay along with Schroeder, sophomore Erica Conrad, junior Kiley Harju and senior Emilie Van Sluys.

Ashwaubeon also had one individual advance to state in a field event with junior Mabel Kirst qualifying in the girls shot put. It’s the sixth straight year the Jaguars had a girl qualify for state in a throwing event.

Ashwaubenon is happy about sending a contingent of qualifiers again to La Crosse, especially after everything it has overcome to do so this year.

“I know she has tons of motivation for qualifying for this,” Wagner said of Schroeder. “It kind of went through the whole team for that.”

Schroeder’s personal-best time in the 400 ranks 15th in the state this year.

She is excited about the prospect of running at the big, red track in La Crosse for her final high school race, but she’ll have plenty more there in college.

Schroeder plans to compete in track and field at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where both of her parents, Bill and Shelly, were All-Americans.

“It will be really fun to run there,” Schroeder said.

“My goal is to run a 56. I just want to see how fast I can go. I care more about time than place, but I’d really like to be on the podium this year.”

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