TJ Christensen set some pretty lofty goals for himself heading into this track and field season.
He achieved a few of them during the Section 6AA Track and Field Championships last week at Orono High School.
Make it to state in the shot put? Check.
Make it to state in the discus? Check.
Pass Dad on the Litchfield High School discus records list? Check.
Reach 53 feet in the shot put? Not quite. But Christensen hopes that goal, too, can be met yet this season.
By winning both the shot put and discuss in the section meet, the Litchfield High School sophomore qualified for the State Class AA Track and Field Meet this week, where he will have another opportunity to add another “mission accomplished” check mark to his goals list.
“It feels pretty good,” Christensen said Thursday, minutes after climbing the podium to receive his medal for winning the discus. One might have thought it was the section championship that felt good — and he certainly was pleased with that — but there was something that brought just as broad a smile.
“I wanted to pass my dad on the discus leaderboard, and I did that today,” Christensen said. “I was pretty excited. I was pretty pumped because I’ve been waiting almost this whole year to do that, and I’ve always been like a foot off.”
His dad, of course, is Litchfield girls track and field head coach Tait Christensen, a Litchfield graduate himself. While he’s the head girls coach, Tait Christensen specializes in coaching the girls and boys shot put and discus competitors. They were his specialties when he was a student-athlete at LHS. He finished second in the shot put at the state meet in 1991 with a throw of 54-feet, 7-inches.
His son won the Section 6AA shot put title with a toss of 51-6 on May 31. But two days later, TJ Christensen got the better of his father, winning the discus with a throw of 155-6, an inch further than Tait’s LHS leaderboard distance.
Asked what the secret to his success was, TJ offered a wry smile.
“My mom gave me long arms,” he said. “Long arms help a lot more, because then you can get more whip on the disc.”
Those physical tools definitely have made a difference.
“TJ had a couple of nice days,” Tait Christensen said. “You know, today (Thursday) his discus throw was a PR. And that actually bumped me down on our top 10 listing. He beat me by one inch, my lifetime best, today. So that was kind of emotional for me.”
TJ’s section-winning toss Thursday was more than 16 feet further than runner-up Samuel Dioszeghy, a junior from Mound Westonka, who went 139-3.
It will be Christensen’s second trip to the state meet in the shot put. After finishing second in the section last season, he advanced to state where he finished 15th with a throw of 127-4 — a disappointing performance, he said.
He’ll enter this year’s state meet ranked among the top five in Class AA in both the shot put and discuss.
He looks forward to his shot at redemption this week, with two events on his state meet schedule.
“I want to place,” Christensen said. “But, just doing as good as I can.”
Dietel earns trip to state
Christensen will be joined in the state shot put competition by senior Dom Dietel, who finished second in the section in the event. It will be Dietel’s first state meet appearance, an opportunity he relishes, especially after losing the past two track and field seasons — first to COVID, which wiped out his sophomore season, then to a knee injury last year that cost him all but one meet.
“Not being able to throw since my freshman year, it’s been good to see,” Dietel said. “Tuesday (May 31) was a good day for me.”
Dietel’s runner-up shot put of 50-4 ½ was a foot shorter than Christensen’s winning distance, but more than two feet longer than the third-place finisher.
He said competing with and against Christensen and other Litchfield throwers this season, including his brother, sophomore Jacob Dietel, has made him better, as has the legacy of those who went before in the program.
“I think the biggest thing for Litchfield throwing is not only Mr. C’s coaching, but all the people that have done well in the past,” Dietel said. “Like, Steven Orzolek, Ryan Ackman, Rachel Foley, Landon Wagner, all those guys, they come back and they help us all the time. They’ll come back for practice, just to help other people. And that’s kind of like the legacy or the culture. That’s what Litchfield throwing is.”
Tait Christensen echoed that thought. Among the people assisting in the shot put and discus areas Thursday were some of the athletes Dietel mentioned.
“That’s one of the rewarding things is, we had four former throwers today that don’t get paid for coming and working,” Tait Christensen said. “I just sent out a text and said, ‘hey, who can help …’ and when they’re around, they come back and watch throws and help a little bit and it’s just nice to have them, because I trust them because they’ve been through my program too, and they’re going to tell them the same things that I would.”
Baseman wins shot put
Litchfield junior Jaelyn Baseman will be part of the Dragons’ throwing contingent after winning the girls shot put competition. Her winning toss of 36-7 ½ was more than three feet better than runner-up Hailey Kuperus of Delano.
“It feels great,” Baseman said. “I’ve never went to state or anything. It’ll be a first-time experience.”
Baseman began throwing as a seventh-grader and has steadily improved her form, and her success.
“Every year, I PR by a few feet, and it just keeps going up and up,” she said, adding that competition among her own teammates has played a big role in that success. “It’s like you get competition no matter what, no matter where you go, and it pushes you.”
Baseman entered last year’s section shot put finals with the top throw, but she finished fifth, so holding on to first place this season was especially satisfying, she said.
But she believes there’s even greater possibilities. Her section-winning distance last week was still short of her season-best toss of 38-1.
“It’s going to be fun,” she said of competing at the state meet. “We’ll see what happens.”
Kaping wins pole vault
Raina Kaping took up pole vaulting in seventh grade, “because I thought it looked fun.”
She also has become very good at it.
The Litchfield junior earned a trip to the state meet Thursday with a section-winning vault of 10-feet-4, three inches better than runner-up Rockford freshman Alexandra Schloeder. It will be Kaping’s second trip to the state meet after reaching the showcase last year as a member of the Dragons’ 800-meter relay team.
She entered this season with a personal-best vault of 9-feet-6. Her best vault heading into this year’s section meet was 10-feet-1. Adding nearly a foot to her personal-best in addition to winning the section was a good reward for the work she’s put in on the sport. That work has included summer pole vaulting camps, which she’s attended at Rockford.
While happy, Kaping isn’t satisfied. She has her sights set even higher than 10-4.
“I hope to get 11 feet, which would be quite a jump,” she said. “But that would be beating the school record for girls, so I’d really like that. I look at it (the school record) every day.”
The key to her season has come through hours of practice that helped her develop her technique.
“I got way more consistent,” she said. “The consistency wasn’t there last year. So that’s what I’m really happy about this year.”
Chvatal second in long jump
Junior Lillia Chvatal finished second in the long jump on May 31, earning a trip to the state meet for the second consecutive season. She was part of the Dragons’ state-qualifying 800-meter relay team last season.
Chvatal’s long jump of 16-7 ½ was 6 inches short of section champion Elise Bjorn of Rockford.
Aller second in 200
Sophomore Blake Aller qualified for state in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.48 seconds, just behind Providence Academy’s Grant Nelson, who went 22.27.
Aller and Nelson went 1-2 in the 200 preliminaries, as well, and both shaved off time in the finals. Aller’s time dropped from 23.16 to 22.48.
