Sports
Hudson's Twins Finish Nearly Identical in First Day of WIAA State Track & Field Meet
Twin sisters Angela and Erika Tipp headlined the Raiders' first day at WIAA state meet with strong performances in three events each.
Erika and Angela Tipp are identical twin sisters in every sense of the word.
Their track coach, Jamie Holum, not only has a hard time telling them apart by looking at them, but they tend to finish races at nearly the same time as well.
If the Tipp sisters perform on Saturday the way they did Friday at the WIAA State Meet, Holum won’t mind which is which because they’ll both be champions.
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“They’re usually that close,” Holum said of the twins’ 8-9 finish in the 200-meter dash. “They’re pretty close to times in the 100 and 200, and they anchor the middle of both of our relays; they run second and third in our relays on purpose. That’s where they belong.”
Both Erika and Angela qualified for state in the 200-meter dash, the 4x100-meter relay and 4x200-meter relay on Friday, earning the right to race in Saturday’s finals at UW-La Crosse’s Veterans Memorial Field.
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Sandwiched by sophomore Erikka Haft and junior Katie Thielmann, the Tipp sisters ran a 1:42.88 in the 4x200, good enough for second place.
The time was almost good enough to knock off heavy favorite Sussex-Hamilton, which boasts some of the best relay teams in numerous boys and girls events.
The same four girls in the 4x200 finished seventh in the 4x100 with a time of 49.64 seconds.
Hudson also had success in the 1600-meter run, where junior Katie Wetzstein ran a 5:09.68, finishing seventh place and earning two points for Hudson.
Senior Jamie Lindstrom and junior Casey Fall both also just missed landing on the podium in the discus throw and pole vault events, respectively.
“This was the hardest day for (the team),” Holum said. “To make it from prelims to finals (was very hard).
“Overall it was a fabulous day.”
On the boys side of the events, senior Matthew Rudquist ran the 3200-meter run in a time of 9 minutes, 37.90 seconds, good enough for eighth place to earn his team a point in the overall standings.
In qualifiers, Hudson’s 4x100 and 4x200 both ran well and broke personal records in both races, but it wasn’t enough as the two teams finished 16th and 19th, respectively.
Field events resume on Saturday at 9:30 a.m., with the track portion of the day starting an hour later at 10:30. Video of the meet's running events will be streamed live on the Internet by Fox Sports Wisconsin.
