Johnson blazes way to WIAA meet

(Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo) Kamdan Johnson competes in the 100-meter hurdles at the Bobcat Invitational on Thursday, April 17, at Florence High School.
Given a healthy season, Florence senior Kamdan Johnson seemed a lock to qualify for the 2025 WIAA State Track & Field Championships.
After all, she came into the campaign as the two-time defending Division 3 state 100-meter hurdles champion.
Well, Johnson did qualify for her final state finals and she did so in style, blazing to a 14.86 in her signature event to win the Marathon Sectional 100-hurdles title Friday.
Johnson’s sectional winning time is .24 seconds faster than her championship time of 15.10 in last year’s state finals.
Johnson also finished runner-up in the 300 hurdles event at Friday’s sectional with a 46.61, which is .38 seconds faster than she posted in taking sixth at the state finals a year ago.
No other F-N athlete qualified for the state finals.
Team-wise, the Florence-Niagara girls finished 15th in the sectional with 20 points. Bonduel won the championship trophy with 62 points.
Additionally for the F-N girls, senior Marley Jones took seventh in the 400 (1:04.24) and freshman Kelsi Chrisman placed 10th in the 100 meters preliminary race (13.21).
In girls relay results, Florence-Niagara finished 12th in the 1,600 relay (Jones, Bryn Sullivan, Chrisman and Johnson), 14th in the 800 relay (Lily Steinbrecher, Nia Kinder, Karissa Smith and Tymarian Hannah) and 16th in the 400 relay (Steinbrecher, Kinder, Smith and Hannah).
In the boys competition, Truth Setner placed ninth in the 400 (54.97) and Christian Anderson wound up 12th in the 800 (2:07).
Florence-Niagara also sent three boys relays teams to the sectional. The 3,200 relay team of Zane Phillips, Owen Dunkes, Wyatt Dunkes and Anderson finished 10th (8:52.96), the 1,600 squad of Setner, Wyatt Dunkes, Anderson and Luke Deterville placed 13th (3:41.5) and the 800 relay team of Deterville, Dazavian Hannah, Owen Dunkes and Cameron Schiefelbein wound up 14th (1:38.49)
The 2025 WIAA State Track and Field Championships will be held Friday and Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Stadium Complex on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.