Date: Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6, 1998

Location: Veterans Stadium, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Summary:  On Friday during preliminary competition, Michael Bennett (Milwaukee Tech) set state records in both the 100 Meters (10.33) and the 200 Meters (20.68).

On Saturday thousands of people gathered to see the hottest matchup of the state high school track meet: Michael Bennett of Milwaukee Tech versus B.J. Tucker of Glendale Nicolet in the 100 meters (Tucker had run a 10.4 time earlier in the year).

But in a brief few seconds, it was apparent that Bennett was having a problem.   "It popped once, and I said, Well, I'm almost there, and I was attempting to dive, because I knew something was going to happen, because I've never felt anything like that before," Bennett said."`All of a sudden it started burning, and it popped again, and I couldn't bear it anymore."   Bennett's injury was described as a mild to moderate upper hamstring pull.

Victories by Casey Schwarz in the 800 and Liz Ruesser in the 1,600 helped Middleton take the WIAA girls' Division 1 championship. Middleton scored 42 points, followed by Milwaukee Tech at 38 and Oshkosh West at 33.

On the boys' side, Rance Streeter took second in the 100 and third in the 200 to help lead Racine Park to the Division 1 championship. Racine Park scored 33 points followed by Nicolet with 31 and Milwaukee Vincent with 29.

Nekoosa won the Division 2 girls title and Brown Deer and Lancaster-Potosi tied for the boys title. Arcadia won the Division 3 girls and boys titles.