From last year’s state finals in the Division 1 400-meter dash in La Crosse, six of the 10 who were in the field graduated in 2023.
The graduates included the state champion and state runner-up. Fourth and fifth place graduated, too.
The third-place finisher last year did not graduate and is still blazing around tracks across the state — including the one behind Parker High School in Janesville where he and his teammates train on a daily basis.
Vikings senior Cayden Brandenburg has his eyes set on not only returning to the state track and field meet next month but on adding at least one first-place finisher’s medal to his trophy case.
“I’ve definitely thought about it (being the fastest returner from the 2023 Division 1 state field), but it’s something where you have to earn it,” Brandenburg said. “It’s not just going to get given to you just because you were the only junior last year. I definitely still have to earn it and put in the work every day.”
All he’s done so far in his final season is win races.
Last weekend at the elite Myrhum Invitational at Taraska Stadium on the campus of Hartland Arrowhead High School, Brandenburg outdid the rest of the field — and everyone else who has ever run the 400 meters at Parker High.
He broke the school record in winning the one-lap sprint in a time of 47.69 seconds. The second-place finisher, Gabriel Olson of Oak Creek, came in 2.11 seconds behind him. It might seem a small gap, but consider this: The interval between Brandenburg and Olson was roughly the same as that between Olson and 19th place.
The win in Hartland joined 400-meter victories at invites in Franklin (48.84) and Kenosha (49.70) in April. Brandenburg also won the 200 at the Kenosha meet in 22.38 seconds.
Obviously, Brandenburg’s speed is an asset in Parker’s relays, as well.
He contributed to 1,600-meter relay wins in Franklin (3 minutes, 28.80 seconds), Kenosha (3:31.79) and Hartland (3:25.19). At Myrhum, Parker was in fourth when Brandenburg got the stick.
He laid down a lap of 48.14 seconds — it would’ve been his fastest of the season if not for his school-record time earlier that night — to overtake all three runners ahead of him and get his team another event victory.
“Running four is definitely a lot of pressure, but you gotta have confidence in yourself,” he said. “While I’m waiting in line to get the baton, I’m just thinking to myself, ‘I can catch anyone on the track.’ ... I like anchoring the win.”
He also anchored Parker’s winning 1,600-meter relay at the Janesville Craig-hosted Cougar Relays at Monterey Stadium on April 26. The relay meet featured a 100-100-200-400 sprint medley that Parker won with Brandenburg in the 400 slot, and he joined the Vikings’ winning 400-meter relay that day, as well.
While Brandenburg features as the centerpiece of any Parker 1,600 relay combination, head coach Dick Schuh has more than a few other athletes to choose from in crafting a winning squad.
“In the past, a lot of kids would balk from the 4-by-4; now our kids want to be on the 4-by-4,” he said. “They want to be part of it, which is really a great thing to have. ... The kids know you have to be reliable (to be part of the relay).”
Avery Eastman, Paul Kim and Jon Aguiniga filled the other slots in the Myrhum win, but Jayvion Hill, Elias Hudson and Mason Chmielewski have also been part of winning combinations at meets both indoors and out this spring.
In addition to his full-lap accomplishments, Brandenburg also reached the state finals in the 200-meter dash last year and plans to make that part of his postseason agenda again.
Part of the challenge of this season with the expectations so high has been fighting complacency. Schuh said Brandenburg has taken the right mindset into his senior track season.
“Everything has to be earned all over again,” Schuh said. “It’s not like you have a qualifying time and automatically get in. I think he knows that, and I think we’re looking at getting better all the time. ... We always try to build toward that state meet.”
Brandenburg said sprints coach Joe Dye, the former longtime head track and field and football coach at Parker, has an initialism for staving off regular-season complacency: TCCIJ.
“That stands for ‘They crown champions in June.’ So that’s the goal — eyes on June and getting first.”
Quite the career
If Brandenburg can grab one or more of those state crowns in June, it will be a well-deserved reward at the end of an outstanding athletic career at Parker.
In addition to his three state final races as a junior last year, he was a three-time individual state qualifier in wrestling, helped the Vikings reach state team sectionals in wrestling for the first time in decades and picked up two all-Big Eight Conference selections in football as a junior and senior.
“His desire to be successful is pretty evident,” Schuh said. “You know that he has some goals in mind, and he’s not going to be deterred from those goals. He’s going to make it happen — it’s not just going to happen by chance.”
Brandenburg finished fourth in his weight class in back-to-back years at state wrestling. In his senior season, he compiled a 51-0 record, including a pair of wins at the Kohl Center in the state 175-pound bracket, before suffering a pair of losses to finish in fourth for the second consecutive season.
On the gridiron, he helped the Vikings earn playoff berths his junior and senior seasons. He was a second-team all-conference wide receiver as a junior and a first-team all-conference running back as a senior.
He led the conference in rushing with 1,109 yards — including 342 in a home win over Milton — and scored 15 total touchdowns. He said his team’s two wins over rival Janesville Craig in football were among his favorite high school sports memories. The win in 2022 required a goal-line stand in the last minute, and the 2023 victory took a second-half comeback for the Vikings to get the win.
Competing at a high level in each sport helped him get better in the others, he said.
“Track speed helps playing football, just breaking away from defenders, and wrestling helps with balance, tackling for sure — everything just kind of meshes together.”
Brandenburg said his parents — dad Trever, mom Becky and stepmother Alyx — have supported his athletic pursuits throughout his childhood. His stepmother is a Janesville Sports Hall of Fame member herself; Alyx (Stalheim) Brandenburg was part of two state championship girls basketball teams and two state-winning sprint relays for Parker in the early 2000s.
“We definitely have that winning culture at the house,” Cayden Brandenburg said. He also has three younger half sisters, including one, Harper, who is off to her own flying start in her track career as a sophomore at Parker. She was a state track qualifier as a freshman.
Brandenburg also recently earned recognition as a WIAA Scholar Athlete, one of 32 honorees selected from 836 applications statewide. He’s just the third Parker student-athlete to be selected, joining Michele Burkholder in 1994 and his stepmom, who was a WIAA Scholar Athlete in 2002.
After high school, he plans to attend UW-Whitewater. He said he’s still undecided about whether to play football or run track for the Warhawks.
He hopes his accomplishments at Parker help influence the athletes coming behind him to work hard and trust in what can be a difficult process to achieve greatness.
“There’s definitely moments when you’re like, ‘Is this even worth it? Is this going to work out? What am I doing this for?’ But it’s definitely worth it in the end.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0