OSHKOSH, Wis. (NBC 26) -- Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no WIAA state champions crowned next month.
But instead of mourning the season, a longtime coach is organizing an online competition to crown Wisconsin's all-time track and field champs.
Kevin Luedke has launched an online competition called the "Wisconsin All-Time State Track & Field Championships."
Luedke, a former track and field coach at Princeton High School who now owns a stats and results company called ADE Timing, is hoping to collect every school's program records and compile them to determine the best boys and girls programs in each division.
"A lot of us are sort of stats junkies," Luedke said. "I've always been fascinated by school records and I search for them in gyms when I go into facilities and you always compare and see how it is.
"Sometimes you get into little debates of you know who's record board is better over the history of it," he added. "So it transpired that way."
Luedke said he plans to score the results in an overall format and in a dual meet format to determine the best programs at each.
These results will be revealed on Saturday, June 6, which would have been the final day of the WIAA state track and field championship meet in La Crosse.
Schools can sign up by going to wistf.com. The $100 entry fee covers both boys and girls. Luedke said last week alone he had more than 100 schools enter.
"I don't want to say it's better than what I thought," he said. "But I'm very pleased with it."
Luedke also plans to honor members of the class of 2020 who saw their careers cut short by the season's cancellation. Select seniors will receive a commemorative t-shirt and also be recognized during the results reveal.
"I think it's the least we can do and I can do," he said. "I recognize them just as I would if they were my own athletes."
