DENMARK, Wis. (NBC 26) — In early May, Ethan Ovsak, Jaycob Dittmer and Nolan Perry got a text from their friend, Simon Alexander.
"He put us all in this group text and he goes, 'Hey, do you guys wanna go?'” Perry said. "'We have a really good chance at winning conference. It's this weekend. You guys should swing by.’"
The Vikings track and field star, committed to compete at the Naval Academy starting next season, wanted the three Denmark baseball standouts to team up with him in the 4x100 meter relay.
At first, they were skeptical.
"No chance it's going to work,” Ovsak remembers thinking at the time. "No chance.”
The Vikings are busy on the diamond as they chase their third straight state baseball championship, a feat accomplished only twice before in Wisconsin high school history.
But with the support of their baseball teammates - and longtime coach Bill Miller - the three decided to give track a go, despite their lack of experience.
Ovsak hadn’t run track since the 7th grade. Dittmer and Perry had never competed, with Dittmer even admitting he had never been to a meet until running in - and winning - the Northeastern Conference Championship on May 13.
But, running is running. And the Vikings show off their speed on the diamond nearly every day.
“You want that split second where you hit the ball or you bunt the ball and you’re out of the box like that, in like a second,” Perry said, comparing track to baseball.
“It’s just like coming out of the blocks or getting the (baton) hand-off,” he said. “You’ve got to be out of there as fast as you can.”
Those skills quickly translated to the track - and took the Vikings to heights they couldn’t have dreamed of even a month ago.
Over the weekend, the newly-formed relay team won a Division 2 state championship with a record-setting time of 42.11 seconds.
"I was just expecting that we'd go to conference and we'd do well there,” Dittmer said. "I didn't think that we'd win regionals, win sectionals and then win state. I would never have thought of that.”
The running came easily to them. Time management was the real challenge.
"Honestly, the toughest part was leaving baseball, a sport you've played your whole life,” Ovsak said. "To have to balance that and track was tough.”
The trio - along with Alexander - would often get work in on the track during the last period of school and after baseball practice.
“Thankfully none of the track meets happened at the same time as a baseball game,” Ovsak said. “Then we would have had to go to baseball.”
In the end, it worked out - and it was well worth it, making for a week they’ll never forget.
They won a state title on Saturday. Ovsak, Perry and Alexander graduated high school Sunday. Now Tuesday, Ovsak, Perry and Dittmer will turn back to baseball.
"It was the best time of our lives I think,” Perry said. "No one imagined that we'd be doing this.
"It was just a big thing that brings the community together,” he added. "And now, back at baseball like we never left.”
The Vikings take on Green Bay Notre Dame in a WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal Tuesday morning. If they win, they play either Chilton or Waupun in the sectional final around 4:00 Tuesday afternoon. The winner of that game advances to the state tournament.
