HAWKS CC PREVIEW - Hawks’ goal is turn silver into gold

The fall of 2024 was about as close to a dream season as a team can get for the Prentice-Rib Lake Hawks who put in the miles in the summer to prepare, built momentum with early meet wins, stayed healthy and ultimately ended the boys cross country season holding the WIAA’s Division 3 runner-up trophy.

Going from fourth place at the 2023 sectional meet to second in the state was a surprising ride the Hawks certainly won’t forget. Nor should they.

But as practice officially began this week for the 2025 season under second-year cohead coach Bryan Regier and first-year cohead coach Cole Bischel, the page has been turned with the Hawks knowing they are now the team being hunted in Division 3 and also knowing the gold trophy just might be in reach come Nov. 1.

“We need to remember what we did last year, but last year doesn’t define who we are this year,” senior Kaleb Scott said Tuesday before the team began its second official practice of the year. “It’s a completely new season. We’re in a ton of new meets and we’re a new team. We’ve lost a couple guys, we’ve gained a couple guys. We need to remember what we did and learn from the mistakes. We were in the learning process last year. Learn from the mistakes and ultimately just tackle it better this year as a team.”

Graduation took three members from the boys team, including one of its top guns, Jack Regier, who now is helping out as an assistant coach, and Elijah Scott, who was in the sevenman post-season lineup.

But one of the most impressive developments of last season was the depth the Hawks built with seemingly someone new stepping up each meet to get themselves into scoring position. That depth is a major reason why the Hawks expect to stay a contender both in the Marawood Conference and in the postseason.

“We need to step up,” junior Jackson Schutt said. “There’s roles to fill, so we have to step up.”

“Making it to state was fun, but we still didn’t reach the ultimate goal which is winning it,” senior Heston Hueckman said. “That gives us a lot of motivation for this year.”

Motivation for 2025 doesn’t just sit with the boys. As coach Regier noted, one of the most exciting developments in the new season is the growth of the girls team, which is now truly a team. After having just three girls at the high school level the past two years and being unable to qualify for a team score, 10 girls are on the opening-week roster.

“I’m really excited we have a girls team,” said senior Kylie Orysen, a twotime state qualifier. “That will be really exciting just to have that atmosphere because I’ve never really been able to experience that before. Maybe there were a handful of meets my freshman year where we had five girls, but then people dealt with injuries. Now we have quite a few more girls so that will be really exciting.”

This year’s journey will kick off next Thursday, Aug. 28, with the team’s annual Timm’s Hill Invitational, which starts with the middle school races at 4 p.m.

Boys overview

The Hawks start the new year with a boys roster of 15, several of whom could contend for the coveted seven spots on the post-season roster.

Junior Henry Regier led the Hawks with a 13th-place finish in last fall’s state meet. Senior Truman Smith was 59th in that race, Hueckman was 76th, junior Jeremy Wiitala was 79th and Scott was 81st. Regier was third in the Marawood Conference meet held last October at Forest Springs, good for a first-team award. Scott was ninth, Smith was 14th and Hueckman was 15th to earn secondteam honors and Wiitala was 17th to get honorable mention as the Hawks held off Phillips by three points to win the meet.

The Hawks won the Cadott sectional by five points over Phillips. Their only loss to a Division 3 team all year came by 28 points to Cedar Grove-Belgium at state.

Also back are Schutt, junior Seamus Highfill, senior Eliah Harding and sophomore Dene Zuleger, who could be the top candidates looking to move up the list of contenders for varsity spots. Junior Riley Johnson is back for a third year, while senior Jack Dananay, juniors Kevin Head and Cameron Menning and sophomores Mason Hause and Jaden Briggs round out the high school roster.

Much of the credit for last year’s meteoric rise was the work the team put in on its own in the off-season. Knowing that, the Hawks said they were sure not to let that slide this summer, whether they got together in groups or got it done on their own. The summer miles aren’t necessarily meant to improve speed. They are about building stamina coming into the season.

“This year it wasn’t so much like work, it was just a normal routine now,” Wiitala said. “Last year was a schedule none of us had ever done, none of us had ever tried and that was something we had to incorporate into our summer life. This year, knowing how we did it last year, it was just kind of a daily thing. I have to go for my run.”

“It’s a lot of doing it on your own, but sometimes we’d get two, three, four guys together for a run,” Zuleger said. “It’s easy motivation. Motivating yourself when you’re just alone is hard. But when you get like three guys together, then you think ‘this is going to be fun.’” “It’s always the most fun when you can get people together,” Henry Regier said. “That’s when the miles go quick.”

“I was working all summer in Grantsburg, so I didn’t get to run with any of these guys but I got to run with some of the Grantsburg boys,” Scott said. “Having someone makes it way better.”

Wiitala said it still amazes him just how much of a leap forward the Hawks took last year.

“For me I never know how the next thing is going to go,” he said. “So when we just kept winning meets, I was like, ‘OK this might not happen next time. We could get absolutely destroyed next time.’ Then we got to state and obviously I was still thinking, we could win, we could lose. I didn’t know what was going to happen. When we got to the runner-up position and accomplished that, for me I was ultimately surprised. There was a lot of teams that we had never faced there, there were bigger D-3 schools there. It was very unexpected in my eyes how we were able to go from nothing the year before, fly our way through and win a bunch last year and end up in that runner-up position.”

The guys said the perspective is different this year because now they know what they’re capable of and, if success repeats itself, it won’t be a surprise.

“I think it’s better,” Scott said. “Last year when we did our summer training, it was a leap of faith not knowing how good we would actually get. Now we know. Now we have a little crazy, but realistic goals, going into the season. We’ll be better.”

“Now we know we can do it,” Wiitala said. “It’s almost like we can expect to accomplish great things as long as we keep up what we have been doing.”

The Hawks have toughened their schedule this fall, something they are excited about. After dominating the area Division 3 circuit last fall, they have entered meets in Marshfield and Stevens Point Sept. 9 and 13, they’re still in the Wausau East Smiley Invitational Sept. 20 and they’re planning on competing in a night race at Marshfield’s RiverEdge Golf Course Sept. 26.

“This year coach was like, let not even worry about D-3, let’s send you to D-1,” Scott said. “Let’s have you race some of the bigger schools. Not necessarily better schools, but bigger schools and see how you guys do.”

In the Marawood, the Hawks expect to again be challenged by Phillips, who was always close behind them last year. They also mentioned Marathon as a team they think will be much-improved.

Phillips will host the sectional at its Moonlight Lane course on Saturday, Oct. 25, which the Hawks say is one of the tougher courses around.

“I would say a goal is getting better every time, trying to get faster and faster,” Harding said.

“As a team, our goal is get that state title,” Scott said. “Second was nice, but no one settles for second.”

“It gave us something to keep chasing,” Regier said. “Second was great. But we have even bigger goals this year.”

Girls overview

The expanded girls high school team will certainly be led by Orysen, who is excited to have her freshman cousin Ella Orysen as one of the new additions.

Orysen had an up-and-down junior year that ended with a 21st-place finish in the Marawood Conference but then a 10thplace finish at the sectional in 21:17.4, which was one of her better times of the fall, but it left her two individual places shy of making a third straight trip to state.

She comes into this year with a new perspective, but also still that inner drive to have a big season.

“Honestly I just want to enjoy it,” she said. “It’s my last go at it. Enjoy it and take it all in. Obviously I want to do well. I want to make it to state at the end of the year. Last year I had some struggles with burning out. I just want to have a solid year, keep improving all year and I’ll be happy with that.”

Orysen said she put in at least 250 summer miles, ran in some local 5Ks and feels great to start the season.

Junior Kloey Paul and sophomore Avie Schutt are back after competing for the first time with the varsity last fall. Senior Emma Tlusty, a state hurdler in track for Rib Lake in the spring, should be a solid addition. Juniors Ella Gzanna, Annalee Roder and Sydney Briggs are first-time additions from Rib Lake. Along with Ella Orysen, Anna Scott from Rib Lake and Mackenzie Lyons are the freshmen.

“There will be a lot of learning for a lot of people,” Kylie Orysen said. “Honestly, I think just the team atmosphere will be exciting and push a lot of people to do better. I don’t really know how we’ll compete as a team but just the team atmosphere will be good. It will make it more fun. We can have the bond of being a team and push each other to do better.”

The coaches are also excited to see the huge interest from the middle schoolers in the Rib Lake and Prentice school districts. The middle school program starts the year with 16 boys and 10 girls.