Second-place Griak finish impressive for Richter; Hraby 32nd

MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY

The Medford Raiders went from one of the largest cross country meets in Wisconsin with the Sept. 17 Smiley Invitational to one of the largest in the country Friday and showed off their strengths at the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational.

Shining the brightest among Medford’s highlights was junior Meredith Richter, who shot out of the starting box and held a top position throughout the Maroon Division race, finishing second out of 454 runners in a personal-best time of 19:34.2, beating her previous best of 19:37.8 set earlier this fall at the Mosinee Invite.

Richter was 13.5 seconds faster than third-place finisher Hannah Drietz of Brainerd, Minn. and was the fastest Wisconsin runner in Maroon Division, finishing 20.9 seconds ahead of fourth-place runner Addy Duellman of Cochrane-Fountain City.

Senior Geneva Timmerman of ADM Adel High School in Iowa was the division champion with a time of 19:07.7.

Richter’s high placement helped the Raiders earn a solid 12th-place showing out of 50 scoring teams. A handful of incomplete squads also had individuals in the race, held on a cool, wet late afternoon at the Les Bolstad Golf Course located just outside of Minneapolis.

The Raiders totaled 442 points to finish just three points behind Osceola and 42 behind 10th-place Amery, who was the second-ranked Wisconsin team in the Maroon Division. Brainerd won the team title with 112 points, followed by Perham, Minn. (146) and Milwaukeearea school Divine Savior Holy Angels (306). Woodbury, Minn. (323) and Chaska, Minn. (335) were fourth and fifth.

Freshman Lindsay Kahn had a big day for Medford, taking 90th in a seasonbest time of 21:56.1. Exchange student Bjorg Risa placed 102nd in 22:02.7, then a trio of Raiders helped close out the team scoring as Mallory Richter was 136th in 22:26.6 and Morgan Liske and Ella Daniels were 137th and 138th, both credited with times of 22:27.1. Daniels crushed her 2021 Griak time of 24:31.4. Senior Brooke Rudolph was Medford’s seventh finisher, taking 145th in 22:30.7.

Teams are allowed 10 entries at the Griak Invite. Medford’s final three fin-ishers were Ella Dassow, who was 223rd in 23:24.5; Riley Clark, who was 304th in 24:30.2, and Lillie Gleichauf, who was 409th at 27:03.7.

Medford’s boys placed 33rd out of 50 scoring teams with 871 points.

Junior Tanner Hraby led them with a 32nd-place time of 17:49.8 that was about 32 seconds faster than his 2021 race on the Griak course. Senior Josh Clark also improved, placing 84th out of 488 runners in a time of 18:22.2 that was over two minutes faster than last year’s mark of 20:24.5.

Junior Logan Gubser got inside the top 200, placing 193rd in 19:21.7, improving by 41 seconds over last fall. Junior Nick Steliga was 324th in 20:22.7, cutting nearly two minutes off his sophomore time on the course. Senior Lucas Borman placed 397th in 21:40.7, knocking off more than 2:30 from last year.

The rest of the Raiders were first-time Griak participants. Brandon Curtis was 433rd in 22:35.8, his new best time of the fall. Evan Pagel was 447th in 23:22.9, just missing a new personal best by less than two seconds. Ervin Ulrich was 460th in a new best time of 23:57. Cullen Jones fought through injury and was 488th in 31:29.9.

Nolan Sutter of Chaska was the Maroon Division champion in 16:20.7, beating Perham’s Bjorn Anderson by 16.8 seconds. Cochrane-Fountain City’s Wesley Pronschinske was Wisconsin’s top finisher, placing third in 16:39.8. Medford’s Great Northern Conference rival Owen Clark of Lakeland was fifth in 16:52, just behind Jack Williams (16:50) of Lee’s Summit West High School of Missouri. Quin Andrews of River Falls was seventh in 17:02.5.

Lee’s Summit West won the team championship with 121 points, just edging Green Bay Notre Dame by seven. Perham was third with 143 points, well ahead of Minnesota schools Woodbury (189) and White Bear Lake (246).

The Griak Invitational started with collegiate races, which included three Medford graduates.

Franny Seidel, a 2020 graduate, was the seventh runner for Maroon Division champion Minnesota-Duluth. She completed the 6K collegiate course in 23:56.7 to place an impressive 43rd out of 429 finishers. In the same race, Ellee Grunwald, a 2021 graduate, was the sixth finisher for the 21st-place St. Norbert College team with a time of 26:43 that was good for 234th place.

Joey Sullivan, a 2022 Medford graduate, was the 15th finisher for a strong UW-La Crosse men’s team and placed 96th out of 423 finishers in the 8K Maroon Division race with a time of 27:16.7. The Eagles scored 77 points to finish second behind Michigan Tech (62).

Home today, BRF Tuesday

The Raiders will enjoy the comforts of home today, Thursday, with their annual Medford Invitational on the MASH/Kuse property course. The middle school race kicks things off at 4 p.m., followed by the high school boys at 4:30 p.m. and the high school girls at 5:15 p.m. Lakeland, Marshfield, Northland Pines and Rhinelander are the high school teams expected to attend.

After that, Medford will scout their WIAA Division 2 sectional course when they compete in Tuesday’s Black River Falls Invitational at Skyline Golf Course. That meet starts at 4:30 p.m.

Lindsay Kahn

Tanner Hraby

Josh Clark

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS