Hawks happy with their state meet results

There were no complaints from Prentice-Rib Lake’s Jack Regier or Kylie Orysen after they completed their cross country seasons Saturday in the WIAA Division 3 state championship races at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.

In his first state appearance, Regier, a junior held his own against the state’s smallschool best, finishing 38th in a field of 150 runners in his second-best career time of 17:22.6.

In her second state race, Orysen, a sophomore, placed 68th out of 152 Division 3 girls, down seven spots from last year but also 10.6 seconds faster than last year at 21:15.6.

“I think that’s pretty good,” Regier said of his finish. “I didn’t really have a goal place-wise. That’s decent. It’s my secondfastest time. A little disappointed that I couldn’t get a PR (17:06.3 at the sectional), but it’s fine. It’s not that far off.”

“At first I wouldn’t say it was going bad, but I felt like I was going a little slow,” Orysen said. “But then in the last two miles, I think I kicked it up and had a lot better of a race. It was pretty good. I beat my time by 10 seconds (from last year), so that was good. I’m happy. Happy to be here.”

Regier got out to a fast start and sat in 22nd place at the mile mark in a time of 5:15. The fast start came back to bite him a little in the second mile when he slipped back to 38th with a 5:50. But he held his spot from there, edging Marawood rival Cree Defoe of Stratford by a tenth of a second and Wayland Academy’s Nelson Mitchell and Winnebago Lutheran Academy’s Bennett Midthun by 0.7 seconds for the 38th spot. Regier was 0.4 seconds behind 37th-place finisher Riley Foreyt of Fennimore.

“I felt like I could’ve been a little smarter with how I started because everyone starts off so fast,” Regier said. “So I just joined in. I knew I wasn’t supposed to do it, but it’s hard not to do. It’s the best runners in the state.”

Iola-Scandinavia senior Charlie Vater was basically unchallenged in winning the individual Division 3 state championship. Vater was 11th last year, but finished in 15:49.7 this year to beat runner-up Taylor Karcz of Crandon by 12.1 seconds. Belleville sophomore Carter Scholey was third in 16:04.3.

The only Marawood Conference runner to finish ahead of Regier was Gavin Esterholm of Phillips, who was 18th in 16:55.1. Logger Maverick Hoogland was 43rd in 17:25. The Loggers were sixth in the team competition, which was won by Kohler with 109 points, five fewer than Solon Springs-Northwood.

“It was a lot of fun,” Regier said. “The whole experience was fun and exciting.

I knew there was going to be a lot of people, but I wasn’t expecting the noise level to be that high. It helps a lot. The whole way there’s people.”

Most of his teammates were among the thousands cheering him on. The Hawks are already setting a goal of competing in Rapids as team next fall.

“That’s what we’re going to do,” Regier said. It’s great. It’s amazing. My team is awesome. I loved the support.”

Orysen was coming off her best meet of the fall at the Solon Springs-Northwood sectional and felt, for the most part, she finished on a high note. Her time was the third-best of her 2023 season behind the sectional (20:45.9) and the Marawood meet (20:52).

“I felt like sectionals was my highest stakes and I had a great race there and now that I’m here I was like, you know what, I’m just going to take it in, but push through it as hard as I can,” Orysen said.

Orysen felt she labored a bit through the first mile, but found her rhythm after that and felt strong the rest of the way. She ranked 59th in 6:25 through one mile and sat in 65th place at the two-mile marker after a 7:04 split.

“I felt really comfortable the whole way,” she said. “I felt like I was pushing hard. I felt like I was going super-fast and pushing myself hard in the first mile. I just didn’t feel like I had a lot of foot speed. I didn’t feel too fatigued. It’s so exciting. I don’t really think.”

Orysen finished just ahead of a Marawood rival, Baylee Hartjes of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (21:16.8) and Shaylee Zarza of Thorp (21:20.2), another runner she’d seen during the season.

Marawood Conference champion Autumn Michalski of Chequamegon finished off an outstanding season and career by winning the Division 3 state title and smashing the D3 state-meet record in 18:02. She moved up from her third-place finish a year ago. Kohler freshman Maggie Behler was well behind in second at 18:55.4, while Assumption’s Lucy Dolan was third in 18:59.7.

The Phillips Loggers didn’t have a finisher until Leah Harper took 19th in 19:59.3, but they bunched enough runners behind Harper to win the sixthrunner tiebreaker with Darlington and earn the silver trophy with 138 points. Lancaster was the Division 3 champion with 92 points.

“I ran slower last year but I had a higher placing, so it just shows the toughness of girls cross country in Wisconsin,” Orysen said.

Top left: Prentice-Rib Lake’s Kylie Orysen looks to pick off another runner or two during the last mile of her WIAA Division 3 state race Saturday. Top right: Medford’s Ella Dassow (747) finds a finishing kick and sprints by Whitewater’s Carley Boudreau and teammates Mallory Richter (744) and Morgan Liske at the end of the Division 2 race. Bottom: Medford’s Lindsey Kahn finds her stride as she approaches the mile mark in the Division 2 race. She was Medford’s second finisher, taking 87th.