Cross country battles at Wausau, Cadott
Members of the three area cross country teams competed at the Smiley Invitational hosted by Wausau East this past Saturday. Running in a mixed Division 2 and 3 field that featured runners from 28 different schools, the Colby girls and the co-op Colby/Abby boys teams placed fifth and 15th respectively.
Azul Diaz was the sole varsity representative for the Abbotsford’s girls team at the meet. The junior had her best race of the season, posting her first sub-22 minute time of 2023 by finishing in 21:36.40. She earned 26th overall out of the 142 athletes.
The Colby girls ended the day with 187 points, putting them just ahead of Cloverbelt conference rivals Eau Claire Regis, which finished in sixth place with 191 points. Little Chute finished in first place with 91 points and Sophia Bablitch of Rosholt won the race with a time of 19:07.40.
For the second straight week, Casey Reynolds posted a personal best, this time finishing the race in under 21 minutes. Leading the Colby girls’ with a 14th place, the senior set a new standard for herself by completing the course in 20:58.10.
MaKenna Herrmann was the Hornets’ second runner, finishing in 34th with a time of 22:01.60, Reagan Schraufnagel finished 51st with a time of 22:45.20 and Ali Adams came in 54th with a time of 23:00.10, breaking her old top time by 18 seconds. Pearl Feiten rounded out the scoring runners for Colby, finishing in 23:24.60 to take 63rd overall.
Alexis Vanderhoof and Veronica Mateer also ran for the varsity team, finishing in 105th and 109th with times of 25:33.20 and 26:04.80 respectively.
Iola-Scandinavia’s Charlie Vater won the boys’ race, finishing with a time of 15:26.10. West Salem claimed the top team spot, finishing with 49 points.
Max Adams had the co-op’s fastest time, finishing in 17:27.50 to come in 21st place. Jack Schindler broke the PR he set the week prior at the Colby meet, taking off 10 seconds to finish with a time of 18:48.20 to take 63rd.
Gavin Reis and Joseph Streveler followed suit, beating out their PRs set in Colby to set new top times for themselves. The pair finished back to back, posting times of 20:00.40 and 20:01.70 and earning themselves 106th and 107th place respectively.
Matthew Sprotte rounded out the varsity squad’s top five, finishing in 124th place with a time of 20:34.80. Braylon Schoelzel came in as the coop’s sixth runner, finishing in 133rd with a time of 20:57.10 and Jacob Raatz cut three seconds off his personal best time at Colby to take 142nd with a time of 21:14.50.
The Colby girls and co-op boys teams also made their way out to Cadott on Tuesday evening for a meet featuring some of their top competition in the Cloverbelt conference, including the McDonnel Macks on the boys’ side and the Eau Claire Regis Ramblers, Fall Creek Crickets, and the hosting Cadott Hornets in the girls’ compeition.
The girls placed third overall, scoring 73 points. Regis got the better of the Hornets this time, taking first place with 54 points and Cameron took second with 62. Cadott placed a more distant fourth with 151 points.
Reynolds finished the girls’ race with a near identical time to her race in Wausau, finishing in sixth place with a time of 20:58.9. Herrmann followed her teammate with an eighth place finish and a time of 21:15.2, her fastest time of the season.
Annamarie Schmitt returned to the lineup and took 19th overall for the Hornets. Like Reynolds, she posted a near identical time to her last race, running just four-tenths of a second slower than her pace in Colby, posting a time of 22:31.8.
Schraufnagel and Feiten came across the finish line as Colby’s fourth and fifth runners, taking 26th and 31st respectively. Schraufnagel finished with a time of 22:57.2 and Feiten had her best finish of the season with a time of 23:10.4.
Ali Adams and Mateer rounded out the top seven varsity runners. Adams finished in 23:25.3 and Mateer had a time of 24:25.4 to earn themsevles 33rd and 47th.
The co-op boys finished with 145 points, putting them just behind fourth place Immanuel Lutheran’s 144. McDonnel took first overall with 43 points and there was a significant gap between the Macks and second place Glenwood City, which ended the day with 121 points.
Max Adams placed sixth with a time of 17:44.3 and Schindler took 21st with a time of 19:11.9. Streveler came in 41st with a time of 20:26.8 and teammate Gavin Reis was not far behind in 43rd with a time of 20:36.4. Schoelzel followed as the co-op’s fifth runner, posting a time of 21:16.4 and Raatz placed 74th with a time of 22:15.5. Jack Sheahan took 81st with a time of 22:44.6.
The Colby girls and the co-op boys next meet will be on Tuesday, Sept. 26th at the Lake Wissota Golf Course in Chippewa Falls. The start time for the meet is 4 p.m. The Abbotsford girls will run at Frey Field outside of Spencer on Thursday, Sept. 21. That meet is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. start.
PUSHING FOR THE TOP -Azul Diaz breaks away from a pack of runnersat Smiley.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
