Colby, Abby runners battle at 69th Smiley Invite

Both the Colby and Abbotsford girls cross country teams, as well as the co-op Colby/Abbotsford boys squad ran in a crowded field of competitors at the 69th Annual Smiley Invitational meet held at Wausau East last Saturday. The Hornet girls finished 18th out of 20 complete Division 2 and 3 teams with a final score of 391, the boys placed 22nd out of 24 complete teams in the same smaller division race, and the Abbotsford girls did not have enough varsity competitors to place as a team.

Kiel took first place in the girls’ competition, finishing with 104 points, a 26 point advantage over second-place Winneconne. Meanwhile, Rib Lake/Prentice dominated the boys’ affair, coming out on top with 74 points. Marathon was the next closest team, finishing with 127 points.

Altoona’s Abbie Hoage set the pace on Saturday for the small school girls, earning the top spot with a time of 19:02.9. Meanwhile, Pacelli’s Luke Eiden won first place in the boys’ race, finishing the course in 16:11.0.

All seven of the Hornet girls set new season best times on Saturday and three of the co-op boys had their fastest races of 2025.

Annamarie Schmitt put together a strong performance to lead the Colby girls with a 15th place finish. After two weeks in a row with similar times, Schmitt shaved off nearly 20 seconds from her season best time at Colby by posting a time of 20:48.9. The Colby senior came in shortly after Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Rory Salvesen and held off Oconto Falls’ Lily Meissner at the finish line, coming in two tenths of a second before the Panthers’ freshman.

Ali Adams had the next best time for the Hornets, defeating Kiel’s Carmen Schneider by a little over a second to take 74th overall. Despite the increased traffic on the course, Adams still had her best race of the season, taking 12 seconds off her Stanley-Boyd time and seven seconds off her time at Colby two weeks prior, completing the course in 23:27.0.

Coming in as the Hornets’ third runner on Saturday, Jasmine Ertl closed in on her personal best set in the 2024 sectional with a time of 25:11.9 in Wausau. While the time was a little over 10 seconds off her career best pace, Ertl still set a new season best, cutting nearly a minute off her time in Colby. The performance earned her 114th as she held off Amherst’s Lila McGuire at the finish line.

Nicole Verhoef posted a new personal best at the Smiley Invite. The sophomore came into the race with a career best time of 27:12 at the Colby meet and shattered the mark, posting a time of 25:35.8 on Saturday. She came in just a tenth of second behind Sheboygan Falls’ Kaitlyn Lohr and Loyal/Greenwood’s Harmony Buchanan, earning herself 127th place.

Carisa Steen also had a season-best on Saturday, similarly taking off a significant chunk of time off her prior best at Colby. With a time of 26:51.5, Steen placed 144th and took off a minute and a half from her time at the team’s home meet.

Brooklyn Vetterkind and Madilene Rodriguez Rios both beat their Stanley-Boyd times, showing improvement in their second varsity races. Vetterkind had a time of 28:44.5, about a minute and 20 seconds faster than her Stanley-Boyd time, while Rodriguez Rios took off two and half minutes with a time of 31:50.5. The pair placed 164th and 170th respectively.

Monse Ochoa was Abbotsford’s sole competitor in the varsity race on Saturday. The junior posted a time of 25:32.6, coming close to her season best while taking 122nd overall.

Meanwhile, on the co-op boys’ team, Preston Belanger, Beckett Buchanan and Marco Garcia all had season best times in Wausau.

Belanger finished as Colby/Abby’s second runner, placing 118th with a time of 20:19.1. The result was roughly 15 seconds faster than his time at Stanley-Boyd the week prior and helped him push close to the 19:54 personal best that he set at last year’s conference meet. He finished just ahead of teammate Jacob Raatz, who took 119th with a time of 20:20.8. The junior nearly had his own season best time, coming in just tenths of a second later than his 20:20.2 performance in Colby. Buchanan had his fourth straight week of improvement, this time taking off a little over 40 seconds off his previous personal best to finish as the co-op’s fifth runner on Saturday. The freshman posted a final time of 21:10.0 to earn himself 142nd place. Garcia for his part broke the personal best he had set two races by shaving off a little over 15 seconds from his final time, getting under the 23 minute mark for the first time in his career with a time of 22:55.9. He earned 175th place.

Matthew Sprotte was the Hornets top runner on Saturday. The senior split Auburndale’s Jaxon Grube and Oneida Nation’s Everett Skenandore at the finish line, all three runners finishing within a second of each other. Sprotte ended the day with a final time of 19:56.0, good for 100th place. Jack Sheehan picked up 121st place for the co-op, finishing with a time of 20:28.1, while Gavin Reis added a 152nd place finish, posting a time of 21:34.6.

Neillsville Meet

The Abbotsford girls team also competed at the Neillsville meet held at Levis Mound last Tuesday, Sept. 16.

Ochoa had her best race of the season thus far. The junior pulled together a time of 24:48.0, taking off 40 seconds from her opening performance of the year in Stanley-Boyd. Ochoa served as Abbotsford's top runner at the meet, coming in 22nd place.

Jocelyn Jimenez was the second Falcon to cross the finish line, taking 36th place overall. The freshman finished in a dead heat with Black River Falls’ Audrey Kitowski, but the Tigers runner crossed the line one-tenth of a second ahead to grab 35th. Jimenez’s final time was 26:22.

Esmeralda Altamirano rounded out the Falcons’ lineup on Tuesday. Altamirano earned 61st place, posting a time of 31:08.0.

What’s next?

The Abbotsford girls team will jump back into action this coming Friday, September 26 when they travel to Rivers Edge Golf Course in Marshfield for the Nightfall Classic. The meet, set in the evening after the sun has already set, is a unique cross country experience. Start time is set for 7 p.m.

There will be a little more time off for the Colby girls and the co-op boys, who will next run on Tuesday, Sept. 30. The two squads will also be on a golf course, though their meet will be at the Meadowview Golf Course in Owen. The first race of the day is to begin at 4 p.m.