Greyhound boys and girls run at unique ‘Nightfall Classic’

It’s a little unusual to have a cross country meet held in the late evening, but on Sept. 16, the Loyal-Greenwood cross country team traveled to RiverEdge Golf Course near Marshfield to participate in the Nightfall Classic hosted by Stratford. Running after the sun had set, the Greyhounds saw significant improvements to their course times from earlier in the week, with several runners shaving minutes off their times at the invite.

The girls competed in a field of 107 runners in the evening twilight of Sept. 16. Summer Smith came close to breaking 23 minutes at the invite, running a 23:01.76 to finish 23rd overall. Leah Scherer, Maci Bogdonovich and Addison Holm all placed together, taking 39th, 40th and 41st respectively. Scherer ran a 24:22.29, Bogdonovich ran a 24:32.06 and Holm finished in 24:33.38.

Also finishing within the top 50 was Bailey Eckes, who ran to a 48th-place finish with a time of 24:54.78. Taking 65th was Katlund Etlicher, who ran a 26:08.59. Rounding out the Greyhound competitors were Alexis Meyer (71st, 26:38.84), Halle Aumann (72nd, 26:50.71) and Aubre Robida (77th, 27:01.9).

In the boys race, the Greyhounds competed against a field of 119 runners. Connor Genteman placed eighth overall in that field, finishing just shy of the 18-minute mark with a time of 18:02.38. Cody Eckes took 60th, running a 21:39.55 and Lucas Nielsen finished in 98th with a time of 24:25.43.

Nine teams competed in the girls race at the Nightfall Classic. Assumption won as a team with 52 points, Stratford was second (80) Laconia took third (88), Phillips was fourth (92), Crandon was fifth (111), Chequamegon-Park Falls took sixth (112), the Loyal-Greenwood girls finished in seventh with 159 points, Luther was eighth (175) and Owen-Withee was ninth (244).

There were 12 boys teams that competed and placed at the invite. They were Stanley-Boyd (270), Laconia (246), Columbus Catholic (230), Necedah (224), Colfax (217), Mondovi (187), Crandon (182), Luther (175), Chequamegon-Park Falls (106), Pittsville (91), Stratford (79) and Phillips (35).