Auburndale, Athens invites get Hawks ready for Marawood meet

PRENTICE-RIB LAKE CROSS COUNTRY

The Prentice-Rib Lake Hawks continued to improve Tuesday as they had their final tune-up before the Oct. 13 Marawood Conference Championships by competing in the Auburndale Invitational.

Tuesday’s meet was the Hawks’ second visit to the Frey Field facility in less than three weeks. But, like the first time, several team members were able to cover the course in their fastest times of the fall.

Kylie Orysen had a big day for the girls, placing second out of 42 finishers in a time of 21:06 that equaled her seasonbest. The freshman also ran a 21:06 in the Spencer Invitational, held at Frey Field on Sept. 22.

The only runner faster than Orysen was Stratford’s Kayla Casperson, who won the race in 20:57. Orysen was 42 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Brianna Sheahan of Athens. Stratford’s Breleigh Skaya (21:53) and Ella Heidmann (22:03) rounded out the top five and helped the Tigers easily win the girls meet with just 20 points. Stratford was well ahead of Athens (68), Abbotsford (74) and Pittsville (74). The Hawks, Auburndale, Columbus Catholic, Port Edwards and Spencer were incomplete.

The Hawks had two more competitors in the girls race and they finished backto- back in 35th and 36th place. Lauren Schutt came in at 29:26 and Amy Espinoza finished in 29:46.

Kaleb Scott was nine seconds faster than he was in his first race of the fall on the Frey Field course and placed 10th out of 59 finishers in the boys meet Tuesday. His time of 18:19 barely gave him the last top 10 spot over Pittsville’s Ezra Fiala, who also was credited with a time of 18:19. Stratford’s Lance Krieg was ninth, six seconds ahead of Scott.

Ryan Buehler placed 14th for the Hawks in 18:38, which was 11 seconds ahead of his last race here and just four seconds behind his season-best time. Jack Regier was 20th in 19:11, Evan Lord was 24th in a personal-best 19:28 and Elijah Scott was the team’s fifth scorer, placing 27th at 19:40. Scott was 56 seconds faster than he was on Sept. 22 and Lord was 44 seconds faster.

Connor Sheahan of Athens continued his dominance of local races this fall, winning in 16:37, 34 seconds ahead of Columbus Catholic’s Isaac Scheer and 44 seconds ahead of Stratford’s Cree De-Foe. Nathan Wolf of Athens was fourth at 17:43 and Sam Bowden of Pittsville was fifth in 17:45.

For the Hawks, Matthew Schmidt was 33rd in 20:29, 25 seconds ahead of his Sept. 22 time. Nolan Sarkkinen was 35th in a season-best 21:00, 35 seconds ahead of his last race on the course. Connor Highfill was 44th at 22:58 and Nick Nikkila was 58th in 29:38, which was 1:40 faster than his Sept. 22 time.

The Hawks placed fifth in the team standings with 95 points, beating Columbus Catholic (123), Spencer (204) and the incomplete team from Port Edwards. Athens won the meet (48), followed by Pittsville (69), Straford (77) and Auburndale (81).

Prentice-Rib Lake won the boys middle school championship with 34 points, edging Wisconsin Rapids Assumption by four points. Top-10 finishers included Henry Regier in third (11:46), Hagan Isaacson in fourth (11:47), Jackson Schutt in eighth (12:27) and Jeremy Wiitala in 10th (12:42). Molly Adams was 11th in 14:16 in the girls race.

Next Thursday’s Marawood meet starts at 4 p.m. at Erbach Park in Athens. Assumption is the two-time girls team champion, while Phillips is the defending boys champion.

Athens Invite

On Thursday, the Hawks got familiar with the Erbach Park course that will host next week’s conference meet during the 18-team Athens Invitational.

Several team members ran to their best times of the season up to that point. The boys finished eighth in the team standings with six of the nine entrants securing their best times of 2022. Two of the Hawks three female participants also lowered their times.

Orysen led the girls with a 12th-place finish out of 119 runners. Her time of 21:29.5 put her 10.4 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor, Izzy Sonnentag of Cadott. Orysen was 18.8 seconds shy of the top 10 and 14.6 seconds behind 11thplace finisher Brianna Sheahan of Athens.

Olivia Lopez lowered her time for the third straight meet. The junior was 60th in 24:25.7. Lauren Schutt cut over a minute off her previous best time while taking 98th in 27:24.8.

Lucy Dolan of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption won the race in 18:34.4 and comfortably pulled away from runnerup Autumn Michalski of Chequamegon (18:59.7). Assumption’s Jordyn Jaglinski was third in 20:11.4. Shaylie Zarza of Thorp (20:24.7) and Willow Oehmichen of Colby (20:37.8) rounded out the top five.

Assumption easily claimed the team championship with 51 points. Phillips was second with 82, followed by Tomahawk (97), Colby (106), Chequamegon (139), Marathon (155), Cadott (161), Thorp (233), Antigo (234), Athens (244) and Abbotsford (262). The Hawks were one of seven non-scoring teams.

The boys were led by Kaleb Scott, who just missed the top 20 with his 21st-place time of 18:22.1, which was a personalbest. Ethan Potrykus of Three Lakes was just ahead of Scott in 20th place at 18:18.3. Ryan Buehler was the team’s second finisher. He was 32nd out of 138 finishers in 18:51.5.

Jack Regier was 42nd in 19:20.8, Evan Lord was 49th and got under 20 minutes for the first time at 19:36.6 and Elijah Scott was the team’s fifth scorer, taking 61st in a season-best 20:18.6.

Schmidt came in 65th in 20:25.2, Sarkkinen was 78th in a season-best 21:16.8, Highfill was 109th in a season-best 22:34.3 and Nikkila got under 30 minutes for the first time, placing 138th in 29:16.1.

Connor Sheahan of Athens used the home-course advantage to win easily in 16:29. Scheer (17:15.9) and Colby-Abbotsford’s Max Adams (17:27.3) were second and third, followed by Maverick Hoogland of Phillips (17:28.5) and Jacob Smith (17:33) of Marathon.

Phillips won the team title by totaling just 44 points. Athens (79), Chequamegon (107), Tomahawk (127), Auburndale (138), Marathon (139), Colby-Abbotsford (181), Prentice-Rib Lake (187), Stanley-Boyd (235) and Assumption (263) rounded out the top 10. Columbus Catholic was 11th with 288 points, followed by Cadott (300), Thorp (333) and Spencer (398). Antigo, Gresham-Bowler, Laona-Wabeno and Three Lakes were incomplete.

Prentice-Rib Lake was second in the boys middle school standings with 68 points, just behind Three Lakes (57). Henry Regier was fifth in 10:51.6, Isaacson was seventh in 11:00.2 and Wiitala was ninth at 11:16.6. Adams led the girls with a 15th-place time of 12:59.7.