Hawks’ Orysen 12th; boys get 3 mentionees at Marawood meet

MARAWOOD CC CHAMPIONSHIPS

On a cold afternoon in Athens Thursday, the Prentice-Rib Lake Hawks burned up the course at Erbach Park with its times at Thursday’s Marawood Conference cross country championship meet.

“Our kids did so good today,” an excited coach Lynn Granberg said after the varsity races. “We had lots and lots of PRs.”

Those personal records added up to a sixth-place team finish for the boys, with freshman Kaleb Scott, sophomore Jack Regier and senior Ryan Buehler all landing honorable mention awards for their spots in the individual standings.

All three of the Hawks’ girls entrants set their best times, including freshman Kylie Orysen, who earned All-Marawood second-team honors with her 12th-place finish.

Orysen’s time of 21:02.4 was four seconds faster than the one she posted at her most recent race, the Oct. 4 Auburndale Invitational. It was 27 seconds faster than it was at the Sept. 29 Athens Invite. She held her own with the lead pack for most of the 5,000 meters and was just eight seconds away from the top 10 in a finishing field of 57.

Sophomore Lauren Schutt was 52nd for the Hawks in 27:08.8, a personal-best by 16 seconds, and sophomore Amy Espinoza was 54th in 27:41.1, a personal-best by 1:43.

Two runners broke from the pack quickly and were all by themselves for virtually the entire race. Chequamegon’s Autumn Michalski won in 18:38.5, while Lucy Dolan of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption was second in 18:58.8. Assumption had the next three finishers on its way to easily winning the team championship for the third straight year. The top eight finishers are considered the All-Marawood first team, while those who finish ninth through 16th make up the second team those who finish 17th through 24th earn honorable mention.

Assumption, a freshman- and sophomore- dominated squad, totaled just 23 points in its championship effort and was followed by Phillips (63), Stratford (72), Chequamegon (94), Marathon (123), Edgar (140) and Abbotsford (197). The Hawks, Athens and Auburndale were incomplete.

For the boys, Scott continued his fine first season in the sport with a time of 18:19.2 that was right at his best time of the fall and was good for 19th place out of 62 finishers. Regier, who was 31st in the conference last year, used a strong ending kick to pick off some runners late and take 20th in 18:22.4, a season-best time by 10 seconds. Buehler was right behind Scott for the majority of the race and wound up 22nd in 18:26.5, his best time by eight seconds.

Elijah Scott was the team’s fourth finisher. The sophomore was 35th in 19:26.2, dropping 14 seconds from his most recent race hosted by Auburndale. Freshman Evan Lord was the fifth scorer, placing 39th in 19:43.4. Matthew Schmidt was 41st in 19:44.3 as he crushed the 20-minute mark for the first time.

Senior Nolan Sarkkinen was right at his best mark while taking 51st in 21:00.1 and senior Ben Petersen was 58th in 22:12.2.

The Hawks totaled 135 points to beat Auburndale (140), Assumption (208) and Edgar (222). Phillips easily won the team championship for the second straight fall, scoring just 33 points. The Loggers were followed by Athens (69), Chequamegon (89), Stratford (107) and Marathon (108).

Connor Sheahan of Athens continued his dominant fall by easily winning the individual title in 16:48.2. Connor Gabay (17:10.2) and Maverick Hoogland (17:11.5) of Phillips were second and third, while Chequamegon’s Isaiah Dietz was fourth in 17:18.7, just ahead of Gavin Esterholm of Phillips (17:22.4).

Hawk freshman Eliah Harding was 12th out of 22 runners in the boys JV race in 21:42.3 and sophomore Connor Highfill was 18th in 22:22.1, his best time of the year and a 12-second improvement over his Sept. 29 race on the Erbach course.

Granberg said the team is excited about its chances at this Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 Phillips sectional to be run on the Moonlight Lane course. Granberg said much of the course is flat, going through fields, but it has its share of hills as well. The Hawks ran there early in the year and are familiar with the course.

While the host Loggers and Chequamegon will be there, the meet will feature a whole new field of teams and individuals the Hawks don’t see in the Marawood and they feel their top runners can match up favorably.

The girls meet is set for noon on Saturday, while the boys will follow at 1 p.m. The top two teams in each race and the top five finishers from non-qualifying teams will advance to the Oct. 29 WIAA Division 3 state championships in Wisconsin Rapids.

Prentice-Rib Lake’s Kylie Orysen leads a tight pack of runners early in the Marawood Conference’s girls championship race Thursday in Athens.

Prentice-Rib Lake’s Kaleb Scott (l.) and Ryan Buehler push each other to honorable mention finishes in Thursday’s Marawood Conference boys championship race.

Medford’s Josh Clark runs stride for stride with Lakeland’s Ashton Bremer and eventually gets by him to take fourth place in Saturday’s Great Northern Conference boys championship race.PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Raider Bjorg Risa tucks in behind a Lakeland runner midway through Saturday’s race.

Brooke Rudolph and Ella Daniels get off to a good start in Saturday’s GNC girls race.