MARSHFIELD CC INVITATIONAL - RL-P boys, Medford girls both place 3rd at Marshfield meet

Tuesday was a day to push a little harder for both the Medford and Rib Lake-Prentice cross country teams as they took part in the Marshfield Invitational, held at Wildwood Park. The Raider girls and Hawk boys each placed third in their respective varsity meets, while Medford’s boys took eighth and the Rib Lake-Prentice girls were ninth in a meet that featured representatives from 19 boys teams and 18 girls teams. The Hawks possibly fought a little fatigue competing in their third meet in six days and their boys found themselves in a tight competition with two Marawood Conference rivals at the top of the standings. Medford hadn’t competed in a week but saw its best competition of the young season. “This is our most competitive meet to date and a test as the opening mile was out hard for the boys and girls,” Medford head coach Jake Rhyner said. “As the weather cools, we need to get more aggressive and react to the race. We will continue to focus on aerobic conditioning and strength but things will slowly shift to sharpen up.” Marshfield won the boys meet with 35 points, while Marathon, who was three points behind the Hawks at Thursday’s Marathon Invite, took second with 60 points, five ahead of Rib Lake-Prentice this time. Stratford was a distant fourth with 111 points. Rhinelander (132), Tomah (178) and Wisconsin Rapids (183) were ahead of eighth-place Medford (220). The Hawks put all eight varsity entrants in the top 33 finishers in a field of 112. Henry Regier was the team’s leader this time, taking fourth in 17:11, about 45 seconds faster than he was Saturday at Chequamegon. Kaleb Scott took seventh in 17:30.6 and Truman Smith placed 14th in 18:02.7, 10 seconds off his season-best from Marathon. Heston Hueckman got the last top-20 spot with his time of 18:25.2. Dene Zuleger was 22nd in 18:31.3, Seamus Highfill was 27th in a season-best 18:35, Jeremy Wiitala was 30th at 18:49 and Jackson Schutt was 33rd in 18:58.4. Medford was without one of its top runners, Corbyn Radlinger, but the Raiders, for the most part, set season-best times in their third meet of the year. Senior Evan Pagel led them, taking 42nd in 19:30.8 and the team’s other senior, Will Daniels, was 48th at 19:41.6. Ace Arndt was right behind Daniels in a 19:42, improving by 1:03 from the Mosinee Invite Sept. 2. Peyton Ried was right at his time from the Mosinee meet, taking 53rd in 19:52.2. Jordan Lavin’s 20:02.9 was by far his best of the new season and good for 61st place to close Medford’s scoring. Nevyn Gripentrop was the team’s sixth finisher, placing 76th at 20:57.8. Marshfield’s Marshall Neve (16:34.8), Rhinelander’s Avrom Barr (16:43.1) and Marathon’s Logan Peters (16:57.2) were the top three finishers. Westfield (226), Mosinee (230), Auburndale (331) and Wittenberg-Birnamwood (341) finished ninth through 12th. Seven teams were incomplete. Rib Lake-Prentice filled a JV team and took fourth in those standings with 84 points, trailing Marshfield (21), Marathon (64) and Tomah (73). Eliah Harding was second in 19:40.8, his best time of the season. Marshfield’s Carter Williquette was the only runner faster at 19:15.2. Riley Johnson was 30th in 23:52.9, Ian Weber was 31st in 23:55.7, Kevin Head was 50th at 26:58.4 and Jaden Briggs was 56th at 32:04.6. Medford’s only JV entrant was Isaac Damm, who was 57th in 35:16.9, improving by 3:39 over his Timm’s Hill time on Aug. 28. Girls results Medford put its five scorers in the top 38 finishers in the girls varsity race, which put the Raiders solidly in the top three teams. The Raiders had 104 points, well ahead of fourth-place Stratford (152). Marshfield won easily with 23 points, while Wittenberg-Birnamwood had 82. Auburndale was fifth with 156 points, followed by Wisconsin Rapids (160), Westfield (201), Rhinelander (215) and the Hawks (221). Tomah was 10th with 229 points. Lindsay Kahn led the Raiders with a fourth-place time of 20:25.6, 4.5 seconds behind Marshfield’s Leeann Luedtke and 7.1 seconds ahead of Marshfield’s Natalie Schmitt. Pittsville’s Kailyn Grossman won the race in 19:46.8, while Marshfield’s Natalie Scharenbroch was second at 20:05.9. Senior Morgan Liske’s time of 21:46.6 was her best-ever on the Marshfield course and was good for 18th place in a field of 104. Freshman Melanie Richter was 28th at 22:49.9, while her senior sister Mallory Richter was 33rd at 23:17.9. Greta Seidel was Medford’s fifth scorer, taking 38th in a season-best 23:43.1. Freshman Kyra Scheithauer was 50th in as season-best 24:34.8, Kayla Daniels lowered her time to 25:07.8 and was 58th. Junior Willow Dassow, coming off injury, ran her first race of the fall and took 79th in 26:53.6. Kylie Orysen was 14th to lead Rib Lake-Prentice. Her time of 20:58.7 was her best of the fall so far. Ella Orysen was 23rd in 22:25.7, Emma Tlusty was 65th in 25:54.6, Ella Grzanna was 69th at 25:57.3 and Annalee Roder was the team’s fifth scorer at 27:22, good for 85th. Anna Scott was 94th at 28:52.1, Avie Schutt was 100th at 30:33.4 and Mackenzie Lyons was 104th in 33:12.7, improving by 1:31 over her Timm’s Hill time. Marathon (255), Mosinee (304) and Spencer (350) rounded out the girls team scores. Medford’s Esmeralda Anderson earned a sixth-place finish in the JV race with her time of 23:41.8, her best of the season by 1:18. Medford’s Josey Krug was 27th in 29:03.1, Lauren Stark was 31st in 32:39.8 and Isabella Leischer was 33rd in 33:17.8, all season-best times. Mia Lush ran her first race for the Hawks and was 23rd in 28:17.9. Sydney Briggs was 32nd in 33:16.6. Marshfield had the top five finishers led by Mischa Larson (22:28.2). The Tigers had the only full girls JV team. Rib Lake-Prentice next runs at Stevens Point Saturday. Medford is off until Sept. 20 when the varsity competes at the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational.