MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY - Boys win Spencer meet; Kahn an impressive 4th at Griak Invite

Evan Pagel was the team’s first finisher, Angus Hamland was its eighth and, in between, six straight Raiders filled the 12th through 17th places and that was good enough to give Medford’s boys cross country team its first meet championship of the 2025 season at Tuesday’s Spencer Invitational.

Held at the Frey Field course, the Raiders compiled 28 team points to beat Chequamegon (43) and Loyal-Greenwood (68), the only teams able to post teams scores with at least five runners. Eight teams were represented in the meet.

Pagel, a senior, led Medford for the third straight race. On Tuesday, he got to the finish line in a season-best 19:46.7, good for fifth place out of 40 runners. The only ones faster were Ben Hartwig of Athens (18:02), Nathan Scheer of Columbus Catholic (18:54.5), Cooper Michalski of Chequamegon (18:56.2) and Elijah Harris of Pittsville (19:14.3).

The Raiders’ pack of six then made sure they’d win the meet.

Corbyn Radlinger started the run for the guys in red with a 12th-place time of 19:40.2. Peyton Ried was next at a seasonbest 19:46.7, followed by Ace Arndt in 19:55.2. Will Daniels was the team’s fifth and final scorer, taking 15th in 19:57. Nevyn Gripentrog and Jordan Lavin were next at 19:57.2 and 20:01.8, both seasonbest times. Hamland, in his second race of 2025, improved greatly, taking 31st in 22:33.5.

The meet victory is the first for a Medford boys team since the Raiders won the Antigo Invitational on Sept. 13, 2022.

Medford’s girls were far from full strength on Tuesday but still pulled together a second-place finish with 45 points. Chequamegon won the meet with 26 points, while Athens (76) and Loyal-Greenwood (79) also had full squads.

Lindsay Kahn, after taking fourth in Saturday’s Griak Invitational in the Twin Cities, took this meet off. The Raiders also went without Melanie Richter and Willow Dassow.

Mallory Richter stepped up with her best time of the year by about 67 seconds, 22:10.2, and led the team with an eighthplace finish out of 39 runners. She was one spot ahead of Morgan Liske, who came in at 22:17.1.

Greta Seidel had a bounce-back meet, finishing 12th in 23:10.1, her best time of 2025. Esmeralda Anderson and Kayla Daniels took advantage of their opportunity to fill scoring roles and placed 14th and 15th with times of 23:22.3 and 23:27.6. Both were season bests.

Freshman Kyra Scheithauer was 20th in 24:48.6, Josephine Krug was 31st at 29:33.6. Isabella Leischer lowered her time to 30:20.7 and Lauren Stark lowered hers to 31:39.3. They were 35th and 36th.

Chequamegon’s Hailey Bodoh was the girls winner in 20:12.3, well ahead of Pittsville’s Kailyn Grossman (20:32.1) and Ellis Baer of Athens (20:57.1).

The Raiders will stay close to home Saturday when they get a chance to preview the WIAA Division 2 sectional course at the Merrill Invitational. The boys is set for 9 a.m., followed by the girls at 9:45 a.m.

Medford hosts its annual invite behind the high school on Thursday, Oct. 2. The middle school race is at 4:30 p.m., followed by the varsity boys at 5 p.m. and the varsity girls at 5:30 p.m.

Griak Invite

After a one-year hiatus, the Raiders returned to the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational Saturday, giving their varsity runners the chance to compete in a big-meet environment.

“This meet presented a fantastic chance to compete against the Midwest's top athletes, fostering growth and resilience,” head coach Jake Rhyner said.

The race course at the university’s Les Bolstad Golf Course was soggy due to recent rains and most of Medford’s times were a bit slower than they had been in recent meets.

Kahn, however, fought her way toward the top in the Gary Wilson Girls Gold race, placing fourth out of 220 finishers to earn a top-20 T-shirt. Kahn’s time was 20:48.2, 2.7 seconds ahead of fifth-place finisher Olive Halvorson of River Falls.

The top three were too fast to catch. Claire Grinde and Caroline Anderson of Hillsboro/Central Valley, N.D. were the top two finishers in 19:37.9 and 20:00, helping lead their team to third place in this last race of the day. Ella Fure of Marquette, Mich. placed third in 20:24.1. It took a time of 21:22.5 or better to land in the girls top 20.

Medford did not run at full strength, resting some girls who are working through injuries.

Seniors Liske and Mallory Richter took their customary spots near the top of Medford’s lineup. Liske finished 87th in 23:29.2 and Richter was 89th in 23:30.9. Daniels posted her best time of the year by 17.8 seconds, placing 146th in 24:50. Anderson was the team’s fifth scorer, placing 180th in 25:56.7.

Scheithauer added a 198th-place finish in 26:53.2 and Seidel was 205th in 27:44.

The Raiders finished with 464 team points, beating Kewaskum (477), Stewartville, Minn. (568) and St. Agnes, Minn. (587). Little Falls, Minn. was the team champion with 102 points, beating St. Cloud Cathedral (116) and Hillsboro/ Central Valley (156). Hudson was the top Wisconsin school, placing seventh with 261 points.

The competition was really good in the Larry Zirgibel Boys Gold race, which included 269 finishers. Medford placed 31st out of 32 teams with 852 points, beating St. Paul Academy and Summit School by one point.

Pagel led the Raiders by finishing 178th in 21:01.3, while Arndt was 182nd in 21:09.1. Lavin was the team’s third finisher, placing 189th in 21:17.6.

Radlinger came in 191st in 21:19.8 and Ried took the fifth spot at 21:21.6. Gripentrog was 222nd in 21:59 and Daniels was 243rd at 22:58.2.

Andrew Berndt of Sartell, Minn. won the race in 17:17.8, comfortably beating Blake Beaver of Park Center, Minn. (17:35.6) and Nolan Schatz of Stewartville (17:40.1).

Brainerd, Minn. won the team title with 115 points, nine fewer than Bemidji, Minn. Osseo, Minn. was a distant third with 196 points. River Falls was the top Wisconsin team, placing ninth with 281 points, and its Owen Koepke was the top Wisconsin finisher, taking 14th in 18:06.