Abby sets PRs at Frey Field
The Abbotsford Falcons had five out of their six members have either seasonal or career bests at the Marawood conference cross country meet held at Frey Field outside of Spencer last Thursday. The Falcons finished eighth out of the ten Marawood teams, finishing the day with 204 points.
The Phillips girls took first place as a team, ending with 46 points. Assumption was not far behind as the runners-up with 58 points and Chequamegon took third with 99 points. Autumn Michalski of Chequamegon claimed the top spot, finishing the race in 17:29.0. Lucy Dolan of Assumption took second with a time of 17:59.5, nearly two minutes faster than Leah Harper of Phillips, who took third.
The Falcons’ top runner of the day was Azul Diaz, who earned herself a second-team all-conference finish by coming in ninth place. The junior notched yet another personal best in a season full of them, cutting off nearly half a minute from her time at Weyauwega the week prior to finish in 20:43.0.
“Our goal [for Azul] was top-16 that day,” head coach Dillon Novak said. “We knew who our goal people were to stick by and that helped us. She came just short of first team all conference. It was great to see her running with and beating girls that she hadn’t beat before.”
Stratford’s Kayla Casperson claimed the final first team spot, finishing eighth just three seconds ahead of Diaz.
Iris Cruz came across the finish line second for the Falcons. She ran her fastest race of the 2023 season, posting a time of 24:08.2. That time earned her 44th place.
The next three Abbotsford runners all set new PRs at the conference meet. Monse Ochoa took off one second from her previous personal best, coming in with a time of 25:29.1 and finishing in 49th place. Angie Chavez and Ana Flores also had their best races of their careers, with Chavez finishing a minute faster and Flores shaving off 17 seconds to come in with times of 26:43.1 and 27:32.6 respectively. They earned 55th and 56th.
Asia Atkinson finished closely after her teammates, coming in 57th with a time of 27:39.6 to round out the Falcons’ runners.
“The team as a whole performed very well last week,” Novak said. “When you have five out of the six either PR or run their season best time it’s hard to not call it a good day.”
The Falcons will compete in their sectional meet in Colby this Saturday, Oct. 21. It will be the first sectional meet for all of the team’s athletes, as they did not compete in the postseason last year.
“I expect it to be a little intimidating for some of them as there will be a lot of teams and the atmosphere changes a little bit when you get to this type of setting,” Novak said. “For most of them I’m just hoping we can finish the season on a high note and try to get one last PR or close to it. It should be a fun experience for them seeing a sectional meet.”
The Division 3 meet is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. with the girls meet slated for an 11:30 start.
