MONROE - Monroe High School senior Drake Ingold entered the cross country season in top form, and he put on a show in the season-opening Bruess Invitational on Monday at Twining Park.
Ingold ran a personal-best time to win the meet championship with a time of 16 minutes, 43.3 seconds, beating second-place Nathan Fox of East Troy by 14 seconds.
"I knew my expectations," Ingold said. "I had to go out and make it happen. It feels good to be at the top of the race and accomplish my goal. I wasn't really worried about running for time. I was more worried about running at the top of the race."
Dubuque Wahlert had five of the top 10 runners to outduel Monroe for the team title 36-60 in the 12-team invitational. New Glarus-Monticello finished eighth (196), Albany was 10th (261) and Pecatonica-Argyle was last (284).
Monroe junior Kyle Legler finished fourth (17:21.2), freshman Alex Henry took 11th (18:06), sophomore Dylan Fahrney was 16th (18:17.5), and senior Brock Bertalot rounded out the top five for the Cheesemakers by finishing 28th (18:59.9).
Monroe co-coach Scott Mosher said the coaches chose to hold out senior Dylan Scace to get him ready for future races, and he just did a workout.
"We knew our team was pretty solid at this point of the season," Ingold said. "We wanted to compete with Dubuque Wahlert at the top and give them a run for it."
Both Monroe co-coaches, Jim Ingold and Mosher, told the Monroe runners to hold back at the start of the race.
"We took the first mile, and we just wanted to be up with the leaders and get a feel for what the competition was like and then push it up," Legler said. "We just wanted to compete with the leaders and put our body in a little more pain than it's used to and go from there. We were having fun out there. That is what it's all about."
Albany junior Josh Dahl took 13th (18:14.2) to lead the Comets. Pecatonica-Argyle sophomore Payton Flannery finished 23rd (18:42.4) to lead the Vikings.
New Glarus-Monticello was led by freshman Connor McCoy, who took 25th (18:49.3). Sophomore teammate Adam Nelson finished 32nd (19:09.2), freshman Ty Ready placed 45th (20:24), sophomore Garrett Grossen took 46th (20:25.9), and freshman Dane Duerst was 48th (20:39.2).
The other runners that finished for the Comets included freshman Luke Johnson in 44th (20:15.4), senior Garrett Hlavachek in 66th (22:05.9), senior Logun Parker in 67th (22:06.8) and sophomore Josef Schirgi in 71st (22:36.23).
The other top-five runners for Pecatonica-Argyle were junior Joseph Tisch in 55th (21:07.6), freshman David Tisch in 60th (21:21), sophomore Kyle Hartley in 69th (22:19.3) and junior Cade Bush in 77th (24:47.5).
It was just the first race for all of the Wisconsin schools. Jim Ingold said the fourth and fifth runners for many teams, including the Cheesemakers, will be the key in many meets this season.
"I thought it would take 45 points to win this," Ingold said. "I thought we needed at least five in the top 15 to win this. This was really our first meet to see what they can do. It's different than a time trial. This is a true race to see where our strengths are and what we need to work on. We saw people step up, and we had a lot of PRs (personal records)."
Ingold ran a personal-best time to win the meet championship with a time of 16 minutes, 43.3 seconds, beating second-place Nathan Fox of East Troy by 14 seconds.
"I knew my expectations," Ingold said. "I had to go out and make it happen. It feels good to be at the top of the race and accomplish my goal. I wasn't really worried about running for time. I was more worried about running at the top of the race."
Dubuque Wahlert had five of the top 10 runners to outduel Monroe for the team title 36-60 in the 12-team invitational. New Glarus-Monticello finished eighth (196), Albany was 10th (261) and Pecatonica-Argyle was last (284).
Monroe junior Kyle Legler finished fourth (17:21.2), freshman Alex Henry took 11th (18:06), sophomore Dylan Fahrney was 16th (18:17.5), and senior Brock Bertalot rounded out the top five for the Cheesemakers by finishing 28th (18:59.9).
Monroe co-coach Scott Mosher said the coaches chose to hold out senior Dylan Scace to get him ready for future races, and he just did a workout.
"We knew our team was pretty solid at this point of the season," Ingold said. "We wanted to compete with Dubuque Wahlert at the top and give them a run for it."
Both Monroe co-coaches, Jim Ingold and Mosher, told the Monroe runners to hold back at the start of the race.
"We took the first mile, and we just wanted to be up with the leaders and get a feel for what the competition was like and then push it up," Legler said. "We just wanted to compete with the leaders and put our body in a little more pain than it's used to and go from there. We were having fun out there. That is what it's all about."
Albany junior Josh Dahl took 13th (18:14.2) to lead the Comets. Pecatonica-Argyle sophomore Payton Flannery finished 23rd (18:42.4) to lead the Vikings.
New Glarus-Monticello was led by freshman Connor McCoy, who took 25th (18:49.3). Sophomore teammate Adam Nelson finished 32nd (19:09.2), freshman Ty Ready placed 45th (20:24), sophomore Garrett Grossen took 46th (20:25.9), and freshman Dane Duerst was 48th (20:39.2).
The other runners that finished for the Comets included freshman Luke Johnson in 44th (20:15.4), senior Garrett Hlavachek in 66th (22:05.9), senior Logun Parker in 67th (22:06.8) and sophomore Josef Schirgi in 71st (22:36.23).
The other top-five runners for Pecatonica-Argyle were junior Joseph Tisch in 55th (21:07.6), freshman David Tisch in 60th (21:21), sophomore Kyle Hartley in 69th (22:19.3) and junior Cade Bush in 77th (24:47.5).
It was just the first race for all of the Wisconsin schools. Jim Ingold said the fourth and fifth runners for many teams, including the Cheesemakers, will be the key in many meets this season.
"I thought it would take 45 points to win this," Ingold said. "I thought we needed at least five in the top 15 to win this. This was really our first meet to see what they can do. It's different than a time trial. This is a true race to see where our strengths are and what we need to work on. We saw people step up, and we had a lot of PRs (personal records)."
