ALBANY — The Albany Comets cross country teams hosted the 29th annual Baertschi Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 8, bringing in over 20 teams.
“It’s truly a community effort to make something that big run smoothly,” Albany head coach Tony Brewer said. “Scott Keepers has always done a phenomenal job keeping the course in great shape and Derik Doescher does a great job managing the meet. Then it takes a lot of great volunteers to help out in many areas. Probably the most important thing to make it run smoothly though is having great weather, which we were fortunate to have.”
New Glarus-Monticello girls, ranked 12th in Division II by the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association (WCCCA) Poll, won the large school meet with 72 points. Lily Maynard paced the Glarner Knights with her ninth-place finish (20:39.7).
Monroe trailed behind NGM with 83 points. The Cheesemakers, ranked ninth in Division II by the WCCCA, were missing some key runners but still performed well. They defeated conference opponents Oregon (113, 4th) and Mount Horeb (131, 5th).
“Our girls have been very consistent this year and once again competed very well,” Monroe head coach Scott Mosher said. “They took second place by only 11 points, and that was without being full strength. Probably the best teams in our conference of Oregon and Mount Horeb were at the meet, so it’s good to see we have a chance at conference.”
Brodhead/Juda girls finished ninth in the large school race with 230 points.
In the small school race, Darlington took first with 79 points. Adalee Berget finished fourth in the small school race and 15th overall (20:37.4) to lead the Redbirds.
Mckenna Broughton of Albany finished just behind Berget in fifth (20:38.0). The Comets took third with 83 points.
“I thought our girls ran really well through two miles, but then we didn’t hold on very well the last mile, which allowed Darlington and Clinton to beat us,” Brewer said. “Hopefully we will learn from this and be better the next couple weeks.”
Monroe boys also fared well, placing third in the large school race with 94 points. The winner, Little Chute, collected 57 points. Both teams received recognition by the WCCCA, ranking 14th and 15th, respectfully. Jared Batz and Tre Dammen finished in the top ten at fourth (17:08.4) and sixth (17:40.8), respectfully.
“For the boys, the absences seemed to hurt a little more, but taking third is still a nice finish,” Mosher said. “We had some key people step up, which we’ve had all season. We came up a little short for this race, but ultimately, just like the girls, we know we have the team in place to compete, and if everything goes right, possibly even contend for a Badger Conference championship.”
Tom Nelson paced the New Glarus-Monticello team, finishing third with a time of 16:42.4. In total, the Glarner Knights tallied 116 points for fifth.
The Brodhead/Juda boys finished 11th in the large school race with 275 points.
Host Albany took fourth in the small school race with 120 points.
“For the boys, we knew going in there was at least four very good teams in small school division but our goal was top two,” Brewer said. “We beat Fennimore two weeks ago at their invite in a very tight battle, however, they beat us pretty good on our home course. We need to be better prepared Thursday when we go back to their place for our conference meet.”
George West led Darlington with his fourth-place finish (17:25.0). Overall, the Redbirds collected 173 points for seventh in the small school race.
While the Pecatonica/Argyle middle school teams raced in Albany, the varsity teams traveled to Muscoda for the Riverdale Invitational.
The boys finished in 11th with 285 points. Ridge Toay led the team with his third-place finish (17:16.3).
The girls brought just three runners and did not qualify for a team score.
