MONROE — New Glarus-Monticello finished first in the boys race and second in the girls heat at the annual Bruess Invitational held Aug. 30 at Twining Park.

Mount Horeb’s boys team finished second, four points behind NGM (72-76). Oregon (98) was third, and Monroe (102) took fourth. Albany (139) was sixth and Belleville (175) finished eighth. On the girls side, Dubuque Wahlert (50) finished first, ahead of NGM (61). Monroe (80) was third and Albany (81) fourth.

“We raced for our team positions on Saturday, so that always makes this first one tough because they don’t have 100% legs,” NGM coach Steve Wehrley said, adding that the general heat also posed a challenge to all runners. “It’s early in the season (and) we had a week of heat, but we were probably more ready for this than most times.”

Part of the readiness was probably the shorter offseason, one of the few positives of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Knights participated in the Alternate Fall season this past spring — sending both boys and girls squads to the state meet against Division 1 schools — and then jumped right into the track season, which lasted nearly a month longer than normal. That left just over a month for rest before fall practices started.

“I think (both squads) were pumped, especially the girls because we lost a lot of senior boys. Younger kids had to realize that they are next in line, but the girls lost nobody and were there almost every day in the summer for open run,” Wehrley said. “They really had their nose to the grindstone.”

In the boys race, Oregon’s Yordanos Zelinski completely dominated the field, finishing with a time of 16:50.1, more than 21 seconds in front of second place finisher Joseph Stoddard (17.11.6) of Mount Horeb. Belleville sophomore Carter Scholey (17:24.1) was third, and NGM junior Tom Nelson (17:38.8) was fourth. Monroe’s top runner, senior Lucas Sathoff, was seventh (18:14.1).

The Cheesemakers’ top four runners were tight at the top, all finishing in the top 14, including junior Anthony Wels, who changed his mind from playing football to running cross country in the final weeks before the fall season began.

“As of July, he was going to play football,” said Scott Mosher, Monroe’s head coach. “I told him I wasn’t going to push him, but I said he’d make a heck of a cross country runner. His exact quote was, ‘There is no way in hell you’re going to get me to do cross country.’ So in July he was going to do football, then all of a sudden he starts showing up to the group runs, and here in his first race he breaks 19. He’s changed the team, and that’s pretty cool.”

Wels was 14th overall with a time of 18:51.4. He finished just a few steps behind teammate Jared Batz (13th, 18:50.6). Zander Slack was 10th overall with a time of 18:39.5, finishing just 1/10th of a second ahead of Albany’s Jesse Schwartz.

“Our top four were better than anybody else’s top four by a long ways. We didn’t have a fifth runner, and that hurts — our No. 1 runner didn’t run, and all of a sudden it’s a different situation,” Mosher said. “Mount Horeb made it to state a couple of years ago for boys, New Glarus made it last year, Wahlert is always good — it’s a very competitive race.”

Senior Evan Guenther of NGM was ninth (18:33.5); senior teammate Braylon Hoesly (19:04.2) was 16th; fellow senior Brayden Ryan was 21st overall (19:25.7) and sophomore Grayson Rodefeld was 25th overall (19:58.2) to round out the Glarner Knights’ scoring runners.

Albany’s Gage Roth returned after missing a week due to an illness and finished 16th overall (20:00.9). Teammate Brian Cid was 34th (20:18.8); Brayden Bakken was 37th (20:34.4), and Ethan Koss finished 39th overall (20:37.8).

“It was a pretty good starting point. You obviously want to work on some things, but overall I think it went pretty well,” Albany coach Tony Brewer said. “When you get (Schwartz and Roth) out front, and then you get 3-4-5-6, even 7, if you can tighten up the gaps then we can compete with some of those good teams at the top.”

On the girls side, Dubuque’s Ellie Meyer finished first overall (20:35.9), 21 seconds ahead of NGM sophomore Lily Maynard, who was third (20:56.1). Wahlert had five runners finish in the top 23 overall, while NGM had six runners in the top 22. 

“It’s real tough at this point for Lily and for us to know how fast to take that first mile. She’s competitive, and when she sees someone ahead of her, it’s like a dog chasing a bike — it’s real tough to do the smart thing. But I thought her first mile was really nice,” Wehrley said. “She wants to break that 20-minute barrier, and I think she will in just a few weeks — she was on track today, but it was a hot day and this is a hilly course.”

Dayna Karls was 12th overall for the Knights (22:19.2), while Annika Ziperski finished 17th (23:05.5). Runners 4-6 finished one after another: Melanie Fink (20th, 23:18.4); Tenley Faber (23:32.4) and Emma Martinson (23.32.5).

Monroe’s top trio of Sierra McGuire, Jadyn Elgin and Alyssa Roelli stayed up near the front of the pack, but the drop off to the No. 4, 5, and 6 runners was significant enough to keep the Cheesemakers from contending for the title. 

“Our top three were phenomenal — all within 30 seconds and in the low 22s. It was really neat to see that. Those girls are going to be tough. We know Jadyn is a 19-something runner, and the other two girls are right there. If you can get three girls at 20-minutes or under, you can do a lot of good stuff,” Mosher said. 

McGuire, a senior, paced the Cheesemakers, finishing ninth overall with a time of 22:04.9. Elgin, a state qualifier in the spring season as a freshman, was 11th (22:14.3), while senior Alyssa Roelli was 13th (22:32.1).

“I’m so happy for Sierra, because last year she had this hip issue, so we kind of shut her down. She eased into track and had a very nice track season. Now we can see what she’s capable of,” Mosher said.

Monroe’s No. 4-6 runners stayed in a pack and still finished well enough to guarantee the Cheesemakers third place. Elery Bazley was 33rd overall at 25:06.2; Katrina Sathoff 34th (25.11.1) and Ximena Miranda 35th (25:14.3). 

“Ximena, Elery, Katrina, and then Anna (Polnow) and Marlies (Brandli) all ran really well,” Mosher said.

Albany’s top two runners, Ava Ahnen and Mckenna Broughton, finished 7-8th overall. Ahnen finished with a time of 21:52.2, while Broughton rolled in at 21:56.6. Emileigh Dallman was 15th overall for the Comets (22:35.1). Kaiya Zurfluh finished 30th (24:11.1) and Payton Wachholz (25:48.8) finished 43rd.

“We want them (Ahnen and Broughton) to run together. We’re going to have to keep those two up there, and everybody else is just going to have to keep closing those gaps,” Brewer said. “Emily made a big jump today, and we have a couple other girls that aren’t too far behind Emileigh either.”