ALBANY — After a dry fall, the cross country course at Baertschi Farms went from a very hard running surface to very soft in just a matter of a couple of days.
“We ran hard up here on Monday up until Wednesday,” said Tony Brewer, Albany cross country coach. “(The ground) was as hard as you can get, and they got 1.5 inches here on Thursday. We were lucky, because (Friday) there were people around us that another half an inch while we were getting the course ready, and we just got a few drops. It swelled up a little bit.”
Between the big hill and muddy trails in the woods, runners got a mix of challenges at the annual Baertschi Invitational, held Oct. 9.
“The Baertschi is always a fun meet to go to because it feels and runs like a true cross country course,” said Scott Mosher, Monroe head coach. “Lots of hills, prairie trails, woods, and goes alongside a creek even. It’s definitely a challenging course and it says a lot about the runners on this years’ team because they were excited to run this meet, where in years past it wasn’t always the case.”
Little Chute won both the boys large school tile, narrowly edging out New Glarus-Monticello in both races. Albany won the small school girls race, with the Comets finishing second in the boys standings behind Poynette.
“For the boys we knew Poynette was coming in for sectionals, and we hadn’t seen them yet. They beat us pretty good. Our boys thought we could run better, but it’s important that we learn from this. Today wasn’t our day,” Brewer said.
Albany’s Mckenna Broughton finished fourth overall in the girls race with a time of 20:42.6. She took home first place honors in the small school division. Teammate Ava Ahnen was 12th overall and third in the small school division with a time of 21:14.4. Also scoring for the Comets were Emileigh Dallman (22:29.7), Payton Wachholz (22:45.7) and Kaiya Zurfluh (23:01.9).
“On the girls side I think we did pretty well,” Brewer said. “Some of our gaps were closed. The main key is everyone is healthy, and now we can see what we can do at conference.”
Brodhead-Juda was third in the team standings in the girls race, led by Anna Skoumal (23:50.8).
“This is a tough course, and we ran pretty well, all things considered,” Cardinals coach Curt Gratz said.” It’s a great course; beautiful to run. Even though we have conference right after this, we always keep coming back because it’s always good competition, always a good tune up.”
Lily Maynard was the first NGM runner to cross the finish line, taking seventh overall at 20:54.3. Also scoring for the Knights were Dayna Karls (21:13.6), Annika Ziperski (21:59.1), Melanie Fink (22:28.0) and Emma Martinson (22:34.6).
Monroe was led by Sierra McGuire (10th overall, 21:12.4). Jadyn Elgin (15th, 21:19.8) and Alyssa Roelli (18th, 21:38.2) also finished in the Top 20. Kaitlyn Elgin (22:44.0) and Ximena Miranda (23:51.1) rounded out Monroe’s scoring.
“For various reasons we haven’t had many races at full strength, and this was one of the few where we had all our girls run,” Mosher said. “With conference next week we got to compete against the top two teams in our conference, in Oregon and Mount Horeb, and the girls raced well enough to show they can compete with both. It’s been a while since the girls team has been in contention to win a Badger Conference Championship, and while we definitely aren’t the favorite this year, we can at least say we have a chance.
“Our top three girls, Sierra McGuire, Jadyn Elgin, and Alyssa Roelli, have been coming on strong and close the gap and compete with any team’s top three. What we wanted to see is if we can have two more step up. Kaitlyn Eglin ran great at Baertschi and if she can do it again next week who knows what can happen. Ximena Miranda, Skye Dickson, Katrina Sathoff, and Ellery Bazley are the next four that will have the opportunity at the Badger Conference Championship next Saturday.”
Little Chute’s 55 points paces the large school field on the girls side, with NGM (86) fending off Oregon (89) and Monroe (110) for second place. On the boys side, Little Chute (71) narrowly edged NGM (76), which edged Mount Horeb (77) by a singular point, with Monroe (99) in the near distance. Simply put, NGM had an all-around big day, as the Glarner Knights saw five of the other 14 teams from their upcoming sectional at the race.
Tom Nelson was the first NGM runner to finish the boys race, taking eighth overall at 17:26.9. Evan Guenther (17th, 18:12.2) and Braylon Hoesly (19th, 18:16.3) each finished in the Top 20. Grayson Rodefeld (19:03.6) and Ian Schwartzlow (19:03.6) also scored for the Knights.
Monroe was led by Jared Batz (16th, 18:02.3). Zander Slack (18:28.5), Anthony Wels (18:29.7), Lucas Sathoff (18:35.0) and Wyatt Stevenson (20:06.1) also scored for the Cheesemakers.
“The boys have shown all year that they can compete with the top teams at conference, particularly Mount Horeb. The key will be if we are able to have everyone available,” Mosher said. “Jared Batz had a very nice race at Albany and showed he can compete for an all-conference spot next week. Zander Slack and Anthony Wels also had nice days and can put themselves in the same conversation. Lucas Sathoff had an off day but showed that even at his worst of the season he is still competitive. One of the surprises the last couple weeks has been Wyatt Stevenson. Early in the season there was a huge gap between our fifth and sixth runners. Wyatt has had three very strong races in a row and gives us some needed depth.”
Albany’s Jesse Schwartz finished 22nd overall, but was the No. 8 finisher in the small race with a time of 18:17.1. Gage Roth (18:27.3), Brian Cid (19:18.1), Ethan Koss (19:30.6) and Brayden Bakken (19:31.3) all scored for the Comets.
Brodhead-Juda was 12th as a team on the boys side. Gavin Pinnow (19:52.1) was the first Cardinal to cross the finish line, with Josiah Engen (20:21.7), Brady Bruns (20:26.6) and Nathan Engen (20:39.0) all packed together.
“Anna ran a good race on the girls side, and Gavin had a good race for the boys,” Gratz said.
More concerning for the Cardinals was leading runner Jacob Lohmar was unable to finish the race, pulling up lame with an upper leg injury less than halfway into the race.
“He pulled a hamstring, and it’s not the most ideal time of the season to do that,” Gratz said. “Hopefully he’ll be good by Thursday,” which is when the Rock Valley Conference takes place.
Oregon’s Dasha Vorontsov won the girls race with a time of 19:50.8), a clear 34 seconds ahead of the next finisher. On the boys side, Oregon’s Yordanos Zelinski took home the title (16:46.0), defeating Mount Horeb’s Joseph Stoddard by seven seconds. Belleville’s Carter Scholey (17:05.7) was third.
Pec-Argyle eighth at Riverdale Invitational
MUSCODA — The Pecatonica-Argyle Vikings finished eighth overall in the boys race at the Riverdale Invitational Oct. 9.
Ridge Toay scored eight points with a finishing time of 17:39.1. Kristian Orloff (19:22.1) and Brady Penniston (19:34.2) finished in the top 50 of a race with 113 runners.
On the girls side, Anna Tisch was 29th overall (22:38.0), while Paige Toay (28:23.7) was 97th.
