WISCONSIN RAPIDS — The Monroe Cheesemakers closed the cross country season with both their girls team and boys team competing at the state championships on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Ridges Golf Course at Wisconsin Rapids.
The Cheesemaker girls placed third overall in Division 2 with 128 points, which ties their top overall finish in program history. Only Mount Horeb (90 points) and McFarland (112 points) finished higher.
The fourth-ranked Cheesemakers placed three runners in the top 20. Freshman Braylin Cleary finished 13th overall with a time of 19:56.2. Senior Aniyah Jackson-Bey was 16th in 20:00.7. Sophomore Vicki Wolf placed 19th in 20:12.9. Senior Miley Hanson finished in 37th place with a time of 20:47.6. Senior Mary McKenzie ran her final race and finished 43rd in 20:55.6. Other finishers for the Cheesemakers were sophomore Kaylen Cassidy (45th, 20:59.9) and junior Lyla Ritschard (54th, 21:18.9).
The Monroe boys cross country team, ranked 11th, finished in 12th place with 242 points. The Hounds were led by senior Tre Dammen, who placed eighth with a time of 16:37.2. Next for the Cheesemakers was sophomore Weston Huntsman, who finished 31st in 17:24.3. Freshman Ace Rossing was 62nd in 18:07.8. Senior Brady Keehn placed 70th (18:13.3), junior Lukas Gerber 71st (18:17.1), junior Eli Phillips 84th (18:44.6) and junior Kamrin Gerber-Reamer 102nd (19:20.2) accounted for the rest of the Cheesemakers runners. In addition to their state championship appearance, the Hounds were sectional and conference champions this fall.
Albany’s two runners make their mark at state
The Albany Comets had two individuals run in Division 3 at the state meet. In the boys race, senior Kaleb Broughton was 40th with a time of 17:33.5.
Broughton qualified by being the top runner at the sectional at Albany. The top five individuals who are not members of a qualifying team advanced to state.
Also for Albany, freshman Emerson Butts qualified for the girls state meet by placing fourth overall at the sectional but not as a member of a qualifying team. Butts finished the state championship race in 49th place with a time of 20:46.6.
