By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Darlington boys conf. champs for 11th-straight year; girls 2nd
Mendez
Darlington senior Ilsa Mendez (7521) finished third overall at the SWAL meet Oct. 11 with a time of 19:36.8. As a team the Lady Redbirds finished second, while the Darlington boys captured the conference title.

MUSCODA — The Darlington boys cross country team capped another year as SWAL champions – grabbing the title for the 11th-straight year Oct. 11. 

Redbirds senior Payton Heinberg grabbed first-place honors with a 5,000-meter time of 16-minutes, 37.2 seconds. Senior teammate Tucker Lange was third (16:59.0) and senior Trae Schilling (7th, 17:42.8), junior Bailey Schwartz (9th, 17:48.8) and freshman Rhett Reuter (14th, 17:55.6) rounded out the Redbirds’ scoring.

Albany finished fourth as a team behind Boscobel and Fennimore. Senior Josh Dahl led the comets with a sixth-place finish (17:28.2). Albany’s other scorers included sophomore Luke Johnson (27th, 19:10.9), sophomore Owen Baertschi (31st, 19:26.6), freshman Andy Gertsch (42nd) and junior Nathaniel Ross (53rd, 21:34.2).

Pecatonica-Argyle was fifth. Troy Nickels led the Vikings with an 18th-place finish and a time of 18:20.7, while junior Payton Flannery (22nd, 18:45.6), sophomore David Tisch (26th, 19:13.3), and seniors Cade Bush (39th, 19:53.2) and Joseph Tisch (43rd, 20:05.2) rounded out the scoring.

On the girl’s side, Darlington narrowly finished second behind Boscobel with Albany taking third. The Redbirds had been conference champions in nine of the last 10 seasons.

Senior Ilse Mendez paced the Redbirds with a third-place finish (19:36.8), followed by fourth-place freshman Judith Meister (20:03.7). Freshman Kayci Martensen of Southwestern-Benton-Cuba City won the race with a blistering time of 17:56.0, nearly a minute and a half ahead of second-place finisher Abri Brown, a Boscobel freshman.

Freshman Allyson Meyers (10th, 21:11.1), sophomore Morgan Black (13th, 21:19.9) and senior Bethany McDonald (22:09.6) rounded out Darlington’s scoring.

Albany was paced by senior Madison Peters (9th, 21:06.6). Freshman Emileigh Dallman (12th, 21:17.9), senior Megan Anderson (14th, 21:29.9), freshman Payton Wacholz (17th, 21:50.6) and senior Kaitlyn Trow (21st, 22:19.1) also had scoring runs for the Comets.

Senior Stephanie James took 42nd overall with a time of 24:35.7 for Pecatonica-Argyle, and teammate Rachel Gilbertson was 54th (25:59.1). The Vikings didn’t have a complete team for scoring.

Each of the SWAL teams will compete in Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 sectional at Boscobel, except for Southwestern-Benton-Cuba City, which will run in the Division 2 sectional at River Valley. Darlington boys have advanced to state in each of the past 10 years.


NGM boys 2nd, girls 5th in Capitol

NEW GLARUS — A year after reaching the state meet the Glarner Knights’ boys cross country team finished second behind Deerfield-Cambridge at the Capitol South meet Oct. 13.

Sophomore Conor McCoy finished third overall with a time of 18:29.8, 40 seconds behind champion Christian Patzka of Wisconsin Heights-Barneveld and 12 seconds behind Wills Manning of Deerfield-Cambridge.

New Glarus-Monticello also received scoring runs from junior Adam Nelson (7th, 19:03.7), sophomore Joe Quaglia (8th, 19:04.5), freshman Evan Guenther (10th, 19:07.7) and sophomore Rudy Wicker (11th, 19:16.0). 

In the girl’s race, New Glarus-Monticello took fifth, with Marshall taking first overall. Freshman Dayna Karls (13th) led the Knights with a time of 23:41.7. Junior Molly Molencamp (17th, 24:33.0), freshman Annie Fuller (24th, 25:58.3), senior Libbie Melvin (32nd, 27:11.9) and sophomore Alexa Thayer (36th, 28:02.3) all finished with scoring runs for NGM.

The Knights will compete at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 sectional in River Valley.