By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
DHS boys blow away field, get back to state
Redbirds reach state for 11th year in a row, Mendez earns individual state berth; Albany girls just miss out
peyton heinberg
Darlington’s Payton Heinberg captured his third-straight sectional title with a blistering time of 16 minutes, 43.2 seconds during a cold and windy day at the WIAA Division 3 sectional meet in Boscobel Oct. 20. The Redbirds advanced to state on the boys side for the 11th-straight year. For more photos of the meet, check out our gallery online. - photo by By Thomas Gunnell

BOSCOBEL — On a blustery day at Boscobel’s Ryan Zimple Memorial Course, senior Payton Heinberg and the Darlington Redbirds boys’ cross country team blew away the competition.

Heinberg captured the boys’ individual sectional title for the third year in a row while leading the No. 4-ranked Redbirds to their 11th consecutive sectional team title at the 2018 WIAA Division 3 Sectional Meet held at the Zimple Farm on Saturday, Oct. 20.

“The guys got in good position from the start and then made strong moves as the race went on. Our seniors are leading the way and I am pleased with how our underclassmen are coming on,” said Darlington head coach Arnie Miehe. 

Heinberg covered the 5,000-meter course in a winning time of 16:43.2 to claim his third career sectional championship, finishing ahead of SWAL rivals Ian Barry (16:52), a junior from Fennimore and sophomore Nick Connolly (16:58) of Iowa-Grant.

The Redbirds placed all five of their team’s scoring runners in the top 15 to easily outdistance the competition with 45 team points. Boscobel tied with Wauzeka-Steuben for second-place with 94 points, but the host Bulldogs locked down the other state team berth at the sectional thanks to their sixth-place runner finishing 11 spots ahead of the Hornets’ sixth-place runner.

DHS boys team photo
The Darlington boys cross country team reached the state meet for the 11th-straight year. - photo by By Thomas Gunnell

Senior Tucker Lange placed sixth overall in 17:16 for the Redbirds, followed junior Bailey Schwartz in 11th in at 18:03, junior Willie Riechers in 12th at 18:06 and senior Trae Schilling in 14th in 18:19 to complete the team scoring on the day.

“We are running our best right now, and they are looking forward to getting back to the state meet,” said Miehe. 

The girls’ race was a battle from the start with the No. 8-ranked Lady Redbirds needing to run down the No. 1 or 2 ranked teams in Division 3 to earn a trip to Wisconsin Rapids next weekend.

The top-ranked Lancaster Flying Arrows flew away with the girls’ team title, placing four runners in the top 10 en route to a 33-point performance. The No. 2-ranked Boscobel Bulldogs tallied 63 points thanks to five top 20 finishes to pull in second and earn the other state team berth, pushing Darlington (83) into third-place in the team standings.

ilse mendez
Darlington’s Ilse Mendez finished third overall in the WIAA Division 3 sectional race at Boscobel Oct. 20 with a time of 19:55.3, which was enough to reach state as an individual qualifier. The Lady Redbirds came up short as a team to qualify for state, finishing 20 points behind Boscobel. - photo by By Thomas Gunnell

“The girls gave everything they had and, on this day, it just wasn’t quite enough. I am proud of how they battled to the end. They took on the elements and the top two ranked teams to finish third in the toughest Division three girl’s sectional in the state,” said Miehe.

Senior Ilse Mendez earned an individual state berth for the second straight season after finishing third overall in 19:56 to claim the second of the five individual berths.

“Ilse ran a determined race and her past state meet experience will give her an advantage going into next week’s state meet,” said Miehe.

Freshman Judith Meister placed 13th overall in 21:00 for the ’Birds, and she was followed across the finish line — with snow falling — by sophomore Morgan Black in 18th at 21:39, freshman Allyson Meyers in 22nd at 21:44 and junior Gracie Douglas in 28th at 22:42 to completed the team scoring for Darlington.

Lancaster senior Lydia Murphy was crown the girls’ individual sectional champion with her winning time of 19:28.3, finishing 11 seconds ahead of North Crawford sophomore Helen Carstens (19:39.5) who was last year’s sectional titlist.

Albany girls 5th, boys 11th; Pec-Argyle boys 12th

Madison Peters capped her senior season with an 18th place finish and a time of 21.29.7 to lead the Comets (119), which was 20 points behind Poynette for third. 

Albany also received scoring runs from a pack of runners that finished within 31 seconds of each other, which included freshman Payton Wachholz (26th, 22:11.3), freshman Emileigh Dallman (28th, 22:29.9), freshman Kaiya Zurfluh (30th, 22:35.4) and senior Kaitlyn Trow (34th, 22:42.8).

Pecatonica-Argyle freshman Lexi Peterson finished 64th in the girl’s race with a time of 25:43.3, just ahead of senior teammate Stephanie James (65th, 25:43.5). Rachel Gilbertson was 87th with a time of 28:42.4.

On the boy’s side, Albany senior Josh Dahl was ninth overall with a time of 17:40.0, but missed out on a state trip by less than 17 seconds to seventh-place finisher Jacob Reichmann (17:23.5). Sophomore Owen Baertschi had a 41st overall finish (19:19.5) for the Comets, which also received scoring runs from sophomore Luke Johnson (61st, 19:54.7), freshman Andy Gertsch (20:22.5) and Bailey Schroeder (104th, 21:54.2).

Pecatonica-Argyle had high hopes to open the season but finished 12th in team scoring (298), nine points shy of Albany (289). Junior Payton Flannery was the 32nd runner to cross the finish line with a time of 18:53.1, while the Vikings also got scoring runs from junior Mason Waage (52nd, 19:37.0), sophomore Davis Tisch (65th, 20:03.1), freshman Brady Penniston (73rd, 20:11.2) and senior Cade Bush (80th, 20:23.7).