STOUGHTON — The New Glarus-Monticello boys cross country team reached its third trip to state in four years. Head coach Steve Wehrley isn’t surprised of the accomplishment, given the drive, determination, leadership and preparation of his seniors. Instead, following the announcement at the end of the May 1 WIAA Stoughton Sectional that the Knights were team-runners up, Wehrley was left speechless based on context.

“This is a group of seniors that has been pretty solid, but they qualified in Division 3 in their freshman year, and they qualified in 2019 in Division 2. This year it’s only one division,” Wehrley said. “So, find me another team that has qualified in Divisions 3, 2 and 1 in a four-year stretch.”

The Glarner Knights scored 75 team points, trailing only Stoughton (63). The sectional was run in two waves, with seven teams at a time running, and individual times were tabulated together, despite the 30 minutes between the start of each race.

Running in the opening heat, NGM senior Joe Quaglia tried to keep pace with the front of the pack, but as the race went on, he found himself on an island. Quaglia was the first Knight to cross the finish line, taking eighth-overall finish at 17 minutes, 46.27 seconds. Stoughton’s Jayden Zywicki paced the field at 16:42.063. 

NGM’s strength was in its pack running. Evan Guenther (12th), Braylon Hoesly (15th), Tom Nelson (17th), Ty Ready (23rd), Brayden Ryan (26th) and Conor McCoy (28th) were all separated by less than 54 seconds, and all finished in less than 19:05.

“The boys team, they’ve set a standard that is unusual because oftentimes you’ll have a team where no everybody buys into the program. But our guys have, and therefore, everybody is strong. They set the stage for the future,” Wehrley said.

Janesville Craig, the winning team of the second race (100), also had a strong pack race, with its 2-7 runners all running in times under 19:34. However, the Knights finished with its five scoring runners with times under 18:56, while Craig had just three. 

Up next is the state meet, and a little bit closer to home. The WIAA Alternative Fall state event will be held at Blackhawk Golf Course in Janesville May 8. 

Also running at the Stoughton sectional were Monroe and Brodhead-Juda. The Cheesemakers finished seventh in points (212), narrowly edging Beloit Turner. Brodhead-Juda was 10th (266), 13 ahead of Belleville. 

Heath Huschitt, Lucas Sathoff and Zander Slack ran together for most of their race and finished 31, 32 and 33 overall. 

“We thought that Heath Huschitt had a shot to qualify for state, but unfortunately he tweaked his ankle that he sprained in the preseason,” said Scott Mosher, Monroe’s head coach. “At our last meet there was a sharp turn where he hurt it again and spent most of the week trying to get that better.  While he was able to race, he wasn’t near 100%, and that’s where he needed to be in order to qualify.  If he had beaten the individuals he beat earlier in the season he could have been very close.”

Huschitt (19:15.739), Sathoff (19:17.551) and Slack (19:19.585) were followed by Jared Batz (40th, 19:45.597), Wyatt Stevenson (76th, 21:33.174) and Aydn Thelander (84th, 22:18.479). The entire Cheesemaker lineup will return in the fall, as the lineup was without any seniors this spring.

“The boys all ran solid races but we could tell that mentally they have transitioned to the track season,” Mosher said. “What was very exciting was to see the huge improvement of Wyatt Stevenson. Wyatt ran a 40 second personal record. He entered the season without doing much training in the off season and is starting to show that he doesn’t just look the role of a distance runner but he can definitely be a contribute next season if he (along with other freshman Adyn Thelander) put in the hard work.”

Brodhead-Juda was led by senior Kyle Braund (25th, 18:59.207). Freshman Gavin Pinnow (51st, 20:26.140) was the second Cardinal to cross the finish line, just steps in front of junior teammate Brady Bruns (54th, 20:28.411). 

“On the guys side we had a nice pack,” said Brodhead-Juda coach Curt Gratz. “I was very happy with our racing today.”

Jacob Lohmar (21:04.93) was 64th overall, Josiah Engen (21:27.467) was 72nd, Maria Reyes (21:32.001) 74th and Sabian Blang (22:20.948) was 85th. While Braund will graduate between now and the fall season, the rest of the Cardinals should be back.

With the spring cross country season giving way to track and field immediately, the training the runners will have come August when the cross country team opens up the fall season, Gratz expects his runners to be in shape and ready to go.

“If you look at cross country times this spring, we are slower as a state than we normally are. But if you watch next fall, we’ll be faster. With a shorter break, it’ll be easier to keep your base built up,” Gratz said.