PRAIRIE DU CHIEN — New Glarus-Monticello is sending its boys and girls cross country teams back to state for the second straight season, while Monroe is sending senior Sierra McGuire to her first state run.

“The girls race was full of talent with girls who will place very high at state, so this was quite an accomplishment (for McGuire),” Monroe coach Scott Mosher said of the Oct. 23 WIAA Division 2 Prairie du Chien Sectional. “Sierra nearly broke 20 minutes, which very few runners ever do. Everyone is super excited to watch her finish her career at the state meet next week.”

McGuire finished eighth overall at 20:04.4, clinching her spot in the state field by just 2.1 seconds over Evansville’s Rosemary Gallagher. McGuire’s teammate, sophomore Jadyn Elgin, a state-qualifier last year, was 10th at 20:14.5.

“While Jadyn ran an outstanding race, setting a personal best time, what was maybe more impressive was how Jadyn was incredibly happy for her teammate rather than being down about not qualifying herself,” Mosher said.

Monroe senior Alyssa Roelli was 16th overall (21:00.3), and fellow senior Kaitlyn Elgin was 36th (22:07.5). Sophomore Ximena Miranda rounded out the scoring for the Cheesemakers with a 42nd-place finish (22:28.4).

“The girls race was very similar to the boys in that we knew Dodgeville/Mineral Point was a strong favorite to earn the first qualifying spot, and then New Glarus/Monticello and Mount Horeb were projected to battle it out for the second spot,” Mosher said. 

Dodgeville/Mineral Point took the team title with 43 points, while New Glarus-Monticello (106) finished just ahead of Monroe (112) and Mount Horeb (124).

Lily Maynard was the first Glarner Knight to cross the finish line, taking 11th at 20:22.2, followed directly by senior teammate Dayna Karls (12th, 20:27.8). Annika Ziperski (22nd, 21:12.9), Melanie Fink (29th, 21:35.8) and Emma Martinson (32nd, 21:52.8) all scored for the Knights, with Lucy Melvin (33rd, 21:59) and Camryn Arnett (38th, 22:13.7) adding additional quality scores. 

Brodhead-Juda’s Kalena Riemer was the top girls runner for the Cardinals, finishing 37th at 22:12.1.

On the boys side, Dodgeville/Mineral Point also took first overall (62 points), ahead of New Glarus-Monticello (99), Lodi (104), Monroe (131) and Mount Horeb (140). 

“Since we’d seen most of these teams before we knew it would be a challenge to qualify as a team. Dodgeville/Mineral Point has a Top 5 team in the state so we were confident they would earn the first spot, and then New Glarus-Monticello, Lodi, and Mount Horeb are all good teams fighting for the second spot. Even at full strength we had a tough time beating these teams earlier in the year, so running again without our top guy we knew we had to do something special. They boys ran tough and beat Mount Horeb but placed behind New Glarus-Monticello and Lodi,” Mosher said.

Tom Nelson was fifth overall for NGM with a time of 17:01.0. Evan Guenther (10th, 17:13.6), Braylon Hoesly (19th, 17:49.5), Brayden Ryan (27th, 18:05.9) and Ian Schwartzlow (38th, 18:26.1) all scored for the Knights.

Monroe was led by Jared Batz (13th, 17:18.1) and Lucas Sathoff (16th, 17:40.4).

“Individually we were hoping to send a couple runners on to the state meet, but unfortunately they came up short.  Jared Batz was our first finisher and was about 10 seconds from qualifying.  Batzy came on very strong at the end of the season and has sky-high potential for this upcoming track season and next year cross country,” Mosher said. “Lucas Sathoff was our second finisher, ending his cross country career. He made the change from football to get better for track and is in great shape and primed to do some special things this spring.”

Zander Slack (21st, 17:52.9), Anthony Wels (24th, 17:56.6) and Wyatt Stevenson (57th, 19:04.2) all scored for the Cheesemakers. Sathoff is the only senior on the boys team, meaning a healthy chunk of the program’s top runners should be back in 2022.

Brodhead-Juda’s Gavin Pinnow was 49th (18:37.0).

The WIAA Division 2 state championships will be held at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids. The Division 2 boys will run first at noon, while the D2 girls will compete at 1:45 p.m.

WIAA Division 3 Albany Sectional

ALBANY — Darlington is sending three runners to state — two boys and a girl. Albany, meanwhile, has just one runner continuing their season.

The Albany sectional, held Oct. 22 at Baertschi Farm, saw Boscobel sweep the team title in both races, while Lancaster advanced as a team in the girls race, and Poynette in the boys race. Belleville (104) was third in the boys race, followed closely by Darlington (111) and Albany (118). Albany (84) was third in the girls race, with Darlington (94) fourth.

Advancing to state for the Redbirds are senior Rhett Reuter (2nd, 16:53.0) and junior George West (6th, 17:35.8) on the boys side, and sophomore Raquel Reuter (4th, 20:52.8) on the girls side. Albany’s Mckenna Broughton (6th, 20:52.8) advanced to state for the Comets.

Also scoring for Albany’s girls team were Ava Ahnen (11th, 21:31.5), Payton Wachholz (22:27.1), Kaiya Zurfluh (22:38.7) and Emileigh Dallman (22:38.8). Darlington’s Allyson Meyers (13th, 21:40.6), Shayla Gould (22nd, 22:36.0), Stella McGowan (27th, 22:50.5) and Judith Meister (28th, 22:54.3) all scored.

In the boys race, Darlington’s Ethan Aird (17th, 18:29.2), Ethan Thompson (41st, 19:42.6) and Gerson Soto (45th, 19:57.8) scored, as did Albany’s Gage Roth (10th, 18:09.1), Jesse Schwartz (18:14.3), Brian Cid (23rd, 19:00.2), Bradyen Bakken (25th, 19:02.4) and Ethan Koss (48th, 20:00.8). Belleville’s Carter Scholey (16:44.6) won the race.

Pecatonica-Argyle finished 13th as a team, with Ridge Toay the first finisher at 38th (19:38.4).

The WIAA Division 3 state championships will be held at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids. The Division 3 boys will run first at 1:10 p.m., while the D2 girls will compete at 3:05 p.m.