MONROE — After a one-year hiatus, the Darlington boys cross country team has returned to the promised land.
“The guys all look up to those runners before them that were state champions,” said Redbirds coach Arnie Miehe, “I told them, ‘now you can be a state team.’”
Miehe said his top two runners, sophomore George West and junior Rhett Reuter, pull each other together throughout each race. West started the year as the team’s No. 1 runner, but after missing time to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the conference championship race, saw his top spot slip to Reuter.
At the sectional meet Oct. 23 at Darlington High School, Reuter (17:30.8) was fourth overall, 1.5 seconds ahead of West, who finished fifth. About 77 seconds behind West and Reuter was senior Cristian Gutierrez, with fellow senior Caleb Weaver trailing by 11 more seconds. Ethan Thompson, a junior, was 23rd overall at 19:22.0. Tied with Brookwood for the team title, the tiebreaker went to Darlington with No. 6 runner Michael Thompson beating Brookwood’s Dan Peterson by less than four seconds.
“We talked about how much they ran in the summer, and that every day matters. When it all comes down to your sixth guy, and everyone else had to finish strong, it all comes back to offseason training. Our kids put in the most summer miles this year,” Miehe said. “These guys, everybody is getting it done.”
The longtime head coach was also impressed with his runners 1-7 (Luis Rios finished 32 overall, less than two seconds behind Peterson). Miehe said each runner passed other opponents down the stretch, which keyed the victory and the state berth.
Another factor was that while some of the team’s top talent are underclassmen, others trained hard for four years to even get a shot. Gutierrez, Weaver and Michael Thompson had to earn their way up from the JV squad over the years.
“These kids really worked their way up. This is a very dedicated bunch. I’m really proud of everybody,” Miehe said.
Typically, the state meet is held in Wisconsin Rapids, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, all three divisions are running at separate courses — and in multiple heats. The WIAA Division 3 state meet will run at Maple Grove Venues in West Salem.
Darlington will race in the 10:10 a.m. time slot against Brookwood, McDonnell Central and Spring Valley. The other team qualifiers will run in slots at 1:10 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. — which means the Redbirds will run against just four other teams and then have to wait about six hours to know how they finished overall.
“The biggest thing is that you’re not running against everybody else, every team — you’re running against the time,” Miehe said. “We talked to them about having to just go for it.”
