WISCONSIN RAPIDS — Making their 11th straight run as a team in the WIAA Division 3 state meet, the Darlington Redbirds finished fourth as a team. The Redbirds finished with 147 points, seven fewer than third-place Brillion. Rosholt (111) was second and La Crosse Aquinas (90) was crowned the team champs Oct. 27 at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.

Senior Payton Heinberg was the first Redbird to cross the finish line with a sixth-place time of 16 minutes, 25.9 seconds. He was 9/10ths of a second away from a top-five finish. Luther’s David Vannucchi was the runaway winner (15:43.9), more than 30 seconds ahead of second place Adam Rzentkowski of Rosholt.

Darlington senior Tucker Lange finished 29th overall (17:12.1), junior Willie Riechers was 72nd (18:02.8), freshman Rhett Reuter wound up 83rd (18:11.9) and senior Trae Schilling capped the Redbirds scoring with a time of 18:23.8, good for 92nd. Darlington senior Miles Carper and Bailey Schwartz finished 107th and 108th, respectively, with times of 18:44.2 and 18:45.0. There were 151 runners in the race.

On the girl’s side, Darlington senior Ilse Mendez capped her illustrious career with a fifth-place finish in a time of 19:21.4. Mendez was the only member of the Lady Redbirds to qualify for state. Both her time and place were the highest in the history of the Darlington girl’s program. 

In 2017, Mendez was 23rd overall with a time of 20:32.16, meaning she trimmed nearly 71 seconds off her run in 2018. 

Marissa Ellenbecke, a junior from Edgar, won the 2018 state meet (19:06.4). Lancaster won the girl’s team title, 17 points ahead of Auburndale.