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Redbirds slosh to invite title
Lady Redbirds 3rd at own invitational, boys first
darlington cc invite
Darlington’s Willie Riechers (1620) and Bailey Schwartz (1623), as well as Pecatonica-Argyle’s Payton Flannery (1888) come up the hill by the baseball field at Darlington High School during the Darlington Invitational cross country meet Sept. 1. Riechers finished ninth, Schwartz 13th and Flannery 15th. - photo by By Thomas Gunnell

DARLINGTON — A little rain and mud could not keep the Darlington Redbirds boys’ cross country team from running away with the title at the 2018 Darlington Cross Country Invitational held at the 5,000-meter course at Darlington High School on Saturday, Sept. 1.

The Redbirds placed three runners in the top 10 to capture the boys’ team crown with 49 points. Mount Horeb was second with 67 points and Dodgeville/Mineral Point pulled in third (78) at the 25-team event.

Dodgeville/Mineral Point’s Henry Keith won the boys’ race in a time of 18:19.3, beating Darlington senior Payton Heinberg (19:29.1) to the finish line by 10 seconds to take top individual honors. 

Senior Tucker Lange came in fifth in 19:05 and junior Willie Riechers placed ninth (19:26) for the Redbirds. Junior Bailey Schwartz placed 13th overall/11th in the team scoring in 19:52, while senior Trae Schilling completed the Redbirds’ team score after finishing 24th/22nd in 20:22.

Pecatonica-Argyle came in 11th as a team, with Payton Flannery leading the way with a 15th place finish overall and a time of 19:56.4. Troy Nickels was 31st (20:30.8), Chevy Hughes 72nd (22:43.9), Brady Penniston 76th (22:48.3) and Mason Waage 85th (22:57.0).

Boys Results

Albany had an incomplete team score, but senior Josh Dahl finished 12th overall with a time of 19:46.3. Owen Baertschi was 87th (22:58.6).

 “The muddy conditions made for an interesting day with all of the slipping and sliding, and it obviously affected the times. I was pleased with how our runners handled the conditions and the effort they put into their races,” Darlington head coach Arnie Miehe said. 

The Lady Redbirds opened the day by placing second with 77 points thanks to a pair of top 10 finishers.

Lancaster, a WIAA Division 3 state runner-up last season, claimed the girls’ team title with 64 points. Mount Horeb was third (99) in the race.

Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton freshman Kayci Martensen made her varsity debut a memorable one by sprinting into the lead early in the girls’ 5,000-meter race and then maintaining that lead the whole race to run away the individual title in 19:30.1. 

Martensen finished a minute, 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Helen Carstens, a sophomore from North Crawford.

Senior Ilse Mendez came in third overall/second team scoring in 20:55 and freshman Judith Meister placed sixth/fifth in 22:04 to lead the Lady Redbirds.

Girls Results

Senior Bethany McDonald was 19th/17th (23:07), while freshman Allyson Meyers placed 25th/23rd (23:36) and junior Maddie Crist finished 33rd/30th (24:16) for the ‘Birds.

“We had some strong individual races and ran fairly well as a team with both the girls and the boys. We now see where we sit with the Lancaster girls’ team, who were state runners-up last year. As we move forward, we need to close down the gaps between our runners,” Miehe said.

Albany finished sixth as a team, with Madison Peters finishing 26th overall (23:46.0) to lead the way. Megan Anderson was 32nd (24:12.0), and Payton Wacholz 35th (24:26.7). Emileigh Dallman 39th (24:34.0) was the final Comet scorer, but teammates Kaitlyn Trow (tie), Kaiya Zurfluh and Kristin O’Bel claimed the next three spots on the board and finished within two seconds of Dallman.

Stephanie James led Pecatonica Argyle with a 76th place finish and a time of 26:57.1. Lexi Peterson was 80th (27:18.4), Allie Godfrey finished 84th (27:46.7), Rachel Gilbertson 98th (29:51.6) and Addisyn Nobel came in 105th (32:58.9).


— Adam Krebs contributed to this story