WISCONSIN RAPIDS - New Glarus-Monticello junior Ryan McCoy's dream to win a cross country state championship is reality now.
McCoy won the WIAA Division 2 state championship 5,000-meter race Saturday at the Ridges Golf Course with a time of 15 minutes, 38.27 seconds, which is the second fastest Division 2 time of all-time.
"It feels really good," McCoy said. "I have been working really hard training since track was over. It's good to see it pay off at the end of the year. It's the one that matters most."
McCoy joins some elite company as just the second individual to add a fourth state championship to New Glarus-Monticello's program. Ashley Beutler, who is running at the University of Wisconsin was a three-time state champion.
"It's really special," McCoy said. "She is one of the best ever. My freshman year I ran with her brother (Travis) and he taught me a lot of the things I know."
McCoy pulled away from Dodgeville-Mineral Point's Trevor Wunnicke and finished about 12 seconds ahead of him.
"My plan was to go out really hard, hold it, not slow down and see what happened," he said. "I guess it worked."
The Monroe boys cross country team finished sixth as a team. Monroe sophomore Ethan Moehn finished 21st (16:42.94) to lead the Cheesemakers. Moehn had the best individual finish by a Monroe runner at state since 2006, and his time was the third fastest by a sophomore in the Division 2 race.
"Our team finishing goal was to try and crack the top eight," Monroe boys cross country coach Dave Hirsbrunner said. "We would be satisfied if we could get eighth. Ninth would have been a disappointment and anything higher than eighth would be icing on the cake.
"We had all our training since last June focused on this meet. After watching the effort these young men put on the state course Saturday, we have no regrets. This group of guys would run through a brick wall if we told them it was the right thing to do. When you get a group that believes in their system - great things can happen."
Monroe senior Joel Henry finished 40th (17:05.38) and senior Luke Peterson took 44th (17:08.14). Junior Steve Christiansen took 54th (17:14.98) and Cody Oudinot was 120th (18:20.07).
Brodhead-Juda senior Tate Harnack closed out his prep cross country career by taking 35th at state (17:03).
"It's nice to see them work together during a race," Hirsbrunner said. "They made some tough moves in the later stages of the race. They all picked up the pace over the last 800 meters and ran some people down."
The Cheesemakers had about a 1:06 gap between their fourth and No. 5 runners.
"That's about 50 team points," Hirsbrunner said. "The fifth man position has been our Achilles Heel the entire season. Cody Oudinot, Jeremy Miller, and A.J. Cifuentes were the three guys with the daunting task of trying to close the gap. They all were working hard, and Cody ended up being the guy Saturday."
McCoy won the WIAA Division 2 state championship 5,000-meter race Saturday at the Ridges Golf Course with a time of 15 minutes, 38.27 seconds, which is the second fastest Division 2 time of all-time.
"It feels really good," McCoy said. "I have been working really hard training since track was over. It's good to see it pay off at the end of the year. It's the one that matters most."
McCoy joins some elite company as just the second individual to add a fourth state championship to New Glarus-Monticello's program. Ashley Beutler, who is running at the University of Wisconsin was a three-time state champion.
"It's really special," McCoy said. "She is one of the best ever. My freshman year I ran with her brother (Travis) and he taught me a lot of the things I know."
McCoy pulled away from Dodgeville-Mineral Point's Trevor Wunnicke and finished about 12 seconds ahead of him.
"My plan was to go out really hard, hold it, not slow down and see what happened," he said. "I guess it worked."
The Monroe boys cross country team finished sixth as a team. Monroe sophomore Ethan Moehn finished 21st (16:42.94) to lead the Cheesemakers. Moehn had the best individual finish by a Monroe runner at state since 2006, and his time was the third fastest by a sophomore in the Division 2 race.
"Our team finishing goal was to try and crack the top eight," Monroe boys cross country coach Dave Hirsbrunner said. "We would be satisfied if we could get eighth. Ninth would have been a disappointment and anything higher than eighth would be icing on the cake.
"We had all our training since last June focused on this meet. After watching the effort these young men put on the state course Saturday, we have no regrets. This group of guys would run through a brick wall if we told them it was the right thing to do. When you get a group that believes in their system - great things can happen."
Monroe senior Joel Henry finished 40th (17:05.38) and senior Luke Peterson took 44th (17:08.14). Junior Steve Christiansen took 54th (17:14.98) and Cody Oudinot was 120th (18:20.07).
Brodhead-Juda senior Tate Harnack closed out his prep cross country career by taking 35th at state (17:03).
"It's nice to see them work together during a race," Hirsbrunner said. "They made some tough moves in the later stages of the race. They all picked up the pace over the last 800 meters and ran some people down."
The Cheesemakers had about a 1:06 gap between their fourth and No. 5 runners.
"That's about 50 team points," Hirsbrunner said. "The fifth man position has been our Achilles Heel the entire season. Cody Oudinot, Jeremy Miller, and A.J. Cifuentes were the three guys with the daunting task of trying to close the gap. They all were working hard, and Cody ended up being the guy Saturday."
