DARLINGTON - Tyson Miehe's timing couldn't have been better.
Miehe, a Darlington senior, made a decision to make a move and surge ahead of Boscobel's Dakota Kauffman at the 1.5-mile mark Saturday, Sept. 7 in the season-opening Darlington Invitational. Miehe won the 5,000-meter race with a course record time of 16 minutes, 13 seconds.
"It's nice to win your home invitational," Miehe said. "I knew Dakota would go out strong and lead the race. I go in with a racing strategy, but I never want to predetermine when I will make my move. I looked at the time at the mile mark and we were at 4:57. That is right where I wanted to be. I thought the timing was right and I made my move."
Despite having five of its top seven runners competing in their first varsity race, the Redbirds, the two-time defending Division 3 state champions, had four of the top 21 runners. Mount Horeb edged the Redbirds for the team title 61-62. Darlington sophomore Jaden Komprood finished fifth (17:35), junior Thomas Schultz took 20th (18:46) and sophomore Sean Barbee was 21st (18:49). Schultz has battled back from a dislocated kneecap.
"As a team we would have liked to have defended our home turf," Miehe said. "Jaden and I ran great races. Our back half of guys just didn't have very good races. Losing by one point stinks, but we have a young group. We are an inexperienced team and there is a lot of room for improvement."
Darlington coach Arnie Miehe understands the Redbirds were close to winning the meet with a team full of first-year varsity runners.
"The frustrating thing is we had the lead with about one mile to go and we let it slip away," Arnie Miehe said. "You want to win, but I understand the factors. I think we can contend for a conference title. I think getting to state is a realistic goal."
Albany junior Aaron Johnson took seventh place (17:51) and junior teammate Brennan Bloedel finished 11th (18:07) to lead the Comets to a fifth-place finish as a team (138), which was just 14 points behind Division 2 school Dodgeville-Mineral Point (124). Monroe after winning the Bruess Invitational over Dubuque Hempstead, rested their top seven runners, and finished eighth out of 14 teams.
Darlington sophomore Blake Cwynar finished 25th (19:08) and Albany sophomore Tyler Dahl finished 27th (19:14).
The Cheesemakers were led by freshman Parker Ingold who took 34th (19:50) and junior Cody Faust who finished 37th (20:01). Monroe junior Justin Batz finished 39th (20:07) and sophomore Jack Schluesche took 50th (20:27) out of 101 runners.
"He's got a ton of upside," Monroe coach Dave Hirsbrunner said of Ingold. "In his second varsity race of the season, Parker got out smart and raced well. He finished nicely down the stretch.
"It was fun to see our entire varsity squad consist of all underclassmen and be led by a freshman. This tells us that have a lot of young talent that is primed and ready to step in whenever needed."
Miehe, a Darlington senior, made a decision to make a move and surge ahead of Boscobel's Dakota Kauffman at the 1.5-mile mark Saturday, Sept. 7 in the season-opening Darlington Invitational. Miehe won the 5,000-meter race with a course record time of 16 minutes, 13 seconds.
"It's nice to win your home invitational," Miehe said. "I knew Dakota would go out strong and lead the race. I go in with a racing strategy, but I never want to predetermine when I will make my move. I looked at the time at the mile mark and we were at 4:57. That is right where I wanted to be. I thought the timing was right and I made my move."
Despite having five of its top seven runners competing in their first varsity race, the Redbirds, the two-time defending Division 3 state champions, had four of the top 21 runners. Mount Horeb edged the Redbirds for the team title 61-62. Darlington sophomore Jaden Komprood finished fifth (17:35), junior Thomas Schultz took 20th (18:46) and sophomore Sean Barbee was 21st (18:49). Schultz has battled back from a dislocated kneecap.
"As a team we would have liked to have defended our home turf," Miehe said. "Jaden and I ran great races. Our back half of guys just didn't have very good races. Losing by one point stinks, but we have a young group. We are an inexperienced team and there is a lot of room for improvement."
Darlington coach Arnie Miehe understands the Redbirds were close to winning the meet with a team full of first-year varsity runners.
"The frustrating thing is we had the lead with about one mile to go and we let it slip away," Arnie Miehe said. "You want to win, but I understand the factors. I think we can contend for a conference title. I think getting to state is a realistic goal."
Albany junior Aaron Johnson took seventh place (17:51) and junior teammate Brennan Bloedel finished 11th (18:07) to lead the Comets to a fifth-place finish as a team (138), which was just 14 points behind Division 2 school Dodgeville-Mineral Point (124). Monroe after winning the Bruess Invitational over Dubuque Hempstead, rested their top seven runners, and finished eighth out of 14 teams.
Darlington sophomore Blake Cwynar finished 25th (19:08) and Albany sophomore Tyler Dahl finished 27th (19:14).
The Cheesemakers were led by freshman Parker Ingold who took 34th (19:50) and junior Cody Faust who finished 37th (20:01). Monroe junior Justin Batz finished 39th (20:07) and sophomore Jack Schluesche took 50th (20:27) out of 101 runners.
"He's got a ton of upside," Monroe coach Dave Hirsbrunner said of Ingold. "In his second varsity race of the season, Parker got out smart and raced well. He finished nicely down the stretch.
"It was fun to see our entire varsity squad consist of all underclassmen and be led by a freshman. This tells us that have a lot of young talent that is primed and ready to step in whenever needed."
