MADISON - The traveling trophy for the Badger Challenge champions will stay in Monroe as the boys cross country team won it for the fourth straight year.
"If the guys were to give themselves a grade on how they raced tonight, they would probably give themselves a C+ or B-," Monroe boys cross country coach Dave Hirsbrunner said. "Don't get me wrong, we ran decent. Considering some of our top guys went on a 10.5 miler on Sunday, they bounced back pretty well tonight. We were expecting to run a little faster, but to win a meet like this by a minute and a half is a huge margin. We are very pleased to bring the trophy back home to Monroe again."
The race included all 14 Badger Conference schools and there were separate races for freshmen/sophomore and junior/senior runners at Lake Farm Park in Madison. Places didn't factor into the final results. The lowest five times are used to score each team. Monroe's top five runners had a combined time of 85 minutes, 58 seconds, which was ahead of runner-up Baraboo (87:26) and third place Waunakee (87:28). Monroe has won seven of the 11 Badger Challenge events.
Monroe sophomore Ethan Moehn won the freshmen/sophomore race with a time of 16:59.
"Ethan did a great job running all by himself the entire race," Hirsbrunner said. "He knew it all depended on time and kept pushing himself all the way. It's hard to run this well all alone. Plus he got to experience the feeling of winning a race. Not many get to feel that."
Monroe junior Steve Christiansen finished fifth and senior Luke Peterson took sixth as each ran a 17:02. Fellow senior Joel Henry finished seventh with a time of 17:04 and senior Cody Oudinot and junior A.J. Cifuentes each ran a 17:51.
"With the absence of our regular No. 5 man, Payton Hoesly - Cody and A.J. have been making very strong statements of their own to try and fill that fifth position," Hirsbrunner said. "They battled hard with each other and came across the line virtually at the same time. They are both becoming better races each and every time they step foot on the course. We are very proud of what they are doing."
The Cheesemakers now enter a 12-day stretch without a race. Monroe will not race again until the Midwest Invite in Janesville Sept. 24.
"It is our best training frame of the season," Hirsbrunner said. "The guys are running well right now considering the training. We are excited to see just what we can do when we start to lower the miles and increase the speed. It's great to see the guys finish a hard race and be fully recovered in less than 10 minutes. That shows that we are in good condition.
"Next week will be our highest mileage week of the season, then we will begin a slow taper, hopefully capping it off with a run in Wisconsin Rapids."
"If the guys were to give themselves a grade on how they raced tonight, they would probably give themselves a C+ or B-," Monroe boys cross country coach Dave Hirsbrunner said. "Don't get me wrong, we ran decent. Considering some of our top guys went on a 10.5 miler on Sunday, they bounced back pretty well tonight. We were expecting to run a little faster, but to win a meet like this by a minute and a half is a huge margin. We are very pleased to bring the trophy back home to Monroe again."
The race included all 14 Badger Conference schools and there were separate races for freshmen/sophomore and junior/senior runners at Lake Farm Park in Madison. Places didn't factor into the final results. The lowest five times are used to score each team. Monroe's top five runners had a combined time of 85 minutes, 58 seconds, which was ahead of runner-up Baraboo (87:26) and third place Waunakee (87:28). Monroe has won seven of the 11 Badger Challenge events.
Monroe sophomore Ethan Moehn won the freshmen/sophomore race with a time of 16:59.
"Ethan did a great job running all by himself the entire race," Hirsbrunner said. "He knew it all depended on time and kept pushing himself all the way. It's hard to run this well all alone. Plus he got to experience the feeling of winning a race. Not many get to feel that."
Monroe junior Steve Christiansen finished fifth and senior Luke Peterson took sixth as each ran a 17:02. Fellow senior Joel Henry finished seventh with a time of 17:04 and senior Cody Oudinot and junior A.J. Cifuentes each ran a 17:51.
"With the absence of our regular No. 5 man, Payton Hoesly - Cody and A.J. have been making very strong statements of their own to try and fill that fifth position," Hirsbrunner said. "They battled hard with each other and came across the line virtually at the same time. They are both becoming better races each and every time they step foot on the course. We are very proud of what they are doing."
The Cheesemakers now enter a 12-day stretch without a race. Monroe will not race again until the Midwest Invite in Janesville Sept. 24.
"It is our best training frame of the season," Hirsbrunner said. "The guys are running well right now considering the training. We are excited to see just what we can do when we start to lower the miles and increase the speed. It's great to see the guys finish a hard race and be fully recovered in less than 10 minutes. That shows that we are in good condition.
"Next week will be our highest mileage week of the season, then we will begin a slow taper, hopefully capping it off with a run in Wisconsin Rapids."
