MONROE - Albany senior Aaron Johnson has made trips to the state track meet to run the 800 meters.
Johnson displayed his closing speed and bolted the final 800 meters before taking second place in a photo-finish in the season-opening Bruess Invitational Tuesday at Twining Park. Dubuque Hempstead junior Ryan Strauss just leaned past him at the finish line, winning with a time of 17 minutes, 1.4 seconds, which was 0.1 seconds ahead of Johnson (17:01.5).
"Coming up on the mile mark they were right there," Johnson said. "I knew if I could stick with them my 800 and kick were strong enough that I could win it. I was thinking back to last year where we were one point away from going to state as a team. I was thinking about my goal at the end of the year to finish in the top six at state. He really had a strong kick and he just got me. Taking second at a big meet like this is pretty good."
Dubuque Hempstead had four of the top seven runners en route to winning the Bruess Invite title 26-52 over Dubuque Wahlert. Monroe finished third (90) ahead of fourth-place Albany (125).
Monroe senior Jeremy Miller finished 10th place (17:33.1), which is about 20 seconds ahead of his fastest time on the Twining Park course last year.
"That is the way to start out my senior year," Miller said. "I felt great. I really wanted to come out strong this year and show them that Monroe is not done."
Monroe junior Derek Christiansen took 17th (overall (18:10.1) and senior Justin Batz was 20th (18:14.6). Monroe freshman Parker Ingold, in his first varsity race, finished 24th (18:35.5) and sophomore Ryan Peterson was 25th (18:50) to round out the top five for the Cheesemakers. The Cheesemakers were down two runners with sophomores Nick Baumann and Drake Ingold both missing the season opener due to injuries.
Monroe coach Dave Hirsbrunner was excited to see Miller set a personal-record time. Five of the Cheesemakers' top eight runners set a PR.
"He's been working hard in the off season and really deserves to be the front man," Hirsbrunner said. "Our boys in a new role as underdogs started off the 2014 campaign with a very solid third-place finish. One of our goals was to get three guys in the top 20 and we accomplished that as well."
Baumann was one of the Cheesemakers' top four runners last year before most of his season was wiped out due to a stress fracture.
Miller is confident the Cheesemakers can get healthy and challenge the Crusaders at the Badger South Conference meet at the end of the season.
"The way we ran today is a good start for competing with Edgewood later in the season," Miller said.
Albany junior Tyler Dahl finished 21st (18:28.8) and sophomore teammate Isaac Halverson took 29th (18:59. The Comets ran without senior Brennan Bloedel and Josh Little for undisclosed reasons. Albany sophomore Jacob Elmer took 42nd (19:42.9) and sophomore Connor Trow was 44th (20:05.2).
New Glarus-Monticello sophomore Kyle Fredrickson finished 15th place (17:54.6) and senior John Zuber took 22nd (18:26.5) to lead the Glarner Knights to a fifth-place finish (139). Senior Dylan Beckwith took 38th (19:32.3) and junior Max Cruse was 39th (19:34.3). Sophomore teammate Christian Arnett was 43rd (19:53.8).
Hirsbrunner sees a lot of room for growth this season for the Cheesemakers.
"We have a fairly inexperienced team at the varsity level and it was pleasing to see how well we competed," he said. "The only downside was the fact that many of our guys lost spots in the final 200 meters. That simply can't happen on a team if you expect to be a contender. We will work on finishing off our races and see how much we can improve."
Johnson displayed his closing speed and bolted the final 800 meters before taking second place in a photo-finish in the season-opening Bruess Invitational Tuesday at Twining Park. Dubuque Hempstead junior Ryan Strauss just leaned past him at the finish line, winning with a time of 17 minutes, 1.4 seconds, which was 0.1 seconds ahead of Johnson (17:01.5).
"Coming up on the mile mark they were right there," Johnson said. "I knew if I could stick with them my 800 and kick were strong enough that I could win it. I was thinking back to last year where we were one point away from going to state as a team. I was thinking about my goal at the end of the year to finish in the top six at state. He really had a strong kick and he just got me. Taking second at a big meet like this is pretty good."
Dubuque Hempstead had four of the top seven runners en route to winning the Bruess Invite title 26-52 over Dubuque Wahlert. Monroe finished third (90) ahead of fourth-place Albany (125).
Monroe senior Jeremy Miller finished 10th place (17:33.1), which is about 20 seconds ahead of his fastest time on the Twining Park course last year.
"That is the way to start out my senior year," Miller said. "I felt great. I really wanted to come out strong this year and show them that Monroe is not done."
Monroe junior Derek Christiansen took 17th (overall (18:10.1) and senior Justin Batz was 20th (18:14.6). Monroe freshman Parker Ingold, in his first varsity race, finished 24th (18:35.5) and sophomore Ryan Peterson was 25th (18:50) to round out the top five for the Cheesemakers. The Cheesemakers were down two runners with sophomores Nick Baumann and Drake Ingold both missing the season opener due to injuries.
Monroe coach Dave Hirsbrunner was excited to see Miller set a personal-record time. Five of the Cheesemakers' top eight runners set a PR.
"He's been working hard in the off season and really deserves to be the front man," Hirsbrunner said. "Our boys in a new role as underdogs started off the 2014 campaign with a very solid third-place finish. One of our goals was to get three guys in the top 20 and we accomplished that as well."
Baumann was one of the Cheesemakers' top four runners last year before most of his season was wiped out due to a stress fracture.
Miller is confident the Cheesemakers can get healthy and challenge the Crusaders at the Badger South Conference meet at the end of the season.
"The way we ran today is a good start for competing with Edgewood later in the season," Miller said.
Albany junior Tyler Dahl finished 21st (18:28.8) and sophomore teammate Isaac Halverson took 29th (18:59. The Comets ran without senior Brennan Bloedel and Josh Little for undisclosed reasons. Albany sophomore Jacob Elmer took 42nd (19:42.9) and sophomore Connor Trow was 44th (20:05.2).
New Glarus-Monticello sophomore Kyle Fredrickson finished 15th place (17:54.6) and senior John Zuber took 22nd (18:26.5) to lead the Glarner Knights to a fifth-place finish (139). Senior Dylan Beckwith took 38th (19:32.3) and junior Max Cruse was 39th (19:34.3). Sophomore teammate Christian Arnett was 43rd (19:53.8).
Hirsbrunner sees a lot of room for growth this season for the Cheesemakers.
"We have a fairly inexperienced team at the varsity level and it was pleasing to see how well we competed," he said. "The only downside was the fact that many of our guys lost spots in the final 200 meters. That simply can't happen on a team if you expect to be a contender. We will work on finishing off our races and see how much we can improve."
