Girls keep dominating in meets held on GNC, sectional courses

MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY

In a span of three days, the Medford Raiders previewed the courses that will host the Great Northern Conference and WIAA Division 2 sectional meets next month and earned two team titles and four individual championships in the process.

On Saturday morning, the Raiders returned to the Colby High School course, where they won the 2018 and 2019 girls sectional championships. The girls conquered that course again, winning the 10-team meet by a 12-point margin over West Salem, who also will be back for the Oct. 23 sectional meet.

The Raiders got an outstanding onetwo finish from sophomore Meredith Richter and junior Bryn Fronk. Richter won her third race in four outings with a time of 21:07.9. Fronk wasn’t far behind in a season-best 21:10.9, 7.6 seconds ahead of Allie Adomaitis of Phillips. Lakeland’s Grace Kern was fourth in 21:42.6 and West Salem freshman Mia Olson was fifth in 21:54.

Senior Alexis Fleegel set a seasonbest time of 21:54.5 to place sixth, three seconds ahead of teammate and seventhplace runner Jennifer Kahn. West Salem made a push with its final four scorers taking eighth through 11th, but Medford’s Brooke Rudolph slammed the door on the Panthers with her 13th-place time of 22:36.

“The ladies team ran great and pulled out the victory over a very tough field,” Medford head coach Kevin Wellman said.

The Raiders’ Ellas –– Daniels and Dassow –– pushed each other to near top-20 finishes in a field of 74. Daniels came in at 23:25.1, good for 21st, and Dassow was just 1.3 seconds behind. Joselyn Torres slashed her time by two minutes and took 37th in 25:19.1 and Kylie Potvin set her new best time of the fall while taking 49th in 27:08.6.

Natasha Butt was another Raider to set a season-best time. She took 56th in 28:36.7, while Lydia Way was 72nd in 33:03.9.

The Raiders’ 26 points topped a field that included West Salem (38), Colby-Abbotsford (86), Phillips (108), Altoona (135), Mauston (159) and Loyal-Greenwood (179). Lakeland, Columbus Catholic and Spencer did not have full teams.

Joe Sullivan won his fourth straight race, finishing 23.9 seconds ahead of runner- up Eli Boppart of Mauston in Saturday’s boys race. Sullivan and sophomore Tanner Hraby, who finished fifth, led the Raiders to a fourth-place finish in the team standings.

Hraby blazed to his best time of the young season, 17:59.2 to claim the final top-five spot behind Owen Clark of Lakeland (17:31.9) and Brennan Garbers of West Salem (17:45.2).

Logan Gubser led a pack of four Raiders by taking 39th in 20:23.8. Stephen Hraby was 41st in 20:38.5, Josh Clark was 43rd in 20:48.5 and Nick Steliga was 44th in 20:51.8. Lucas Borman added a 76thplace time of 25:02.9. There were 81 entrants in the race.

West Salem established itself as a sectional favorite, winning the meet with 40 points. Mauston edged Altoona 75-80 for second. Medford had 109 points, well ahead of Phillips (131), Colby-Abbotsford (152), Loyal-Greenwood (166) and Lakeland (184). Columbus Catholic and Spencer were incomplete.

“The boys ran up against some pretty intense competition,” Wellman said. “The guys ran well and learned a lot about how to improve as a team.”

Medford is at the Smiley Invitational Saturday morning. One of the state’s most prestigious regular-season meets, the Smiley has been moved this year to Wausau East High School from its typical Tribute Golf Course site.

Ted Voigt Invite

The girls again weren’t seriously challenged Thursday, while the boys came up just short of a team win during the fiveteam Ted Voigt Invitational, hosted by Lakeland at Minocqua Winter Park.

The girls compiled just 20 points to outscore Lakeland (48), Rhinelander (76), Northland Pines (112) and Hurley (122).

Richter pulled away from Kern and won by 10.2 seconds in a time of 20:57.6. Fronk was third in 21:39.6, over 20 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. The rest of the lead crew finished in a flurry with Fleegel sixth in 22:12, Rudolph seventh in 22:22.1, Daniels ninth in 22:52.1, Kahn 10th in 23:03.9 and Dassow 12th in 23:16.3.

“The ladies brought their best again and by the halfway point had a clear lead on the competition,” Wellman said. “Each one of the ladies ran a great race with not a single lady losing a spot in the last 100 meters.”

After starting the fall with two wins, the boys were nudged out by Rhinelander 36-41 for the top spot. Lakeland was a distant third with 71 points, followed by Northland Pines (80) and Hurley (127).

Sullivan easily ran away from the rest of the pack, finishing in 16:53.4. Owen Clark was the distant runner-up in 17:29.7. Tanner Hraby easily got into the top five at 18:43.5, well ahead of sixthplace runner Jack Denamur of Rhinelander (19:26.1).

Stephen Hraby posted a season-best time of 19:53.5 to place ninth in the field of 38. Gubser was 12th at 20:13.3, Josh Clark was 14th at 20:43.8 and Steliga was 15th in 20:51.3. Borman’s time of 24:26.7 was good for 32nd and was almost two minutes faster than his previous race at Nine Mile Recreation Area.

Raider Tanner Hraby finds himself in a tight group early in Saturday’s boys race at Colby. Hraby finished fifth out of 81 runners with his season-best time of 17:59.2.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS