Hawks place 8th in boys race; Goodrich is 26th for girls

WIAA DIV. 3 CROSS COUNTRY

The Prentice-Rib Lake Hawks’ third race of the year at the Moonlight Lane course in Phillips produced some improved times as the team put the finishing touches on its 2021 season Saturday afternoon.

The boys placed eighth out of 19 schools that were represented in the first race of the day. They were led by one of their up-and-coming runners, freshman Jack Regier, who posted a time of 19:31.7 to place 30th out of 107 runners in Saturday’s field. The time was Regier’s second- best of the season, trailing only the 19:46.3 he posted at Auburndale on Oct. 5. He improved by about 29 seconds over his time at the Marawood Conference meet, held on the Moonlight Lane course nine days earlier.

Senior Adam Granberg, who nearly qualified for state a year ago, finished 37th in the final cross country race of his career, with a time of 19:51.3. Another senior, Will Hartke, came in 41st and just missed getting under the 20-minute barrier with his time of 20:01.1. He was 9.2 seconds faster than he was on the course the previous week.

Junior Ryan Buehler was 51st in 20:26.3, coming in 8.9 seconds faster than he did at the Marawood race. Junior Ben Petersen was the team’s fifth scorer, placing 54th in 20:31.1, a time that was 27.3 seconds faster than it was the previous week.

Freshman Elijah Scott was 60th in his first WIAA sectional with a time of 20:43.3, just off his personal best of 20:35.1. He cut 21.3 seconds off his Oct. 14 time. Freshman Matthew Schmidt was 75th in 21:59.6.

The Hawks scored an even 200 team points to beat Shell Lake (217), Frederic-Luck (264), Washburn (305), Cumberland (340), Hurley (351), Bruce (388) and Webster (401). Butternut, Flambeau, South Shore and Lac Courte Oreilles were incomplete.

Grantsburg dominated the meet, putting three of its runners in the top six and scoring just 36 points. Ladysmith will join the Pirates at this Saturday’s state meet after edging Phillips 83-99 for second place. Solon Springs-Northwood was fourth with 119 points, followed by Chequamegon (140), Unity (178) and Drummond (189).

Grantsburg’s Will Gerber was the individual champion with a time of 16:54.4. He easily beat Butternut’s Mike Brown (17:26.1) and Unity’s Mason Brown (17:36), who were the top two individual state qualifiers. Grantsburg’s Chase Doornink was fourth in 17:50.

Dylan Taggart (fifth in 17:54.5), Washburn’s Victor Hart (ninth in 18:19.3) and Connor Gabay of Phillips (10th in 18:24.3) were the meet’s other individual state qualifi ers. Prentice-Rib Lake entered just two seniors in Saturday’s girls race. Kylee Goodrich was 26th in a field of 80 runners with her time of 24:09.4, equaling her Marawood time on the course. She closed a prep cross country career that included a spot with the Hawks’ state team in 2019. JeAnn Johnson was 54th in 27:07.4, cutting 10 seconds from her Marawood time on the course.

Chequamegon sophomore Autumn Michalski easily won the race in 19:54.8, while Unity’s Ann Boland was second in 20:40.1 and Allie Adomaitis of team champion Phillips was third in 20:59.2. Chequamegon’s Claudia Lasiowski was fourth in 21:18.3. Sixth-place runner Kristen Lawton of Flambeau (21:54.3) and eighth-place runner Sofia Borchers of Washburn (22:14.3) also earned spots in the state meet.

Phillips and Grantsburg tied atop the team standings with 74 points, but Phillips won the tiebreaker as the Loggers’ sixth runner, Caitlin Pesko, finished in 34th place, ahead of Grantsburg’s sixth runner, Madison Hanson, who was 40th. Chequamegon wasn’t far behind in third place with 84 points.

Ladysmith (89), Washburn (101), South Shore (114), Solon Springs-Northwood (133), Hurley (211) and Drummond (222) rounded out the team scoring. Unity, Flambeau, Bruce, Webster, Shell Lake, Frederic-Luck and Cumberland joined the Hawks as incomplete squads.

The WIAA Division 3 state races Saturday at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids feature the boys at 1:10 p.m. and the girls at 3:05 p.m.