Two individual champions at Dells CC Invite

MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY

BY MATT FREY

SPORTS EDITOR

With their leader Meredith Richter sitting this one out, Medford’s Lindsay Kahn saw an opening Saturday and she grabbed it, earning her first high school win at the Wisconsin Dells Cross Country Invitational, held at Christmas Mountain Golf Course.

Homecoming king Tanner Hraby added to his big weekend with his first individual victory as well.

Kahn, a sophomore, won the girls race handily in a time of 21:13.6 that kept her in line with her recent trend of times in the low 21s. Kahn finished almost 35 seconds ahead of runner-up Tannah Radloff of Prairie du Chien and led the Raiders to another team victory, their sixth of the season.

Medford finished with 39 team points in this small five-team race, eight fewer than runner-up Baraboo. Prairie du Chien was third with 61 points, followed by Mauston (87) and Wisconsin Dells (106).

Another Raider sophomore, Morgan Liske, also continued to build momentum as the post-season nears. She placed fourth in a time of 22:11.8, beating Baraboo’s Taylor Sperl by four seconds for that spot. Morgan Firlus of Mauston was third in 21:52.6. Liske’s time was her second-fastest of the season.

Senior Ella Daniels also earned a top-10 award by placing seventh in 22:29.4. Ella Dassow was one spot away from an award, taking 11th in 23:07.9, 12.8 seconds behind lOth-place runner Alexys Smith of Mauston.

Willow Dassow placed 16th in 23:48.8 and Kylie Potvin was 17th in 23:49, her secondfastest time of2023. Lillie Gleichauf also ran for the Raiders but there was a glitch and her time and place did not show up in the final results.

Hraby’s win led Medford to a fourthplace finish in Saturday’s boys meet, which featured six teams. The Raider senior emerged as the victor in what became a three-man race with his time of 17:39.7. He beat Baraboo freshman Brody Bjorklund by 2.3 seconds to win it. Mauston junior Josh Ellerman was third in 17:42.6.

See CROSS on page 9

Lindsay Kahn The rest of Medford’s varsity crew was tightly packed. Junior Brandon Curtis was Medford’s number-two finisher in this race with a time of 19:41.2. After Jaren Ward of Wisconsin Dells came in next at 19:45.4, the rest of the Raiders followed. Nick Steliga was 23rd in 19:55.3, freshman Peyton Ried was 24th in 20:17.7, sophomore Will Daniels was 25th at 20:36.3, about two seconds off his personal best, and Hudson Briggs was 26th in 20:56.4, the third time in four meets he’s been under 21 minutes.

Baraboo edged Mauston 34-36 to take home the team championship plaque. Wisconsin Dells outscored Medford 8294 for third. Prairie du Chien (117) and Nekoosa (154) rounded out the standings.

Another scoring glitch had Medford out of the team standings in the boys JV race. Evan Pagel was credited with 20th place in 21:29.6, which was right at his personal-best pace, Jordan Lavin was 25th in 21:44.9, Cullen Jones was 27th in a personal-best 21:53.5 and Hunter Briggs was 36th in 25:03.4. Nevyn Gripentrog and Silas Briggs also ran for Medford but their results were missed in the scoring.

Riley Clark led Medford’s efforts in the girls JV race. She was sixth out of 18 runners in a season-best 24:36.5. Kayla Daniels was eighth in 25:18.8, just off her best time of the year. Lauren Stark took 10th in 26:18.3, which is her new personal-best time. Lexi Hraby was 16th in 28:27.6.

Medford’s push to the season’s finish line starts Saturday with the Great Northern Conference championships, which will be hosted by Mosinee at Nine Mile Forest Recreation Area on the outskirts of Wausau. The schedule has the combined JV race getting things started at 11 a.m., to be followed by the varsity boys at 11:45 a.m. and the varsity girls at 12:30 p.m.

Medford is gunning for the program’s seventh straight conference title in girls competition. Lakeland is the defending boys champion.

The post-season begins Oct. 21 with the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet at Colby.