Colby girls, Adams secure trip to state

For the third straight year, the Colby girls’ cross country team is state-bound. With a second-place finish in the Division 3 sectional held last Friday in Athens, the girls punched their ticket to Wisconsin Rapids for the final meet of the season. They’ll be joined on the course held at Ridges Golf Course by Max Adams, who qualified for the state meet as an individual for the Colby-Abby boys’ team.

The girls needed a bit of a bounceback performance after the Cloverbelt conference meet did not turn out how they would have wanted. While they came away with some hardware, taking second place overall and having five of their runners finish as all-conference or honorable mentions, they had hoped that they would come away with their fifth straight conference championship. If they wanted their season to continue, they’d need to put that behind them and focus on the next meet.

They certainly had their work cut out for them heading into a sectional that held Bonduel and Stratford, two teams that also had state aspirations. Bonduel, who had taken second in the sectional meet last year, was returning four of their top five runners and looked to be the front runner heading into the meet. Stratford, meanwhile, had all five of their top runners coming back from their 2021 squad and had beaten Colby both times the teams had met earlier this year.

Bonduel took care of business, taking first place with a healthy lead, finishing with 49 points. That left Colby and Stratford in a battle for the second-team spot. In a closely contested race, the Hornets were the ones to come out on top, finishing with a total of 65 points to Stratford’s 70.

Colby was led by Willow Oehmichen, who would have qualified for state as an individual had the team not managed to defeat Stratford. Oehmichen seems right at home at the Athens course, having set her career best there earlier in the year and having had success there in the past. Friday was no different; the senior ran one of her fastest races of the season, finishing with a time of 20:45.0. The performance earned her fourth place overall.

MaKenna Herrmann also had a solid race for the Hornets, coming in seventh place overall. Her time of 21:05.2 was three seconds faster than Stratford’s Breleigh Skaya, and placed her two spots ahead of the Tiger’s top runner.

Casey Reynolds had a personal best performance on Friday, breaking the 22-minute mark and coming in with a final time of 21:44.8. This was over 15 seconds faster than her previous PR and was a big part of why the Hornets were able to beat Stratford. Her previous personal best would have placed her 19th, but with her new career best performance, Reynolds was able to snag 15th.

Payton Roth and Annamarie Schmitt finished as Colby’s fourth and fifth place runners. Roth finished 27th overall with a time of 22:49.7 and Schmitt was not far behind, her time of 22:55.7 earning her 29th place. This put the pair just behind Stratford’s fifth place runner, allowing the Hornets to maintain their lead and capture the team’s third straight state berth.

Pearl Feiten and Veronica Mateer rounded out the teams’ competitors. Feiten came across the finish line at the 23:45.1 mark, earning her 41st place. Mateer quickly followed, ending the day with a time of 23:54.7 and taking 45th overall.

With the Colby girls’ team having secured their place in Wisconsin Rapids, the boys’ coop traveled to Black River Falls for their sectional the following morning. The team took 12th out of 16 teams, finishing with a final score of 303. Mauston took first place in the sectional with 72 points and West Salem took the second team spot, ending the afternoon with 78 points.

Coming into the meet, Adams certainly had a chance to make it to state, but it was not going to be easy. The top ten looked to be highly competitive, all with the ability to take one of five individual spots. Adams would need one of his best performances of the season if he hoped to make it to Wisconsin Rapids.

He’d do just that, running his second fastest race of his career. Sticking near the front pack, the junior edged out Bloomer’s Lucas Anderson for the final individual spot. His time of 17:17.8 was less than three seconds faster than Anderson and while Adams finished sixth overall, the meet’s winner, Eli Boppart, had his team qualify, leaving the final spot open for the co-op’s top runner.

Jack Schindler finished as Colby-Abby’s second runner, coming in with a time of 20:28.6 to finish in 65th place. Braylon Schoelzel took third for the coop, finishing 68th with a time of 20:41.2.

Colby-Abby’s fourth through seventh athletes all finished within 20 seconds of each other. Jack Sheahan led the group, finishing in 21:29.9 to come in 81st place. Joseph Streveler and Gavin Reis finished neck and neck, with Streveler coming in 83rd with a time of 21:37.5 and Reis finishing in 21:38.0 to take 85th. Carter Roth rounded out the team with an 88th place finish with a time of 21:49.6.

Both the girls’ and boys’ state meets will be held on Saturday, October 29. The girls’ team is set to run in the Division 3 meet at noon. Adams will hit the course later in the afternoon, taking part in the Division 2 boys’ competition which is scheduled to begin at 2:35 p.m.