MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY - Girls 3rd, boys 9th at Marshfield; another top-5 finish for Kahn

MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY

Lindsay Kahn led the way with a solid fourth-place finish and the rest of the Medford Raiders packed close enough together to secure a third-place team finish in the girls race at Tuesday’s Marshfield Cross Country Invitational.

In a meet represented by 19 teams, the Raiders totaled 123 points to beat their Great Northern Conference rival Rhinelander by seven points, while Westfield was fifth with 143 points. Medford finished third behind Marshfield (67) and Wittenberg Birnamwood (90). Kahn’s third straight top-five finish to start the season came with a time of 20:47.2 at the Wildwood Park course. While Marshfield’s Natalie Scharenbroch pulled away to win in 20:17.9, the pack behind her was relatively tight. Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Rory Salvesen was second in 20:38.6, and Stratford’s Kayla Casperson was just ahead of Kahn at 20:43.3. Westfield’s Haddie Showen got fifth place at 20:52, two seconds ahead of Abbotsford’s Azul Diaz.

Medford juniors Morgan Liske and Mallory Richter placed 25th and 27th in the varsity field of 100 runners. Liske just snuck under 23 minutes at 22:59.2 and Richter came in at 23:10.7. Freshman Greta Seidel was the team’s fourth scorer at 24:09.2, not far off her 24:03 from the Mosinee meet a week earlier. Willow Dassow was the fifth scorer, taking 43rd at 24:26.8.

Senior Ella Dassow was 47th in 24:30.3 and another senior, Carly Koski, was 62nd at 24:59.

Eight more teams had at least five runners to earn a team score. Auburndale was sixth with 144 points, followed by Wisconsin Rapids (150), Stratford (191), Marathon (228), Athens (249), Tomah (283), Mosinee (308) and Abbotsford (323).

The boys placed ninth in a varsity race that also had 19 teams represented. The Raiders totaled 195 points, one more than eighthplace Columbus Catholic. Westfield (275), Mosinee (314) and Wittenberg-Birnamwood (332) were well behind the Raiders.

As usual, senior Brandon Curtis led Medford. He placed 19th out of 107 runners in 18:30.5. He got into the top 20 by a comfortable margin over Ayden Stainbrook (18:40.1) and Charles Kissinger (18:43.9), both of Wisconsin Rapids.

Freshman Corbyn Radlinger continued to hold down Medford’s second spot, taking 40th in 19:55.4. Will Daniels and Evan Pagel were 45th and 46th with times of 20:11.9 and 20:12.8. Peyton Ried was the fifth man, coming in 51st at 20:31.3. Ayden Tyznik and Jordan Lavin filled the last two varsity spots and they were 61st and 62nd with identical times of 20:56.

Nearly every runner on both of Medford’s boys and girls teams posted noticeably faster times on the Wildwood course than they did last year.

Columbus Catholic’s Isaac Scheer won the race in 16:29.5, while Stevens Point Pacelli’s Luke Eiden (16:43.7) and Stratford’s Cree Defoe (16:51) also posted sub-17 minute times. Greyson Gremban of Rhinelander (17:02.4) and Owen Hoerneman of Marshfield (17:06.3) were fourth and fifth.

Stratford won the team title with 78 points, just head of Wisconsin Rapids (85), while Marshfield (99) was third. Marathon (111), Rhinelander (114), Pacelli (129) and Tomah (176) also finished ahead of Medford.

This was the first meet of the season that had separate JV races at the high school level. Medford’s girls were second of three scoring teams with 41 points and fell between Marshfield (23) and Stratford (76).

Kayla Daniels improved her time from a week earlier by 11 seconds and placed third, while Esmeralda Anderson was fourth. They were separated by 0.1 seconds finishing in 25:16.1 and 25:16.2. Lexi Hraby and Josey Krug were 26th and 27th in 28:15.7 and 28:26.1, both season-best times. Lauren Stark and Amy Espinoza were 37th and 38th in 31:00.1 and 31:54.6 and Isabella Leischer took 45th at 35:10.1.

Medford’s JV boys were fifth with 102 points. That beat Westfield (141) and trailed Stratford (36), Wisconsin Rapids (43), Tomah (79) and Marshfield (93).

Angus Hamland led the Raiders with a 20th-place time of 22:57.1. Nevyn Gripentrog and Isiah Wallace-Szydel were 26th and 27th at 23:20.1 and 23:21. Manny Espinoza was 36th in a much-improved 24:43.8, Corbyn Fuchs was 38th at 24:48.3 and Isaac Damm cut nearly two minutes, dropping to 28:20 while taking 49th.

There also were middle school races during Tuesday’s meet. Medford’s boys took fourth led by Parker Ried (20th, 13:50.8), Tanner Gebauer (23rd, 14:00) and Oliver Daniels (26th, 14:05.6). The girls placed eighth led by Melanie Richter (12th, 14:45.1), Taytem Brahmer (37th, 15:35.6) and Kyra Scheithauer (47th, 16:16.9).

Medford will get reacquainted with its sectional course Saturday when it competes in the Colby Invitational. The girls race kicks things off at 10 a.m. Wausau East’s Smiley Invitational follows on Sept. 21.