Finally back to full strength, Hawks fly to fast times at conference meet

MARAWOOD CONFERENCE CROSS COUNTRY

With the full team competing together for the first time since Sept. 15, the Prentice- Rib Lake Hawks found Frey Field to their liking on Thursday with everyone setting season-best times during the 2020 Marawood Conference cross country championships.

Serena Moore finished fifth in the girls meet, securing her fourth All-Marawood first-team honor, while Adam Granberg placed fourth in the boys meet to earn his first all-conference honor in cross country.

Granberg’s performance led the Hawks to a fourth-place team finish in the meet, which was down to seven teams, compared to its customary nine teams. The girls finished seventh. Chequamegon and Athens were unable to compete in the meet, which was hosted by Marathon on the Frey facility located east of Spencer.

Granberg’s time of 18:14 was his third sub-19 minute race in his last four outings and was a season-best time by 26 seconds. In fact, it was the best time the junior has ever posted in a varsity race.

The only runners faster were champion Carl Lundgren of Auburndale (17:06), Charles Jewell of Auburndale (17:49) and Cullen Krasselt of Marathon (17:55). The rest of the top eight, first-team spots went to Gavin White Eagle of Auburndale (18:23), Connor Gabay of Phillips (18:28), Mason White Eagle of Auburndale (18:28) and Blake Lobner of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (18:49).

With five finishers in the top 10, Auburndale easily won the conference championship with just 24 points. Phillips and Marathon both scored 68 points with Phillips winning the sixth-man tiebreaker to place second in the team standings. The Hawks totaled 92 points to beat Stratford by nine. Edgar and Assumption did not field complete teams.

The Hawks’ Alex Schantner got under 20 minutes for the first time and earned a second-team 15th place finish at 19:22, one second ahead of 16th-place finisher Derek Vesely of Marathon. Will Hartke also got under the 20-minute barrier for the first time, taking 21st in 19:52.

Ben Peterson improved by 17 seconds over his last race, taking 27th out of 37 runners in 20:47. Reese Isaacson improved by 19 seconds over his previous best time of 2020 by placing 29th in 20:49. Aiden Hartke placed 33rd in 22:07, cutting well over two minutes on his previous best time.

In the JV race, Anthony Schuetz finished 11th in 31:23, cutting two minutes off his Sept. 10 time at Rib Lake.

Moore’s time of 20:12 was 13 seconds better than her previous best of this year, which was recorded Sept. 15 at Stratford. Her fifth-place finish follows third-place Marawood finishes in 2017 and 2018 and a seventh-place finish in last year’s meet, also held at Frey Field.

Jordyn Karl of Auburndale won this year’s championship with a time of 20:02, two seconds better than Marathon’s Julianna Thurs. Thurs was two seconds ahead of third-place runner Ainara Sainz De Ro of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption, who was two seconds ahead of teammate Grace Dolan.

Edgar’s Morgan Schnelle (20:17) was sixth, followed by Allie Adomaitis of Phillips (20:24) and Cristin Casey of Assumption (20:35). With three finishers in the top eight, Assumption held off Auburndale 49-55 to win the team title. Marathon was third with 73 points. Stratford was a distant fourth with 116 points, followed by Edgar (125), Phillips (125) and the Hawks (170).

Prentice-Rib Lake’s Leah Thums was 32nd in the field of 51 runners Thursday with her time of 23:30, 19 seconds better than her previous best of 2020, set Sept. 10. Kylee Goodrich finished 43rd in 24:45, 22 seconds ahead of her Sept. 15 time in Stratford.

Lydia Holm was 49th in 26:19, cutting 30 seconds off her Stratford time; Jeann Johnson was 50th in 26:34, cutting nearly three minutes from her last race Oct. 6, and Ryean Gorski was 51st in 30:04, cutting 1:44 off her previous best.

The Hawks’ Nadia Czahor was 13th out of 18 runners in the JV race with a time of 30:06. Her previous best had been 33:25 at Rib Lake Sept. 10.

Other than Moore and Goodrich, this was the first Marawood race for the rest of Prentice-Rib Lake’s girls.