Medford sweeps; several individuals get off to good starts

TIMM’S HILL CC INVITE

Back after a one-year break and bigger than ever with 10 high school programs involved, the Timm’s Hill Cross Country Invitational returned Thursday, offering runners its usual stern test of where they stand to start the new season.

It was verified in Thursday’s meet that the Medford girls will remain a force in 2021.

They’ll face tougher competition as the year goes along but the Raiders’ near perfect performance was impressive. With six of the top nine finishers, Medford scored just 18 points, three away from the perfect score of 15. The Raiders were led by sophomore Meredith Richter, who jumped ahead of the other 70 runners quickly and stayed there the rest of the way, and junior Bryn Fronk, who took third.

Medford’s boys had a strong opener as well, edging Ladysmith 63-67 to take home the team trophy. To the surprise of no one, their senior standout, Joe Sullivan, took charge early and won by more than a minute over his nearest competitor.

Host team Prentice-Rib Lake came up short in a tiebreaker for fifth place in the girls meet and placed seventh in the team standings in the boys race. The Hawks were led by Adam Granberg, who was 15th out of 66 boys, and Kylee Goodrich, was 14th out of 71 girls.

“I’m really excited about it,” Fronk said of Medford’s team finish in the girls race. “I think we did really good. Not trying to hype ourselves up, but that was pretty exciting.”

“We had six in the top 10, that’s awesome,” Richter said. “It definitely showed us that, hey, we still got it.”

This was Richter’s first varsity race on the Timm’s Hill course and she hit the finish line with a time of 21:48, 21 seconds ahead of Flambeau’s strong senior Kristen Lawson. Fronk, who won the race here in 2019, came in at 22:22, eight seconds ahead of Allie Adomaitis of Phillips.

“It was worse this year, I think,” Fronk said. “I always forget how bad it actually is. Coming back I now remember what the hills actually feel like. But, it was fun. It’s a really pretty course. Once you finish, you’re like, ‘I just did that’ and you’re proud of yourself.”

“For the first meet, the hills are really an eye opener for how hard it can be,” Richter said. “It’s just hill after hill. But when you finish, you’re just like, ‘wow, we did that.’ Just a good feeling.”

Seniors Alexis Fleegel and Jennifer Kahn got their seasons off to strong starts by taking fifth and sixth, respectively, in 22:50 and 22:54. Junior Brooke Rudolph was eighth at 23:37 as Medford’s fifth scorer and sophomore Ella Daniels was ninth at 24:01.

Freshman Ella Dassow had a solid debut, taking 18th in 25:45 and senior Tyra Wicke came in 22nd at 26:14.

“The ladies really packed up and pushed each other for the first mile,” Medford head coach Kevin Wellman said. “As the race wore on and runners were stringing themselves out, the ladies put six runners in top nine spots and eight in the top 22. It was a tremendous day for the ladies team.”

Joselyn Torres was 36th for the Raiders at 27:25, Kylie Potvin was 47th at 28:41, Nathasha Butt took 63rd in 31:15 and sophomore Lydia Way completed her first high school race with a 68th-place time of 33:10.

“She ran marvelously and had a great sprint to the finish,” Wellman said. “She is, in my opinion, one of the most important parts of our team with her great attitude and determination.”

Marathon was second in the girls race with 64 team points, followed by Phillips (75), Thorp-Gilman (120), Bloomer (134) and Prentice-Rib Lake (134). Athens, Flambeau and Ladysmith were incomplete.

Goodrich had, by far, her best Timm’s Hill time at 24:55 and finishing with a strong sprint up the hill that included her passing Merideth Merlak of Phillips to gain one last spot.

“I think it went pretty good,” Goodrich said of Prentice-Rib Lake’s first meet. “This is usually the hardest one we run.”

Leah Thums, a senior, was the team’s second finisher, placing 35th in 27:19. Jeann Johnson, another senior who got some meet experience last fall, took 51st in 29:10. Freshman Abby Schuetz and senior Lydia Holm came in two seconds apart at 29:57 and 29:59 to place 55th and 56th. Seniors Ryean Gorski and Christy Hartmann ran stride for stride throughout and took 66th and 67th in 32:36. Freshman Amy Espinoza was 70th at 39:37 in her first race.

Gilman’s lone representative at the varsity level in the Thorp-Gilman co-op, senior Abby Krug, placed 62nd in 31:00. The Cardinals were led by a fine opening run from sophomore Madelyn Windl, who placed 12th in 24:16, and from senior Kate Schraufnagel, who took 24th in 26:25. Pepper Werner was 41st at 28:07, Cera Philson was 45th at 28:22 and Rachel Boehlke was 58th in 30:04.

Boys race

With just seven runners, Medford isn’t overly deep, but it showed it has quality with its opening-night win.

Sullivan, a two-time WIAA state qualifi er, reached his goal for the night with a winning time of 16:41, 62 seconds ahead of Butternut’s Mike Brown.

“It was definitely a really good start,” he said. “I was hoping to get under 17 (minutes), which I did. I was hoping for this. It’s a good start to the season. I’m really excited about that.”

Sophomore Tanner Hraby had a key role in the team win with his fourth-place finish in 19:04. He slowly but steadily got closer to the front as the race progressed in his first varsity run on the course. Bloomer’s Lucas Anderson was third in 18:19.

“I started about 10th or 11th and then I just kind of made my way and eventually starting passing a couple of more kids,” Hraby said. “I didn’t start out super fast, so then I kind of picked it up just a little more as I kept going.”

“It definitely is a tougher course,” Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of hills. The course overall was pretty well groomed. It’s definitely really hilly and a good test right away.”

Sophomore Logan Gubser was 18th in 20:29 and senior newcomer Stephen Hraby had a solid debut, taking 20th in 20:35. Junior addition Josh Clark sealed the win with a 25th-place time of 21:26, just ahead of teammate and 27th-place finisher Nick Steliga (21:34). Junior Lucas Borman was 60th in 26:57.

“The boys team showed it needs all members to compete as they took first place by only four points in front of Ladysmith,” Wellman said.

“I definitely knew we could win,” Sullivan said. “I knew with the teams

Prentice-Rib Lake’s Kylee Goodrich uses one last burst to get by Merideth Merlak of Phillips on the final uphill climb during Thursday’s girls race. Goodrich was 14th out of 71 runners in 24:55.BY MATT FREYSPORTS EDITOR

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS