Colby XC girls return to state

The dream season continues for the Colby girls cross-country program. A week after defending their Cloverbelt title, the Colby Hornets have added another sectional title to go with the one they secured last year.

With it, comes a trip to state for the girls team after they won the WIAA D-3 Athens sectional on Saturday. Colby topped a very competitive field at Erbach Park, taking the meet with a final score of 54 as Bonduel placed second with 76 and Marathon was third with 80.

“We had an exciting sectional, but are looking to make one more big step at state this Saturday as we hope to continue to improve our times and help our three seniors end on a high note,” Colby head coach Bryon Graun said.

If the girls run like they did in Athens there’s a chance they could add something even bigger to the Colby trophy case - a state title.

“That would be just the cherry on top of the season,” Willow Oemichen said.

It took a team effort to make the return trip possible, and it’s going to take another team effort to do well at Wisconsin Rapids and the state meet.

It helps that Colby will have one of the best runners in the state with them when they run on Saturday. For the fourth meet in a row, senior Daisy Feiten set a PR as she finished as the overall champion on Saturday with her time of 20:20, a 20 second improvement.

“I knew all those girls were going to go out really hard,” Feiten said. “I just tried to stay right with them. My first mile was way faster than I wanted, and then I caught them in the second and just tried to keep that distance.”

Willow Oehmichen came next, finishing seventh overall in a season best time 20:46. Senior Mercedes Sarkkinen shaved ten seconds off her PR to finish twelfth in 21:24. Senior Trinity Severson made her way past the finish line in 21:46, tying a PR as she took 17th.

Makenna Hermann was the final scoring runner for Colby and her gutsy 3.1 mile race of 21:57 was good for 20th, and a new PR. Reagan Schraufnagel was hot on Hermann’s heels, placing 22nd in 22:14, a PR by 26 seconds.

Freshman Pearl Feiten was the final runner through for Colby, placing 37th overall in a personal best of 23:00.

The Colby Hornets will take the week to prepare for the biggest prep race of the year, but for the boys team, their season came to a close, and for the seniors, the WIAA D-2 meet in Colby is the final chapter in their careers.

“What a year it has been. Even though the boys season came to an end on Saturday, I am very proud of them,” Graun said.

The Colby/Abbotsford co-op finished ninth out of 14 scoring teams with a combined score of 222 points.

Senior Talon Severson’s time of 18:14 was a new personal record by 24 seconds asheplaced22nd.SeniorSergioCamargo took off 37 seconds for a new PR of 18:52 and placed 43rd. Matt Mateer finished 50th overall and ran a season best time of 19:16, just two seconds shy of matching his PR. Max Adams was 55th in 19:18, a 20 second PR. Braylon Schoelz was 61st in 19:40, a PR by almost one minute.

Richard Streveler finally got his wish to be at the front of a race even if it was just for a few hundred meters. Streveler finished in 70th place in 19:57. Bryan Camargo finished right behind in 71st in 20:00 for a PR by 49 seconds.

“I just wanted to make my last race the best one,” Mateer said when the meet was over. “I think my favorite time was when I won my favorite medal. But I don’t know, I’ve loved all of it. I just have never been able to explain why, and I’m going to miss all of it.”