Colby-Abby X/C starts season strong

The end of August has arrived, and with it, the beginning of the cross country season. The Colby girls and Colby-Abby boys teams started things off with a trip to Pittsville last week and then made their way to Loyal this past Tuesday. If the early season results are anything to go by, both teams look to have competitive seasons.

The Colby girls cross country team claimed their first meet victory of the season at Loyal in what could be seen as a possible preview for the conference meet later in the year. Led by senior Willow Oehmichen, the Hornets won by 11 points over second place Fall Creek, Colby-Abby

with all seven of their runners placing in the top 20. Eau Claire Regis, which placed second at last year’s conference meet, finished fourth in Loyal, despite having three runners finish in the top six.

Oehmichen finished fourth overall with a time of 22:19.0. Sophomore MaKenna Herrmann placed 12th as the second Hornet to cross the finish line, putting in a time of 24:00.7. Fellow sophomore Pearl Feiten followed shortly after, coming in at 24:49.1 for 14th place. Junior Reagan Schraufnagel and sophomore Casey Reynolds finished together, taking 16th and 17th with times of 25:06.2 and 25:06.5 respectively. Junior Payton Roth and freshman Annamarie Schmitt rounded out the top seven varsity runners for Colby, finishing 19th and 20th with times of 25:21.7 and 25:35.3.

It was a solid showing for a team that hopes to claim their fifth straight conference title, having topped most of the competition that they would see there. The season is still young, but the Hornets have certainly set themselves up to be the front runners once again.

The Colby-Abby boys team finished fifth out of 13 teams, with Bloomer taking first.

Junior Max Adams set a new personal best, beating his time that he set the week prior at Pittsville. He finished eighth overall with a time of 18:21.6, which led the Colby-Abby team. Following Adams was junior Jack Schindler, who finished 39th overall with a time of 21:41.6. Ten seconds later, freshman teammate Matthew Sprotte crossed the finish line, taking 40th and posting a time of 21:51.0.

Sophomore Braylon Schoelzel finished as the fourth runner for the co-op team, completing the course in a time of 21:56.3 and placing 42nd overall. Freshman Jack Sheahan placed 48th and posted a time of 22:21.6.

Senior Braxton Smith and junior Carter Roth finished sixth and seventh for Colby, taking 54th and 59th overall and reaching the finish line in 22:45.7 and 23:03.1 respectively.

The Colby girls and Colby/Abby boys cross country teams started their season with the Pittsville Invitational held on August 25. The girls took second place overall out of 11 teams and the boys took sixth out of 12 different schools.

Stratford took first overall for the girls portion of the meet, led by secondplace finisher Kayla Casperson and posting a final total of 27 points based on their top five finishers. The Hornets claim second with a total of 52 points, followed by Marathon’s 72.

Leading the way for Colby was Oehmichen, who took third overall with a time of 23:05.9. This was an improvement over her previous time on the course, where she finished in 24:31.10, but the last time Oehmichen raced in Pittsville was in 2019 during her freshman campaign.

Herrman finished second for the Hornets and sixth overall, posting a final time of 23:54.5 in her first time running the course.

Schraufnagel finished 12th for the Hornets, posting a time of 25:47.2. Reynolds and Feiten finished 15th and 16th with times of 26:22.3 and 26:39.6 respectively, with Feiten cutting almost a minute-and-a-half off her time from last year’s Pittsville meet. Rounding out the top seven were Payton Roth with a time of 27:48.1 and Schmitt with a 28:10.4, which were good enough for 20th and 21st places.

While at many meets, having your entire varsity team finish close to the top 20 would often see you victorious, Stratford boasted even stronger results. Their top five runners finished in the top ten and all seven of their varsity athletes finished in the top 15.

On the boys’ side, Adams posted a personal best en route to a third place finish for the Hornets. His time of 18:52.8 was a minute-and-a-half faster than his time on this course last year and 26 seconds quicker than his previous PR which he had set at the sectional meet last season.

Finishing second for the Hornets was first-time runner junior Joseph Streveler, whose time of 22:34.0 gave him 32nd place. Carter Roth shaved almost a minute off his 2021 Pittsville course time to finish third for the Hornets and 37th overall with a time of 22:47.2 The next three Colby runners all finished within seconds of each other, with Sprotte posting a time of 22:54.0 immediately followed by Jack Sheahan with a time of 22:54.6. Schoelzel was not far behind, coming in a second and a half later with a time of 22:56.1. The trio finished 39th, 41st, and 42nd respectively.

Rounding out the varsity runners was Smith, who netted a 45th place finish with a time of 23:28.3. Smith, a senior, has improved his time each year he has raced at Pittsville.

The teams have a week off before their next meet, which the team will be hosting in Colby on September 10.