On the overcast and cool ….
On the overcast and cool morning of Oct. 15, cross country teams from around the Cloverbelt Conference descended on the Loyal High School grounds to compete in the Cloverbelt Conference Cross Country Championship. Both Loyal and Spencer had runners participate in both the girls and boys races, but only one runner placed high enough to earn honors at the invitational.
Taking 19th overall in the girls race to earn honorable mention in the Cloverbelt Conference was Loyal-Greenwood’s Summer Smith. She ran a 22:43.8 in the 75-runner field to earn the award and was the only Greyhound runner to place within the top 21. Her teammate, Bailey Eckes, came through just a few places shy in 29th, running a 24:03.8 on their home course.
Addison Holm was the next runner to finish for Loyal-Greenwood, taking 37th with a time of 24:28.2. Leah Scherer crossed the finish in 24:44.4 to take 41st place, and Aubre Robida (25:15.3) and Katlund Etlicher (25:16.3) took 46th and 47th place, respectively. Halle Aumann was the last runner to finish for the Loyal-Greenwood girls, taking 54th with a time of 26:50.5.
In the boys race, three runners started the race for Loyal-Greenwood, but only two finished, as Connor Genteman started, but did not complete the race on Saturday. In the 77-runner field, Cody Eckes placed 44th overall, running a 20:50.1 for the Greyhound boys and Lucas Nielsen took 71st with his time of 23:04.6.
The Spencer Rockets also had several individuals compete at the conference championship, but did not have enough members on either the boys or the girls teams to place. In the boys race, Malachai Anderson took 45th with a time of 20:54.1. Isaac Howlett finished about a minute later, coming in at the 21:37.7 mark to take 62nd. Taking 66th place was Breckin Miller with his time of 22:19.6 and Andrew Sieracki rounded out the Spencer boys with his placing in 68th with a time of 22:48.6.
Three girls competed in the race for Spencer. Rachel Nieman placed the highest from among them, taking 43rd overall with a time of 24:52.9. About five minutes later, the Rockets’ last runners came through, with Kaydence Plaskey taking 71st with a time of 29:58.5 and Zaprina Bella Ruiz placing 73rd with a time of 30:20.5.
In the girls team placings, Loyal-Greenwood took sixth with 156 points, beating Thorp-Gilman (171), McDonell (218), Neillsville-Granton (221), and Stanley-Boyd, Osseo-Fairchild, Marshfield Columbus, Owen-Withee and Spencer, which all fielded incomplete girls teams. Bloomer was fifth (105), Cadott took fourth (83), Fall Creek was third (81), Colby placed second (53) and Eau Claire Regis won the girls Conference Championship with 52 points.
In the boys competition, Loyal-Greenwood, Spencer and Owen-Withee all fielded incomplete teams. Winning the conference championship was Bloomer with 34 points, McDonell took second (50), Colby-Abbotsford was third (136), Fall Creek was fourth (150), Marshfield Columbus took fifth (151), Cadott finished sixth (157), Stanley-Boyd was seventh (157), Eau Claire Regis was eighth (196), Osseo-Fairchild was ninth (229), Thorp-Gilman took 10th (239), and Neillsville-Granton was 11th (253).
CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTOS
