SUCCESSFUL STATE RUN Girls team, Hraby move up from 2021
WIAA STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Four of Medford’s returning competitors beat their times from last year, one runner set her personal best on the season’s biggest stage and the Raider girls met their goal of improving upon their 2021 finish during another successful outing for the program at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 state cross country championships.
The girls placed seventh out of 16 Division 2 teams on a gorgeous fall afternoon at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids, moving up one spot from last year’s eighth-place finish and ahead of some pre-race projections.
“We talked a little bit about the seeding coming in,” Medford head coach Sherry Meyer said. “From what we were seeing, we were seeded around that 12th mark. I think the goal was let’s try to do better than what we did last year and be at our best. They were one place up from last year. Last year they were eighth and we moved up to that seventh place finish. I think they were happy with that.
“As a team goal, first of all getting to state was a big one and they certainly made that. They proved to be successful with team goals at the competitions and definitely with their individual goals throughout the season too.”
In the Division 2 boys race, junior Tanner Hraby set a personal-best time and finished 24th out of 152 runners, up one spot from last year.
“He definitely reached his goal and was very happy with that and had a great race,” Meyer said.
The girls were led by Meredith Richter, Bjorg Risa and Ella Daniels in their race, which was the second of six championship races held Saturday afternoon.
Richter took a big jump from her 40thplace finish and time of 20:37.2 from 2021. The junior finished 14th in the field of 152 with a time of 19:46.3. She wasn’t too far off from the top 10, which ended with a time of 19:33.6 from Mya Hartjes of the University School of Milwaukee. Richter hit the first mile marker in 6:02.1 and was in 19th place at the time. She shot up to ninth at the two-mile mark and was sitting at 12:27 before settling for her 14th place finish.
“Meredith ran a great race,” Meyer said. “She was seeded 18th and hit 14th. She was really moving at mile one and held pretty strong. She said she had a moment or two where those thoughts hit her head where she wasn’t feeling the greatest. She said I just brought myself right back mentally and got back in the game. Obviously it was a great success in her finish. It was a strong time compared to last year’s time for sure.”
Risa, the team’s exchange student from Norway had a big day. It may not have looked like it early. When the big pack hit the mile mark, she was in 115th place. By the time Risa hit the two-mile mark, she was up to 97th in a time of 13:45.7. Her time of 7:17.6 in the last mileplus shot her all the way up to 61st in a personal-best time of 21:03.2. No other runner came close to making up the ground Risa did on the last third of the race.
“Bjorg was like I’ve never seen her before,” Meyer said. “Just totally focused before the race. Headphones on and just in her own little world. But boy when she showed up to race, she certainly did. It was a PR for her, she was our second overall finisher and really showed everybody that she was race ready when it came time. To pass 36 people is pretty incredible.”
Risa’s year with the team couldn’t have been timed much better as she helped fill the void that existed with Bryn Fronk still working her way back from a winter knee injury.
“It’s just been fun having Bjorg for the season, especially with Bryn being out with an injury and things being a little uncertain that way,” Meyer said. “Her coming in really tied things together nicely.”
This season’s success also was marked by the big improvement Daniels made in her junior season, which was punctuated by an 80th-place finish Saturday in a time of 21:19.9. A year ago at state, Daniels was 121st in 22:33.4. Daniels was 99th after a mile in 6:32.4 but made her big move in the second mile, moving up 14 places in a split of 7:06.2. She picked off five more runners down the stretch.
“Ella Daniels this season has gotten a lot stronger and more powerful and definitely more confident in her racing,” Meyer said. “She passed like five people and again set a better time from last year. It just shows improvement in her abilities.”
Senior Brooke Rudolph closed her career with a steady final race. She placed 93rd, maintaining a spot in the 90s throughout the race and posted a time of 21:32.7. She led the list of performances at the back end of Medford’s lineup that were important to holding off their top sectional rival, West Salem, for that seventh spot in the team standings.
Freshman Morgan Liske held a steady pace throughout in her first state race and finished 106th in 21:49.3. Sophomore Ella Dassow cut five seconds off her time from a year ago and was 116th in 22:02.7 and freshman Mallory Richter will look to build in the future off her state debut time of 22:52.1, which was good for 132nd place.
“The girls definitely traveled there with positivity,” Meyer said. “All of the mental work we do, it definitely shows at meets. For a lot of people, these meets can give them a lot of nerves and anxieties and they can feel the pressure. But I tell you this team is really focused. They can visualize things and pull themselves out of the unexpected a lot of times and it works.”
Appleton Xavier won the state championship with 81 points, easily outscoring defending champion Dodgeville-Mineral Point, who earned the silver trophy with 124 points, 16 fewer than Green Bay Notre Dame. Middle Border Conference squads Osceola (155) and Amery (161) were fourth and fifth. Shawano was sixth with 186 points, followed by Medford (211) and West Salem (221). Port Washington (224) and Kewaskum (239) rounded out the top 10.
Sophomore Faith Wehrman of New Berlin Eisenhower won the individual championship in 18:14.8, moving up from her second-place finish of last year. Nora Gremban, the Great Northern Conference’s star from Northland Pines, was second at 18:24.6, easily beating Dodgeville- Mineral Point’s Ellie Robinson (18:49.3). Mikaela Helling of Two Rivers (18:54.9) and Sophie Yetter of Winneconne (18:55.4) rounded out the top five.
For Hraby, his goal was to break the 17-minute barrier for the first time in his cross country career and see where the chips fell after that. He reached the time goal at 16:57.8. That was good for 24th place. It would’ve put him 18th last year, when he was 25th at 17:12.3.
“Tanner is just super fun to coach,” Meyer said. “He’s very focused. He knows exactly what he wants and how he’s going to get there. He has everything planned. He’s a thinker and he knows what he wants. He says he wants to be at this time at this mark. I want to be here at the mile. He has it pretty strategically planned.”
A mile in, he was in 28th place at 5:07.7. His second-mile split of 5:45 dropped him three spots to 31st, but he had a strong final third of the race with his split of 6:05.2 pushing him up seven spots. He was 0.7 seconds behind 23rd-place runner, Mark Garcia of Lakeside Lutheran and 5.7 seconds away from a top-20 finish.
Joseph Stoddard of Mount Horeb won the championship in 15:54.7, while Mauston’s Eli Boppart, who Medford is very familiar with, took second in 16:03.7 and Medford’s GNC rival Owen Clark of Lakeland was third at 16:12.1, 4.2 seconds ahead of Notre Dame’s Isaac Nowak. Notre Dame won the team championship with 81 points, well ahead of Lakeside Lutheran (115), Appleton Xavier (143), Shorewood (168) and Mauston (169).
“We got to the start line with Tanner and you could tell he was a little nervous,” Meyer said. “But nothing was going to shake his confidence. He went out really strong. I think his mile was 5:07. He was really rolling. I think his goal was not to get pulled out too fast and he didn’t do that. He passed some people too. His goal was to break that 17 minutes, and he did. He moved up another spot from last year. With that time, i’s kind of funny. Last year he would’ve placed way higher but it goes to show you the competition every year is different.”
While every year is different, the Raiders will soon turn the page toward 2023 and making sure that year also ends with good results in Wisconsin Rapids.
“I think it’s going to be a really fun season again next year,” Meyer said. “Obviously a lot of awesome talent returning. We have some people coming up from the middle school program that will be successful too. I think it will be a great season again.”
NATHANIELUNDERWOOD/TRIBUNE-PHONOGRAPH
CHAD LISKE PHOTO
The finish line is in sight for Medford’s Mallory Richter Saturday at The Ridges.CHAD LISKE PHOTO
Ella Dassow finds her stride midway through the Division 2 girls race.NATHANIELUNDERWOOD/TRIBUNE-PHONOGRAPH
Medford’s Meredith Richter pulls ahead of Little Chute’s Ashley Wilson during Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 girls state cross country race. Richter finished 14th and Wilson 15th out of 152 competitors.CHAD LISKE PHOTO
