Girls take first, boys second in Loyal

The Colby girls and Colby-Abby cross country teams opened their 2023 season in Loyal last Tuesday and came away with some accolades for their efforts. The Hornet girls claimed their first victory, taking first place as a team by putting up a meet low score of 41 points. Meanwhile, the co-op boys squad took second out of the eleven teams present, beating their best 2022 finish of third overall. Their 96 points were only beaten out by McDonnel Central’s 50 points.

The girls saw their first five runners finish in the top-15 in a field of 79 athletes and all seven of their scoring varsity runners finished in the top half of the race. Meanwhile, all five of the boys athletes who scored placed in the top-30 for the co-op squad.

Casey Reynolds led the way for the Hornets, taking a career-high third place at the meet. The senior found herself behind only Thorp’s Shaylie Zarza and Eau Claire Regis’ Carly Borst, posting a time of 22:12.1. Despite it only being the first meet of the season, this time was not far off from her personal best of 21:44, which she posted at last year’s sectional meet in Athens.

MaKenna Herrmann and Annamarie Schmitt came in next for Colby, taking eighth and ninth respectively. Herrmann posted a time of 23:23.0 while Schmitt finished close behind with a time of 23:24.9.

Sophomore Ali Adams came away with an impressive result in her first varsity meet, finishing just outside the top-10 with an 11th place finish. As Colby’s fourth runner, she came away with a time of 23:42.5.

Reagan Schraufnagel came across the line as the final scoring runner for the Hornets, taking fifth for the team and 14th overall in the competition. Her final time was 23:53.5. Pearl Feiten and Jenelle Ertl rounded out the top-seven for Colby, posting times of 25:09.3 and 27:04.0 to take 22nd and 36th respectively.

On the boys side, Max Adams opened up his 2023 season with a top-five finish. The senior placed fourth overall, close behind second-place Andrew Thaler of McDonnel and third-place Connor Genteman of Loyal-Greenwood with a time of 17:56.8, which was a half-minute faster than he ran the course last season. Columbus’s Issac Scheer paced the field by nearly a minute, taking first with a time of 16:59.1.

Colby-Abby’s second runner Jack Schindler had a career best race on Tuesday, shaving 20 seconds off of his previous best to come up with a top-20 finish for the co-op. His new personal best time of 19:25.3 earned him 19th place.

Matthew Sprotte followed Schindler with a 24th place finish, coming in with a time of 20:25.3. Meanwhile, teammates Joseph Streveler and Gavin Reis finished neck-and-neck as the coop’s fourth and fifth runners, recording near identical times of 21:38.3 and 21:38.9 to finish in 31st and 32nd place.

Jack Sheahan and Caine Maldonis similarly ran at around the same pace, finishing in 42nd and 43rd place with times of 22:32.8 and 22:35.8 to round out the top-seven.

The teams will host their home meet this weekend on Saturday, Sept. 9, inviting 12 other teams to compete. Last year, the girls placed second while the boys took third while running the course in Colby on what was a rainy and chilly morning. The start time of this year’s race is set for 10:30 a.m.