Raiders run with hundreds at Griak; will compete at home Thursday

MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY

While Wausau East’s Smiley Invitational is one of Wisconsin’s largest cross country meets of the regular season, it pales in comparison to the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational, where the Medford Raiders went up against some of the finest competition from the entire Midwest on Friday afternoon.

Six days after winning the Division 1 championship in the Smiley meet, Medford senior Meredith Richter wasn’t too far off from another big title, placing third out of 286 runners in the Gold Division high school race. The girls finished a solid 12th out 32 scoring teams in the race, including a 27th-place finish from sophomore Lindsay Kahn.

The boys were 29th out of 38 scoring teams in the Gold Division. They got a strong 30th-place effort from senior Tanner Hraby.

The annual meet is held at the U of M’s Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul and features a full day of college and high school races.

Richter was the veteran of the top 10 runners in Friday’s Gold girls race. The only senior in the bunch, she came in at 19:53.6 to beat sophomore Nora Hanson of Red Wing, Minn. for the third spot. Marah Benedict, a junior from New Richmond, won the race in 19:32.9 and Kylie Nelson of Centennial, Minn. was second in 19:42.7.

Esme Gulbransen, a junior from Breck School of Minnesota was fifth, 3.1 seconds behind Richter. Amazingly, freshmen filled the sixth through ninth spots.

Kahn’s 27th-place time was 21:29.1, a 27-second improvement over her 2022 Griak time. Medford’s remaining scorers hit the finish line in a solid pack, with Ella Daniels taking 120th in 23:02.5, Morgan Liske coming in 123rd in 23:05.5 and Mallory Richter taking 137th in 23:22.1.

The Griak allows for 10 runners per team. Medford’s next five included Ella Dassow, who placed 154th in 23:44.2; Willow Dassow, who placed 163rd in 23:56.1; Esme Anderson, who took 197th in 24:53.5; Lillie Gleichauf, who was 216th in 25:15.3, and Kylie Potvin, who came in 227th in 25:34.2.

Centennial, Minn. won the team championship with 63 points, while Notre Dame Academy of Green Bay, a team Medford could see at state, was sec-ond with 102 points. Owatonna, Minn. (159), Rochester Century, Minn. (164) and Iowa City Liberty (181) rounded out the top five. Eau Claire Memorial (215) was sixth, Northwestern, another WIAA Division 2 team to watch, was 11th with 376 points, three better than Medford. Osceola (435) and New Richmond (438) were 16th and 17th.

The Gold boys race featured six runners, who posted sub-17 minute times. Hraby led Medford by getting under the 18-minute mark at 17:58, just enough to get ahead of Iowa City Liberty’s Will Thompson for the 30th spot in a field of 335 runners.

Brandon Curtis was the next Raider to cross the finish line. He was 184th in 20:09.5. The scoring was filled out by Nick Steliga taking 214th in 20:36.4, Logan Gubser placing 235th in 20:52.3 and Peyton Ried finishing 236th in 20:52.7.

The back half of Medford’s Friday lineup had Hudson Briggs taking 265th in 21:32.3 in his first Griak, freshman Jordan Lavin placing 277th in 21:49.7, Evan Pagel taking 282nd in 22:06.4, an improvement of 1:16 over last year, Hunter Briggs finishing 319th in 24:11.9 and Will Daniels coming in 321st in 24:17.

Iowa City Liberty won the team championship with 103 points, just ahead of Eau Claire Memorial (137). Sioux Falls Washington, S.D., was third with 167 points, while River Falls (208) and Notre Dame (240) were fourth and fifth. Among Wisconsin squads, La Crosse Aquinas was eighth with 314 points, Osceola was 14th with 439, Hayward was 15th with 454, New Richmond was 21st with 535, Northwestern was 23rd with 562, Rice Lake was 24th with 601, Prescott was 25th with 613, Eau Claire North was 26th with 653 points and Medford was 29th with 782.

Brock Olsen of Blue Valley West, Kan. won the individual championship in 16:14.1, 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Eddie Snider of Mounds Park Academy, Minn. Notre Dame sophomore Joseph Hunt was third in 16:45, while Iowa City Liberty freshman Keegan Decker (16:48), St. Paul Como Park, Minn. senior Mason Aarness (16:57.1) and Iowa City Liberty junior Noah Gregoire (16:59.5) rounded out the top six.

Medford hosts its annual invitational today, Thursday on the MASH/Kuse course. The middle school race kicks things off at 4 p.m., followed by the high school races at 4:30 p.m. The high school field is expected to include Ashland, Merrill Rhinelander and Tomahawk.