Hawks finish 2nd behind Phillips in Auburndale, Athens meets

HAWKS CROSS COUNTRY

With 20 runners competing, the Prentice-Rib Lake Hawks again fared well against a mix of Marawood, Cloverbelt and Central Wisconsin Conference boys squads at Tuesday’s Auburndale Cross Country Invitational.

Held on the Frey Field course outside of Spencer that will be the site for next week’s Marawood Conference championships, the Hawks trailed only the Phillips Loggers in the 10-team field. The Loggers are turning into the team to beat in next week’s Marawood meet. They totaled just 38 points Tuesday while the Hawks had 60, well ahead of third-place Stratford (99).

The Hawks’ five scoring runners were among the top 15 finishers in the field of 84 competitors. Kaleb Scott was eighth in 18:22, Jack Regier took 10th in 18:47 and Heston Hueckman (19:20), Elijah Scott (19:22) and Hagan Isaacson (19:24) packed up to take 13th through 15th. Phillips was just a bit better, getting its five scorers in the top 12, led by runner-up Gavin Esterholm, who finished in 17:06, 11 seconds behind winner Isaac Scheer of Columbus Catholic. Stratford’s Cree DeFoe was third in 17:26, while Maverick Hoogland of Phillips (18:08) and Andrew Schaer of Athens (18:13) rounded out the top five.

The next five Hawks to cross the finish line were Henry Regier, 18th in 19:40; senior newcomer Donovan Sutherland, 21st in 19:54; Jeremy Wiitala, 31st in 20:39; Eliah Harding, 33rd in 20:43, and Connor Highfill, 34th in 20:57.

The next wave was relatively tight, led by a 38thplace finish from Seamus Highfill in 21:07 and a 40thplace time of 21:12 from Hardy Hueckman. Truman Smith (21:32), Jackson Schutt (21:36) and Aidan Hause (21:36) were 44th through 46th.

The crew also included Matthew Schmidt, 52nd in 21:57; Riley Johnson, 67th in 23:52; Korbin Thums, 73rd at 24:24; Kevin Head, 76th at 25:00, and Nick Nikkila, 78th at 25:50.

The rest of the boys team scores were: 4. Columbus Catholic, 111; 5. Mosinee, 152; 6. Auburndale, 159; 7. Athens, 159; 8. Pittsville, 176; 9. Spencer, 222; 10. Port Edwards, incomplete.

Only one girl finished for the Hawks in Tuesday’s meet. That was Kylee Suess, who took 51st out of 62 runners in 28:41. Phillips had three of the top four finishers in Leah Harper (20:13), Meredith Merlak (20:49) and Sarah Knaack (21:23) and won the meet with just 23 points. Stratford had 38 points to take second, followed by Auburndale (82), Columbus Catholic (114) and Spencer (125). Athens, Mosinee and Pittsville were incomplete.

Brianna Sheahan of Athens was third in 21:04 and Stratford’s Kayla Casperson was fifth at 21:33.

Prentice-Rib Lake was fourth in the middle school girls race Tuesday, led by Molly Adams, seventh in 14:00; Ella Orysen, 18th in 14:57; Statia Isaacson, 21st in 15:21, and Mackenzie Lyons, 22nd in 15:22. The boys were fifth, led by 14th-place finisher Dene Zuleger (13:15) and 19th-place finisher Mason Hause (13:29).

The Hawks are scheduled to run today, Thursday, at Thorp in their last tune-up before the Oct. 12 conference meet that Stratford will host at Frey Field starting at 4 p.m.

Athens Invite

The Erbach Park course is one that has been good to the Hawks in the past and its was again Thursday, with several season-best times posted at the 16-team Athens Invitational.

The boys took second, trailing Phillips 74-90, in the third head-to-head meeting between the squads this season. They had split the first two. The Athens meet included all Marawood teams except for Edgar and was held exactly two weeks before the conference’s championship meet. The Hawks were well ahead of third-place Marathon (136) and fourth-place Stratford (143) in the final standings.

Individually, Scheer was the winner in 16:45, 10 seconds ahead of Esterholm, while Antigo’s James Meade was third at 17:07.

Kaleb Scott again led the Hawks. He was seventh in the field of 125 runners in 17:38, tying his season-best time. He was 10 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, Nicholas Pittman of Athens, and 10 seconds behind Hoogland, who was sixth. The Loggers put their top four scorers among the top 15 finishers and their fifth man was 41st. That was enough to hold off the Hawks, whose next five runners were tightly packed.

Jack Regier and Heston Hueckman both had times of 18:53 and were credited with 19th and 20th place, while Henry Regier was 21st, three seconds behind. Elijah Scott was 23rd in 18:57, the same time 22nd-place runner Logan Peters of Marathon had. Hagan Isaacson was the Hawks’ sixth man. He was 24th at a season-best 19:03. Wiitala was the team’s seventh finisher, taking 45th in 19:43.

Prentice-Rib Lake had 18 entrants in the boys race. Schmidt moved up in the team ranks and placed 53rd in a seasonbest 20:02. Harding was 56th in a personal-best 20:18. Brothers Connor (20:27) and Seamus Highfill (20:28) were 60th and 61st in personal- best times. Aidan Hause (20:35) and Evan Lord (20:40) finished 66th and 67th.

Hardy Hueckman was 74th in 21:12, Thums was 78th in 21:28, a personal-best time by 36 seconds, Nikkila was 89th in 22:02, a personal-best by 28 seconds and Johnson was 105th in 22:59, his new best time. Head was 122nd in 27:28.

Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (177) and Athens (179) were fifth and sixth in the team standings. Three Lakes was the top-scoring non-Marawood team, placing seventh with 203 points, three better than Chequamegon. Columbus Catholic (218) and Cadott (254) rounded out the top 10.

Olivia Lopez was 50th in a time of 24:17 and Suess was 80th in a personalbest 27:08 as the only two girls runners from Prentice-Rib Lake. In a race of 110, Nora Gremban of Northland Pines was the winner in 17:43, 24 seconds ahead of Chequamegon’s Autumn Michalski in a matchup of Northwoods standouts. Assumption’s Lucy Dolan was third in 18:34.

Phillips won the team title 66-74 over Stratford, while Chequamegon (98), Marathon (127) and Assumption (153) completed an all-Marawood top five, just ahead of Cadott (154).