Runnin’ Raiders find some success on their home course

MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY INVITE

Following two monster meets at the Smiley and Griak invitationals, it was back to the cozy comforts of home Thursday for the Medford cross country teams, who hosted four visiting squads in the five-team Medford Invitational.

The Runnin’ Raiders got their fifth meet team win of the season and Meredith Richter picked up her sixth individual win on a gray, but comfortable afternoon on the course, while top-eight finishes from Tanner Hraby and Logan Gubser helped give the boys a third-place team finish.

Great Northern Conference rival Tomahawk gave Medford a bit of a push in the girls meet, but Medford’s 37 compiled points were eight fewer than the Hatchets. Ashland edged Rhinelander 73-74 for third and Merrill was a distant fifth with 148 points.

Richter got some early competition from Ashland’s Adeline Bauer but pulled away in the second mile and won easily in 19:07, beating her Medford Invite time of a year ago by seven seconds. Bauer finished in 20:01, 56 seconds ahead of thirdplace finisher Grace Swanson, also of Ashland.

Raider Lindsay Kahn continued to cement her position as Medford’s numbertwo runner by placing fourth in 21:05, a time that was four seconds off her personal best. Ella Daniels was eighth out of 53 runners in 21:51 and Morgan Liske got the last top-10 spot at 22:18. Mallory Richter was 14th in 22:37 and Ella Dassow was 16th in 22:44, making sure the Hatchets wouldn’t pull off the upset. Tomahawk was led by fourth- and fifth-place finishers Elise Gibeault (21:10) and Alli Palmer (21:15) and put its five scorers in the top 13 finishers.

The Raiders entered a crew of 15 runners in Thursday’s race. Senior Kylie Potvin continued her solid final season with a 23rd-place time of 23:27 that was her best-ever by about a minute. Senior Lillie Gleichauf was 26th in 23:36, sophomore Esmeralda Anderson was 29th in 23:54, not far off her season best, and Willow Dassow was 31st at 24:02.

Riley Clark’s 37th-place time of 24:54 was her best of the fall. Amy Espinoza placed 39th in 25:55, Kayla Daniels was 42nd in 26:00, Lexi Hraby was 45th in her best time, 27:30, one second ahead of teammate Abbie Marzinske.

Rhinelander’s Greyson Gremban got the lead in the first mile and never let it go in Thursday’s boys race. He finished in 17:10 to beat Hraby by 17 seconds. Hraby, however, spent the entire race going back and forth with Ashland’s Tristan Blancarte and finally passed him for good in the home stretch and beat him by six seconds.

Gubser’s time of 18:33 was good for eighth place in a field of 52 runners and was a personal-best time by 11 seconds. He beat Tomahawk’s Samuel Zastrow by 14 seconds and Domonic Boos by 23 seconds for the eighth spot. Ashland’s Dylan Blancarte (18:07), Tomahawk’s Presley Gutbrod (18:14), Ashland’s Deryck Parduhn (18:19) and Merrill’s Erik Grunenwald (18:22) were just ahead of Gubser.

Nick Steliga posted the second-best time of his season at 19:31. That put him in 16th place. Raider Brandon Curtis was 20th in 19:46 and Peyton Ried was 23rd in 20:13.

Ashland won the meet 44-57 over Tomahawk, while Medford and Rhinelander tied for third with 69 points, well ahead of Merrill (116).

Medford won the sixth-runner tiebreaker with the Hodags behind the 25th-place finish from Hudson Briggs. He came in at a personal-best 20:28. Rhinelander’s sixth man, Jonathan Campbell, was 49th.

The Raiders’ crew of 15 runners included the trio of Will Daniels (20:34), Jordan Lavin (20:38) and Ayden Tyznik (20:39), who placed 27th through 29th with personal-best times. Evan Pagel came in 35th at 21:46 and Hunter Briggs was 38th at a personal-best 22:12. Cullen Jones was in a pack of five runners who all hit the finish line in 22:36 and was credited with 42nd place. That was the sophomore’s best time this year. Freshmen Nevyn Gripentrog and Logan Langdon were part of that group too and took 44th and 45th with their best times. Silas Briggs was 10 seconds behind and finished 46th. That was his best time as well.

Medford was second in the girls middle school race with 46 points, 11 behind Tomahawk. Melanie Richter (13:45) and Taytem Brahmer (13:51) were fourth and fifth to lead the Raiders, while Greta Seidel (14:27) and Kyra Scheithauer (14:44) were 11th and 12th.

The Raiders also took second in the middle school boys race with 52 points. Marshfield was nearly perfect, scoring 17 points. Medford’s Corbyn Radlinger broke up the Tigers’ bid for a perfect score by taking fourth in 12:06. Tanner Gebauer (12:33) was ninth, Parker Ried (12:34) was 10th and Ace Arndt (12:34) was 11th.

The varsity is scheduled to run Saturday at the Wisconsin Dells Invitational at Christmas Mountain Village. This will be the Raiders’ final meet before the Oct. 14 Great Northern Conference championships to be hosted by Mosinee.