The rest of Medford’s ….

The rest of Medford’s varsity crew was tightly packed. Junior Brandon Curtis was Medford’s number-two finisher in this race with a time of 19:41.2. After Jaren Ward of Wisconsin Dells came in next at 19:45.4, the rest of the Raiders followed. Nick Steliga was 23rd in 19:55.3, freshman Peyton Ried was 24th in 20:17.7, sophomore Will Daniels was 25th at 20:36.3, about two seconds off his personal best, and Hudson Briggs was 26th in 20:56.4, the third time in four meets he’s been under 21 minutes.

Baraboo edged Mauston 34-36 to take home the team championship plaque. Wisconsin Dells outscored Medford 8294 for third. Prairie du Chien (117) and Nekoosa (154) rounded out the standings.

Another scoring glitch had Medford out of the team standings in the boys JV race. Evan Pagel was credited with 20th place in 21:29.6, which was right at his personal-best pace, Jordan Lavin was 25th in 21:44.9, Cullen Jones was 27th in a personal-best 21:53.5 and Hunter Briggs was 36th in 25:03.4. Nevyn Gripentrog and Silas Briggs also ran for Medford but their results were missed in the scoring.

Riley Clark led Medford’s efforts in the girls JV race. She was sixth out of 18 runners in a season-best 24:36.5. Kayla Daniels was eighth in 25:18.8, just off her best time of the year. Lauren Stark took 10th in 26:18.3, which is her new personal-best time. Lexi Hraby was 16th in 28:27.6.

Medford’s push to the season’s finish line starts Saturday with the Great Northern Conference championships, which will be hosted by Mosinee at Nine Mile Forest Recreation Area on the outskirts of Wausau. The schedule has the combined JV race getting things started at 11 a.m., to be followed by the varsity boys at 11:45 a.m. and the varsity girls at 12:30 p.m.

Medford is gunning for the program’s seventh straight conference title in girls competition. Lakeland is the defending boys champion.

The post-season begins Oct. 21 with the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet at Colby.