CADOTT CC INVITATIONAL - Hawks fend off Phillips to win on upcoming sectional course

CADOTT CC INVITATIONAL

Entering the Cadott Invitational was a successful venture Tuesday for the Prentice-Rib Lake cross country team, who picked up another boys team victory while getting familiar with the course they’ll return to Oct. 26 for WIAA sectional competition.

This one was close, however, as the Hawks held off rival Phillips by three points to win the team trophy, 47-50. McDonell Central, a team Prentice-Rib Lake won’t see at the sectional due to the WIAA success factor, wasn’t far behind in third place with 62 points.

Of the 18 teams represented at Tuesday’s boys meet, held at Whispering Pines Golf Course, 14 will be back next month for the sectional.

The Hawks’ top three runners all finished in the top 10 out of 136 runners, and the three runners were all in the top 20, sealing the win.

Henry Regier continued his recent string of strong outings, placing third in 17:07.6. He was barely clipped at the finish by Owen-Withee’s Colton Paczkowski (17:07.5). Both trailed champion Gavin Esterholm of Phillips. Regier was well ahead of fourth-place finisher Owen Clark of McDonell (17:26.1).

Hawks Jack Regier and Kaleb Scott were seventh and eighth in 17:55.7 and 17:57.6, just behind Logger James Vollendorf.

Spots 16 through 21 were occupied by Hawks and Loggers. Prentice-Rib Lake’s Truman Smith filled the team’s fourth scoring spot by taking 16th at 18:29.1, 4.1 seconds ahead of Phillips’ Evan Johnson. Heston Hueckman’s 18th-place finish in 18:34.5 slammed the door on the Loggers and Jeremy Wiitala’s season-best time of 18:37.7 put him in 19th, ahead of Phillips’ fourth and fifth scorers, Josh Edwards and Arlo Berens.

Ten more Hawks completed the boys race. Connor Highfill tied his season-best time from three days earlier in Wausau while placing 23rd in 18:52.6, just ahead of teammate Hagan Isaacson (18:55.4). Elijah Scott (19:19.2) and Jackson Schutt (19:21.2) were 29th and 30th. Seamus Highfill lowerd his time of 19:34.7 and placed 36th. Freshman Dene Zuleger had his best run, taking 50th in 20:13.8.

Mason Hause was 57th at 20:44.8, Eliah Harding was 64th in 20:52.4, Riley Johnson was 116th at 25:26.9 and Kevin Head was 117th at 25:41.8.

Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran placed fourth out of 10 scoring teams with 132 points. The Lancers were followed by Cadott (136), Eau Claire Regis (142), Colby-Abbotsford (186), Boyceville (201), Fall Creek (263) and Augusta (283).

Kylie Orysen earned a top-five finish out of 102 entrants in the girls. She beat Carly Borst of Regis for the fifth spot by a half-second with her time of 21:16, while Colby’s Annamarie Schmitt was a second behind Orysen. Avie Schutt was 92nd for the Hawks in 29:23.1.

Leah Harper of Phillips won the race in 20:02.8. Bruce’s Zoey Kemmitz (20:23.6) and Augusta’s Laney O’Brien (20:37.8) were under 21 minutes and Sarah Knaack of Phillips was fourth in 21:04.

Phillips won the team title with 45 points, well ahead of Regis (88), Boyceville (95) and Colby (111).

Prentice-Rib Lake was second in the girls middle school race with 111 points, five better than Colfax and well behind Phillips (35). Ella Orysen was third in 12:37.5, Molly Adams was 10th in 12:50.3 and Greta Regier was 11th in 12:54.8. The Hawks were ninth in the boys race. Alex Meyer was 35th in 13:35.3.

The Hawks will next compete at the Oct. 3 Athens Invitational at Erbach Park.