SMILEY CC INVITATIONAL - Hawks win D3; Raiders continue to make progress at Smiley Invite

SMILEY CC INVITATIONAL

For cross country teams with state aspirations, like the Prentice-Rib Lake boys and Medford girls, Wausau East’s Smiley Invitational often serves as a midseason opportunity to see where they stand.

In the cases of both local teams, they found they’re in good shape a month before WIAA sectional competition.

The Hawks’ boys continued their outstanding start to 2024, winning the Division 3 portion of their combined Division 2/3 race and taking second overall. They also won the JV title. Prentice-Rib Lake remained unbeaten against Division 3 competition, heading into a Tuesday meet at Cadott that included several sectional opponents.

Medford’s girls settled into fourth place in the Division 1 Small grouping and 11th overall in Division 1 as they continue to build toward late October under the plan of first-year head coach Jake Rhyner.

The Raider boys were ninth in Division 1 Small competition and 19th overall in the Division 1 race in the 68th annual Smiley meet. This is the longest-running cross country meet in Wisconsin.

Hawks highlights

Earlier in the week, members of Prentice-Rib Lake’s boys team said they were approaching Smiley as a mini-state meet and the Hawks certainly made a statement.

Thirty teams were represented in the Division 2/3 race, 15 in each division. The divisions in this meet didn’t necessarily reflect teams’ WIAA divisional placements later in the season.

In overall scoring, the Hawks totaled 129 points, just three behind Division 2 champion Two Rivers, but well ahead of Marawood Conference rival Marathon (167), a Division 3 team in the post-season but a Division 2 team in Saturday’s meet.

In Division 3 scoring, Prentice-Rib Lake totaled just 46 points, comfortably outscoring Sheboygan Area Lutheran (67), Iola-Scandinavia (119) and Stevens Point Pacelli (121).

As they’ve done all season so far, where one Hawk may have been off his game a little, others picked him up.

Sophomore Henry Regier was the team’s top finisher for the first time this fall, taking third among 85 Division 3 runners and 10th out of 178 overall with his time of 17:16.8. In Division 3, only Nolan Waltz, a Three Lakes sophomore (16:29.7), and Ben Beck, an Iola-Scandinavia junior (16:39.5), were faster. Pacelli’s Lucas Haemmerle was a distant fourth at 17:38.2. Overall, Regier got the last top-10 spot by 4.2 seconds over Amherst’s Elijah Bohm. Senior Eli Gallagher of Two Rivers was the overall champion at 16:27.4, 2.3 seconds ahead of Waltz.

Senior Jack Regier placed ninth and 27th in 17:52.4. Sophomore Truman Smith set a personal-best time of 17:59.7 to leap up to the Hawks’ third position while taking 11th and 29th places.

While Kaleb Scott wasn’t at his peak time at 18:06.3, good for 16th and 34th, junior Heston Hueckman was another Hawk picking up his game, earning a topfive scoring spot for the first time this fall while placing 18th and 40th at a personalbest 18:28.2. Sophomore Hagan Isaacson wasn’t far behind, taking 23rd and 49th at 18:39.4, his second-best time of 2024.

Senior Connor Highfill was 27th and 59th in a personal-best 18:52.6 and sophomore Jeremy Wiitala completed the eight-man roster with 35th and 72nd places in a time of 19:11.

That effort also showed in the JV race, where more best times were set. The Hawks outscored Sheboygan Area Lutheran 20-37 to win the Division 3 scoring. They topped a list of five scoring teams overall with 25 points, beating Sheboygan Area Lutheran (49), Marathon (88), Oconto Falls (93) and Tomahawk (97).

The Hawks’ Elijah Scott and Jackson Schutt were the top two finishers overall with times of 18:57 and 18:58.5. Schutt’s time was his best of the fall. Seamus Highfill was fourth out of 27 Division 3 runners and sixth out of 70 overall in 20:01.7. Eliah Harding was fifth and eighth at 20:15.3, Mason Hause was eighth and 11th at a personal-best 20:26.8, Dene Zuleger was ninth and 13th at a personalbest 20:34.2, Riley Johnson was 21st and 58th at a season-best 23:37.5 and Kevin Head was 23rd and 61st at 24:29.6.

In varsity girls competition, Kylie Orysen recovered nicely after being unable to finish a race in Stratford four days earlier. She was seventh among 68 Division 3 finishers and 34th out of 163 overall at 21:45.3, her second-best time of 2024. Kloey Paul was 50th and 142nd at 27:57.3 and Avie Schutt was 56th and 148th in a personal-best 29:12.8.

Altoona’s Greta Peters was the overall champion at 18:05.1 and Alexa Leonard of Northland Lutheran was the Division 3 champion at 20:25.3. Sheboygan Area Lutheran was the Division 3 team champion, while Little Chute was the overall champion in the girls Division 2/3 race.

Medford highlights

For Medford, “progress” was Rhyner’s word of the day for the girls team, who totaled 87 points in Division 1 Small scoring to trail Pulaski (45), West Salem (63) and defending champion of the Colby sectional Shawano (75). Wausau East was fifth with 109 points.

Overall, Medford had 287 points to trail Shawano by 32 for the last top-10 spot in a race represented by 20 teams, 10 Small and 10 Large. Madison West was the overall Division 1 champion with 36 points, well ahead of Waunakee (108) and Stevens Point (128).

Lindsay Kahn, as usual, led the Raiders. The junior was fifth out of 57 Small Division finishers and 18th out of 133 overall in 20:41.3. The only Small Division finishers that were faster were Emerson Fabry (19:27.1) and Olivia Stedl (19:58) of Pulaski, Sienna Timm of Waupaca (20:08.1) and Mia Olson of West Salem (20:26.3). Tessa Bruckhart of Stevens Point was the overall winner in 19:23, just ahead of Fabry.

Morgan Liske was 16th and 56th with her second-best time of 2024 at 22:18.1, while Mallory Richter was 17th and 61st at 22:24.8, also her second-best time of the season. Ella Dassow’s season-best time of 22:46.9 put her 22nd and 72nd in each of the standings, while Willow Dassow’s season-best 23:55.1 gave her the team’s fifth scoring spot and 32nd and 92nd places.

Greta Seidel was 36th and 99th at 24:25.2, Carly Koski was 37th and 105th at 24:48.8 and Esmeralda Anderson was 38th and 107th in 24:56.

Brandon Curtis led Medford’s boys by placing 28th out of 72 Small Division finishers and 53rd out of 148 overall in Division 1 in a time of 18:07.3 that was just off his season-best of 18:02. The next three Raiders made a push toward the 20minute mark. Will Daniels got there, finishing in a season-best 19:59.2, good for 50th and 118th. Corbyn Radlinger was 52nd and 124th at 20:08.8 and Evan Pagel was 54th and 126th at a season-best 20:12.3.

Jordan Lavin was 56th and 130th in a season-best 20:28.6. Ace Arndt was 59th and 134th at 20:43.8 and Ayden Tyznik lowered his time to 20:53 to take 60th and 136th.

Medford totaled 226 points to finish ahead of Merrill (276) and Antigo (incomplete) in the Division 1 Small results. Shorewood won with 32 points, followed by West Salem (51), Pulaski (71) and Rhinelander (127). Shorewood also was the overall champion with 49 points, six fewer than De Pere.

Medford’s boys were sixth in the Division 1 Small JV race and 17th overall. Angus Hamland was 50th and 168th at 22:42.3, Nevyn Gripentrog was 51st and 172nd at 22:47.7, Corbyn Fuchs was 55th and 181st at 23:13.1, Isiah Wallace-Szydel was 60th and 197th at 23:47.7 and Manny Espinoza was 68th and 225th at 25:15.6.

Medford’s girls were 12th in the Division 1 combined JV standings. Kayla Daniels led the Raiders by placing 65th out of 197 runners in her season-best time of 25:13.3. Lauren Stark was 134th in a season-best 27:58.3, Josey Krug was 154th in 29:11.5, Lexus Hraby was 164th in 30:04.8 and Isabella Leischer was 192nd in 35:46.6.

Medford hosts its annual Invitational Thursday, Oct. 3 on the MASH/Kuse property course with middle school

Medford’s Morgan Liske finds some open space in front of a crowd of runners as she approaches the mile mark in Saturday’s Division 1 girls race at Wausau East. JEREMY MAYO/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS