HAWKS CROSS COUNTRY - #1-ranked Hawks get the edge twice on #2 Loggers

HAWKS CROSS COUNTRY

The battles between the boys cross country teams from Prentice-Rib Lake and Phillips keep getting tighter, but the Hawks kept their winning streak alive Tuesday at the Auburndale Invitational.

Prentice-Rib Lake edged Phillips 37-41 to win Tuesday’s 11-team meet held at the Frey Field course east of Spencer. The state’s top two ranked teams in Division 3 will meet again at least two more times at next Thursday’s Marawood Conference meet and the Oct. 26 Cadott sectional and they hope to race against each other again at the Nov. 2 state meet.

Prentice-Rib Lake’s win Tuesday kept the Hawks undefeated against Division 3 competition this season.

Brothers Henry and Jack Regier were third and fourth for the Hawks in times of 16:51.5 and 16:58.6, which put the team a point behind Phillips after two runners. The Loggers’ Gavin Esterholm won in 16:24.8, while James Vollendorf was fifth at 17:18.8. Logger Logan Sokolowski was eighth at 17:47, but the Hawks sealed the team win with four straight finishers, starting with Kaleb Scott, who took 10th in 17:55.7.

Heston Hueckman lowered his time to 18:01.2 to place 11th and Jeremy Wiitala was the fifth scorer, placing 12th in 18:02, his new personal-best time. Just to make sure the Hawks would win, Truman Smith was the team’s sixth man, placing 13th in a field of 78 with a time of 18:03.4.

A total of 17 Hawks ran in the boys race Tuesday. Elijah Scott was 16th in 18:10.8 and Connor Highfill was 18th in 18:17.5, his new best time. Hagen Isaacson took 22nd in 18:32.6, while Jackson Schutt and Seamus Highfill were 25th and 26th in 18:40.8 and 18:44, both personal-best times.

Eliah Harding was 33rd in 19:21, Mauson Hause was 48th at 20:25.5 and Cameron Menning was 56th, improving to 21:20.9. Kevin Head was 71st in 25:09, just ahead of Dene Zuleger, who was 2.8 seconds and one spot behind. Riley Johnson was 74th at 27:13.9.

Stratford, ranked sixth in this week’s Division 3 state poll, was third with 62 points, followed by Edgar (133), Mosinee (149), Auburndale (172) and Port Edwards (175). Athens, Nekoosa, Pittsville and Spencer were incomplete.

Phillips won Tuesday’s girls meet with 35 points. The Loggers easily beat Stratford (62), Auburndale (67), Pittsville (105), Edgar (121) and Mosinee (144).

Kylie Orysen led the Hawks’ trio of runners by taking 11th out of 67 entrants with a time of 21:13.4. Kloey Paul lowered her personal record to 26:03.6 while taking 43rd and Avie Schutt was 59th in 29:25.6.

Leah Harper of Phillips won in 19:24.4, while Stratford’s Kayla Casperson also cracked the 20-minute barrier at 19:47.7. Sarah Knaack of Phillips was third at 20:23.

The Hawks are back in action today, Thursday, at the Thorp Invitational. That’s the team’s last tune-up before Prentice-Rib Lake hosts the 2024 Marawood Conference Championships at Forest Springs on Oct. 17 starting at 4 p.m.

Athens Invite

In their first race as the state’s newlyranked top-ranked team in Division 3, the Hawks edged the new second-ranked team, Phillips, by five points to win Thursday’s Athens Invitational at Erbach Park.

The Hawks held off the Loggers 52-57 while two more Marawood Conference squads, Stratford (75) and Marathon (95), were third and fourth. Fifteen teams were represented in the boys race, with 10 of them having enough runners to earn team scores.

Stratford and Marathon were ranked sixth and seventh in last week’s Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association Division 3 boys state poll.

The Hawks’ top six runners were among the top 22 finishers in the 122runner boys race, while Phillips’ five scorers were in the top 23.

Henry Regier was one of five competitors to finish in under 17 minutes. He placed fourth in 16:49.5, 0.7 seconds ahead of Marathon’s Logan Peters. Jack Regier was seventh in 17:21.6 and hit the finish line just 0.4 seconds ahead of Stratford’s Ethan Heeg. Those two places were key in the final team result.

Kaleb Scott took 11th for Prentice-Rib Lake in 17:33.8, lunging ahead of Tomahawk’s Samuel Zastrow by 0.1 seconds at the finish line. Smith was 18th at 18:02.8, Hueckman had a personalbest time 18:06.1 to earn the team’s fifth scoring spot in 21st place and Elijah Scott was 22nd in 18:10.4, 0.2 seconds ahead of Phillips’ fifth man, Evan Johnson.

Esterholm won the race in 16:11.3, 2.9 seconds ahead of Three Lakes-Phelps’ Nolan Waltz. Stratford’s Cree Defoe was third in 16:41.9. Vollendorf was 10th in 17:26.8, while Logan Sokolowski (17:56.3) and Josh Edwards (17:58.7) were 16th and 17th, not quite high enough to offset the Hawks’ top scorers.

Competing for the first time in nine days, the Hawks had more encouraging results.

Wiitala posted his a personal-best time of 18:15.6 to place 26th and Connor Highfill’s 28th-place time of 18:24.8 also was a new best. Isaacson was 30th in 18:29.2 and Schutt lowered his time to 18:41.2 to take 35th. Seamus Highfill was another Hawk to set a new best time. He was 42nd at 18:55.4 and Harding lowered his new personal best to 19:06.6, good for 49th.

Zuleger continued to drop time, taking 64th in 19:46.2. Hause lowered his time to 20:15.6 and placed 73rd. Menning debuted with a time of 22:18.2 while taking 102nd. Riley Johnson set a seasonbest time of 22:41.9 while placing 106th and Head was 109th in 23:15.8.

Tomahawk (137), Cadott (174), Chequamegon (200), Laona-Wabeno (213), Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (228) and Auburndale (277) rounded out the team scores.

In the girls race, Orysen finished 35 out of 111 runners in 22:44.5, Paul was 77th in a personal-best 26:16.2 and Avie Schutt was 90th at a personal-best 27:28.9. Assumption’s Lucy Dolan won in 18:48.3, easily beating Harper (19:30) and Casperson (19:51.3). Phillips was the team champion with 58 points, beating Assumption (63), Stratford (116) and Tomahawk (125). There were 16 teams represented, 12 of which had team scores.

Prentice-Rib Lake was third in the girls middle school race. Scorers were Molly Adams, fifth in 12:03.3; Ella Orysen, 12th in 12:25.7; Greta Regier, 14th in 12:31.7; Zoey Shin, 35th in 14:01.1 and Mackenzie Lyons, 44th in 14:25.9. The boys were eighth. Scorers were Cade Paul, 37th in 12:46.7; Alex Meyer, 40th in 12:53.5; Waylon Thielke, 43rd in 13:00.9; Angus Peterson, 51st in 13:18.9, and Kolt Bube, 63rd in 13:51.3.

Rib Lake’s Elijah Scott sprints through the finish line and sneaks past Evan Johnson of Phillips for 22nd place during Thursday’s cross country race in Athens. CASEY KRAUTKRAMER/RECORD-REVIEW