MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY - Girls place 2nd, boys 4th at the Dells; GNC meet set Saturday at Pines

MEDFORD CROSS COUNTRY

Lindsay Kahn and Morgan Liske earned top-five finishes to lead the Medford girls to a second-place finish in the five-team Wisconsin Dells Cross Country Invitational, held at Christmas Mountain Golf Course.

Kahn was second in a field of 34 runners and Liske was fifth as the Raiders finished eight points behind Baraboo, 3745. Wisconsin Dells (65), Mauston (108) and Prairie du Chien (113) filled out the girls field.

Brandon Curtis was 14th out of 34 runners in the boys race, where Medford placed fourth with 103 points, 11 fewer than the home team. Mauston won that team title with 25 points, followed by Baraboo (31) and Prairie du Chien (102).

“This trip provided a unique opportunity to run exclusively on a pristine golf course that was undulating and quite challenging,” Medford head coach Jake Rhyner said. “All runners were really tested this week, racing Tuesday (at Northland Pines) and Saturday and had a moderate to hard track session on Thursday. We now shift focus to championship season. Every place matters.”

Kahn finished the girls race in 21:23.3, almost a minute ahead of her nearest competitor, Sydney Dobush of Baraboo (22:21). Mauston’s Alexys Smith won comfortably in 20:44.7.

Liske finished in 22:54.5, 7.8 seconds behind fourth-place runner McKenzie Dougherty of Baraboo and 2.2 seconds ahead of sixth-place Isabella Tollaksen of Wisconsin Dells.

Mallory Richter and Ella Dassow were 11th and 12th for Medford in 23:29.5 and 23:30.2. Richter was 9.6 seconds out of the top 10. Willow Dassow was Medford’s fifth runner, finishing 15th in 24:07.1. Greta Seidel was 17th in 24:33.6 and Carly Koski was 24th at 25:14.9.

Curtis just got under the 19-minute mark in the boys race, finishing 18:59.2. From there, the Raiders were tightly packed, filling six of seven spots from 20 to 26. Corbyn Radlinger was 20th in 19:57.3 as Medford’s second scorer. Peyton Ried led the Raiders’ remaining five by taking 22nd in 20:17.6. He was followed by Jordan Lavin (20:17.9), Evan Pagel (20:23.2), Ace Arndt (20:39.8) and Will Daniels (20:39.9).

Josh Ellerman of Mauston won the race in 17:10.4, well ahead of Baraboo’s Brody Bjorklund (17:34.8) and Will Boettcher (17:43.7). Mauston had the next three finishers.

Baraboo outscored Medford 21-40 in the girls JV race. Esmeralda Anderson led Medford with a season-best time of 24:04.9 that was good for third place behind Baraboo’s Maritza Ramirez (23:38.3) and Anna Baraldini (23:47.8). Kayla Daniels was fourth for Medford and just behind Anderson at 24:07.2.

Lauren Stark took 12th out of 21 runners in 27:49.5, Lexi Hraby was 16th at 29:34.9 and Isabella Leischer was 21st at 34:11.9.

The Medford boys were third in the JV race with 76 points, trailing Baraboo, who had a perfect score of 15 and Mauston (50).

Hudson Briggs led Medford, taking 16th out of 36 runners in 21:48.7. Angus Hamland was 19th in 22:13.4, Nevyn Gripentrog was 23rd at 23:10.6, Manny Espinoza was 25th at 24:10.1 and Isiah Wallace-Szydel was 26th in 24:20.3.

Ben Meise led the top five Baraboo runners and won the race in 18:54.7.

GNC is next

As Rhyner said, the championship portion of the season starts Saturday with the Great Northern Conference championship meet at Northland Pines High School in Eagle River.

The girls race kicks things off at 11 a.m., followed by the boys at 11:45 a.m. and the combined JV race at 12:30 p.m. The top seven individual finishers in each varsity race will earn All-GNC honors, while places 8-14 earn second-team spots and places 15-21 earn honorable mention.

Tomahawk ended Medford girls’ sixyear run atop the conference last fall. The two teams have not competed against each other this season. Lakeland is seeking its third straight boys championship at Saturday’s meet.