HAWKS CROSS COUNTRY - Hawks get in a solid tune-up at Thorp; host today’s Marawood meet

HAWKS CROSS COUNTRY

The final tune-up before the cross country season’s biggest meets resulted in another victory for the top-ranked Prentice-Rib Lake Hawks, who easily outdistanced seven other squads at Thursday’s Thorp Invitational.

On a beautiful mid-October afternoon on a beautiful new course, the Hawks put their five scorers among the top eight boys finishers to win the second annual meet with just 28 points. Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran (80), Bloomer (95) and Cadott (97) were the other scoring teams, while Thorp, Stanley-Boyd, Lake Holcombe and Owen-Withee were incomplete.

Brothers Henry and Jack Regier again led the Hawks’ charge toward the top with Henry, the sophomore, finishing third in 17:11 and Jack, the senior, taking fourth in 17:48. Bloomer’s Seth Rogge ran away with first place in a final time of 16:16, while Cadott’s Beau Steinke was second in 16:58.

After Immanuel’s Logan Thompson placed fifth in 17:53, the Hawks closed out their scoring by filling places six through eight with Jeremy Wiitala in a season-best 17:59, Heston Hueckman in 18:02, right at his season best, and Truman Smith in 18:05.

Stanley-Boyd’s Elihu Krenzelok was ninth in 18:06, then he was followed to the finish line by a flock of four Hawks. Elijah Scott got into the top 10 at 18:12, Jackson Schutt finished in a personal-best 18:21, Seamus Highfill was 12th in his best time of 18:35 and Hagan Isaacson was 13th at 18:43.

Eliah Harding’s time of 19:00 was a personal best and put him in 17th place, just ahead of teammate Connor Highfill, who was 18th in 19:16. Dene Zuleger cracked the 20-minute barrier for the second time this fall, taking 24th in 19:56 and Mason Hause was 27th in 20:20, his second-best time of 2024.

Cameron Menning was 33rd at 21:08, Riley Johnson was 39th at a season-best 22:40 and Kevin Head was 43rd in 23:00.

In the girls race, Hawk Kylie Orysen placed seventh out of 34 finishers in 21:51, while Kloey Paul was 25th in 27:16. Bloomer registered a perfect score of 15 and had the race’s top six runners. Ciara Hartman led the way at 17:42, 1:46 ahead of Aliyah Hartman and 1:56 ahead of Briella Hartman.

Stanley-Boyd (62), Cadott (82) and Thorp (93) rounded out the team scores. Immanuel Lutheran, Owen-Withee and Lake Holcombe were incomplete.

Prentice-Rib Lake won the girls middle school team championship 27-68 over Thorp. Ella Orysen was fourth, Molly Adams was fifth, Greta Regier was seventh and Zoey Shin was eighth. The boys were second behind Stanley-Boyd, 27-53, and were led by Waylon Thielke in fifth place and Cade Paul in seventh place.

Marawood meet today

Today, Thursday, the regular season will conclude with the running of the Marawood Conference championships. The Hawks will host the meet with Forest Springs being the first-time site.

The girls race will get the meet started at 4 p.m.

Phillips is the defending champion for both boys and girls, but the Hawks have outscored the Loggers every time they have seen each other this fall. However, the last three were close with just three-, five- and four-point margins at Cadott, Athens and Auburndale. The Hawks and Loggers are the state’s top two ranked teams in Division 3. Stratford and Marathon are sixth and seventh.

Wisconsin Rapids Assumption enters the conference meet as the state’s topranked Division 3 girls team. Weik had 24 assists in the match to go with six kills and 12 digs. The milestone assist came on a pass from Addison Gumz. Weik then pushed the ball up for a Blomberg kill to pull Rib Lake within 2322 in that pivotal third game. Kieran Petrie got a touch on the next swing to bring Lakeland to set point at 24-22, but Rib Lake got the next two points and the teams went back and forth from there. Megan Komarek caught the back line with a kill and a T-Bird error put Rib Lake up 27-26, but Lakeland scored the next two points, including an Allyson Seaberg ace. Rib Lake tied it at 28-28 on a T-Bird error, but an Ava Evenhouse kill and a Petrie ace won it for Lakeland.

Rib Lake won a close first set 26-24. The Redmen dug out of an early 9-3 hole, taking a 15-14 lead. The teams basically traded points from there. Greta Johnson’s ace gave the T-Birds a 23-22 lead, but Camryn Glenzer’s kill tied it. Coralee Glenzer gave Rib Lake the clinching kill.

Lakeland tore out to a 15-5 lead in game two and cruised to a 25-13 win. Rib Lake took control of the fourth set behind a serving run from Komarek. Her kill gave her the serve with Lakeland leading 17-16. She ripped off two aces, Coralee Glenzer got a kill and Camryn Glenzer put down a Lakeland overpass for a 20-17 lead. Rib Lake stayed ahead from there, clinching the 25-20 win on a Weik kill.

Camryn Glenzer got an early kill in game five, Weik’s pushed for a kill, Blomberg served an ace and Komarek got a kill for a 5-2 Rib Lake lead. Lakeland tied it at 6-6 on a Seaberg ace and took an 8-7 lead on a Marlee Strassburg kill. Blomberg’s kill put Rib Lake up 10-9 and Weik was able to push down a T-Bird overpass for a 12-11 lead. But a Stina Peterson kill, a serve receive error and a good roll from Lakeland’s Cale Quade pushed the T-Birds to match point at 1412. Rib Lake tied it, but Quade hit the deep corner will a kill and Evenhouse ended it with a kill from the middle.

Komarek and Camryn Glenzer had 11 kills each for Rib Lake. Blomberg added seven and Coralee Glenzer had six. Gumz added 11 assists. Tahlia Scheithauer had 23 digs in the lengthy match. Gumz and Blomberg had 13 each. Camryn Glenzer had 10. Komarek had three of Rib Lake’s six aces. The Redmen served at a 91.5% success rate (97 of 106).

Hawk Connor Highfill cruises into the finish line and earns 18th place during Thursday’s boys cross country race at Thorp. ROSS PATTERMANN/THORP COURIER

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS