MARAWOOD CROSS COUNTRY - Boys are back on top in Marawood Conference CC

MARAWOOD CROSS COUNTRY

After an absence of more than a quarter of a century, cross country runners from Rib Lake and Prentice are back on top of the Marawood Conference.

For the first time since joining forces in 2007, the Hawks co-op claimed the boys title at Thursday’s Marawood Conference championships, holding off yet another challenge from the Phillips Loggers. The state’s top two ranked Division 3 teams were separated by just three points, 44-47, marking the fifth time this fall the teams have finished one-two in a meet and the fourth time the margin has been five points or less.

Conquering a course decked out in spectacular fall color at Forest Springs outside of Westboro, seven of the Hawks’ eight varsity runners earned All-Marawood awards by placing in the top 24 and those seven runners all crossed the finish line by the time Phillips’ fifth scorer came in. That kept the Hawks undefeated against Division 3 competition this season heading into Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 Cadott sectional.

Prentice’s last Marawood Conference boys championship was in 1999, the second of back-to-back titles. Rib Lake, however, wound up winning the state championship that season. In 1996, Rib Lake won the last of six straight Marawood titles and never got back to the top until Thursday.

Prentice-Rib Lake and Phillips were clearly the two best teams in the boys meet. Stratford was a distant third with 72 points, followed by Marathon (107), Chequamegon (160), Edgar (160), Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (166), Auburndale (225) and Athens (incomplete).

Logger junior Gavin Esterholm defended his individual title from a year ago with a winning time of 17:10.4 and Stratford senior Cree DeFoe repeated as the runner-up at 17:22.8. Prentice-Rib Lake sophomore Henry Regier took third in 17:45.4 ahead of Phillips’ James Vollendorf (17:58), who clipped Hawk senior Jack Regier by just 0.8 seconds. From there, the race was on to see how the places would stack up for each of the teams’ last three scoring runners.

Rib Lake junior Kaleb Scott finished in ninth place in 18:14.5, two spots ahead of Logger Evan Johnson. Logan Sokolowski was the fourth finisher for Phillips, taking 13th and putting the Loggers in position to win if a fifth runner could slam the door.

But, Hawks Truman Smith and Heston Hueckman ran through the open door, taking 14th and 15th with times of 18:33.1 and 18:35.4. For good measure, Jeremy Wiitala (18:46.7) and Elijah Scott (19:00.8) were 17th and 19th ahead of the Loggers’ Josh Edwards, who was 20th in 19:04.5, and the Hawks were winners once again, ending Phillips’ three-year reign atop the conference.

As for the conference awards, the Regier brothers both earned spots on the All-Marawood Conference first team by placing in the top eight. For Jack Regier, it’s his second straight first-team award. Henry Regier was a second-team runner last fall.

Kaleb Scott leads this year’s second team with his ninth-place finish. It’s his third All-Marawood award after a firstteam nod last year and honorable mention as a freshman. Hueckman earned his second straight spot on the second team, while Smith earned his first All-Marawood honor.

Eli Scott gets honorable mention for the second straight year and Wiitala gets honorable mention for the first time after missing it by one place last fall.

Rib Lake senior Connor Highfill was the Hawks’ eighth runner Thursday. He won a sprint to the finish by one second over Marathon’s Matthew Kindlarski and placed 28th in the field of 60 runners.

Wisconsin Rapids Assumption won its fourth Marawood Conference girls championship in five years, dethroning Phillips by a 43-55 margin at Thursday’s meet. The Royals were led by junior Lucy Dolan, the runaway individual champion in a time of 19:26.9. Phillips junior Leah Harper was second in 20:02, and Athens senior Brianna Sheahan was third in 20:42.7.

Junior Kylie Orysen was the Hawks’ only entrant in the 55-runner race. She placed 21st in 22:57.5 to earn honorable mention, her third Marawood award. Orysen made the second team the previous two seasons.

Auburndale was third in the team standings with 82 points, followed by Chequamegon (91), Stratford (112), Marathon (147) and Edgar (175). The Hawks, Athens and Abbotsford were incomplete.

Prentice-Rib Lake’s depth showed in the boys JV race, where the Hawks totaled just 19 points to win easily over Phillips (37). There were the only scoring squads.

Sophomore Hagan Isaacson, who got honorable mention in last year’s varsity race, won in 19:01.2, while teammates Jackson Schutt (19:14.7) and Seamus Highfill (19:22.7) were second and third.

Eliah Harding was sixth out of 24 runners in 19:52.8, Mason Hause was eighth in 20:31.8, Cameron Menning was 14th in 22:29.1, Kevin Head was 17th in 23:31 and Riley Johnson was 18th in a time of 23:31.1.

On to sectionals

Prentice-Rib Lake and Phillips again figure to be the two teams to beat at Saturday’s sectional meet, set to start at noon at Whispering Pines Golf Course. They are the only state-ranked teams in the boys sectional field.

The girls race will get things started, followed by the boys race at 12:45 p.m. There is just one ranked team in the girls field. That is 16th-ranked Eau Claire Regis.

The top two teams in each race will qualify for the Nov. 2 state meet at Wisconsin Rapids. The top five individuals from non-qualifying teams also will punch their tickets to state.

Jeremy Wiitala Hon. Mention

Elijah Scott Hon. Mention

Kylie Orysen nears completion of her race on the Forest Springs course.

Left: Truman Smith runs to a 14th-place finish and a spot on the All-Marawood second team. Right: Third-place finisher Henry Regier starts fast with Marathon’s Logan Peters and Edgar’s Cade Koch.

Hawks Kaleb Scott and Jack Regier work together early in Thursday’s Marawood Conference boys race. PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS