One goal left after Hawks hold off Loggers again in sectional meet

There wasn’t much doubt the Prentice-Rib Lake’s boys cross country team was going to qualify for state as a top-two team out of Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 Cadott sectional at Whispering Pines Golf Course.

The only question was whether the Hawks or Phillips Loggers –– the state’s top two ranked teams in Division 3 according to the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association –– would claim the sectional championship plaque.

The Hawks, however, feel they settled that discussion in the off-season.

Motivated by last year’s fourth-place sectional finish, Prentice-Rib Lake went to work in the summer, came back in August as a much-improved team and the rest continued to take care of itself with the coop’s first-ever WIAA sectional championship and its first state appearance since the 2007 team went in the first year of the co-op.

It took another full effort to beat Phillips, but the Hawks did it for the sixth time this season and the fifth time by a margin of five points or less, 53-58.

“It means a lot,” sophomore Jeremy Wiitala said after Saturday’s race. “To me it means that we really have what it takes to do anything at this rate. I feel like it lets us know that we are still number-one in the state. It just gives us that inspiration.”

“Last year at sectionals we didn’t even make it to state,” sophomore Henry Regier said. “We were kinda going into it with that goal. This year we came in to win the sectional, go on to state, see what we can do there. I think that’s just amazing that God’s given us this opportunity.”

In a largely individual sport, the team aspect came through for Prentice-Rib Lake on a sunny, slightly breezy afternoon with temperatures hitting the low 60s. When one of the team’s normal top three runners, Kaleb Scott, didn’t have his best day, the rest of the guys picked him up with a couple of personal-best times and the team’s five scorers all landed among the top 18 finishers in a 131-runner race. All seven were 33rd or better.

“I think just our team bond overall, I mean, all of us have known each other for at least three years now and I feel like every day we see each other the bond gets stronger and we learn more,” Wiitala said. “It helps us just stick with the program and not get our heads flustered at each other.”

Marawood Conference champion Gavin Esterholm of Phillips earned the sectional championship with a winning time of 16:19 and Durand-Arkansaw’s Zayne Richardson, a sophomore, comfortably landed in second place at 16:34.4. The first sprint to the finish line followed between brothers Jack and Henry Regier. Jack won the sprint, earning a time of 16:49.7, 0.6 seconds ahead of Henry. But their thirdand fourth-place finishes set the foundation for the team win.

“That was fun,” Jack Regier said. “It was amazing,” Henry Regier said. “I really enjoyed it because we’ve run together for a long time. It’s just special that he’s a senior obviously, so we get to run together one more time together next week. But I think it’s just super special that we have this opportunity and that we get to run together.”

James Vollendorf came in 10th for Phillips at 17:19.1, but right behind him was the Hawks’ Truman Smith. The sophomore got the vote from his teammates as the squad’s key runner of the day as he took 11th in a personal-best 17:29.2, 8.8 seconds ahead of 13th-place Logan Sokolowski of Phillips.

“At first I thought I went out way too hard because I was closer to Logan than I’ve ever been,” Smith said. “But then I saw Kaleb go behind me and I was like, ‘oh man, am I going to die at the end?’ I knew what I had to do. I knew with (Scott) going behind me, I needed to step up and I just kept surging around the flags.”

Surging those flags was the focus of practice just a couple of days earlier, Wiitala and Heston Hueckman noted.

“I think Truman was our main guy today,” Wiitala said. “I give him our MVP.”

Wiitala also set his best time at 17:54.8, good for 17th place. Hueckman, a junior, slammed the door on Phillips by taking 18th in 17:55.2, his personal-best time, just ahead of the Loggers’ fifth man, Arlo Berens (17:56.1). Logger Josh Edwards was 15th in 17:48.6.

“It was a battle the whole race,” Hueckman said. “Our two Phillips guys we had to beat, we were with them the whole time.”

“I think we’ve both really gotten a lot out of this rivalry,” Henry Regier said. “We’ve both made each other stronger. I think we have a good relationship with them, but we’re always ready to go after them and battle.”

Jack Regier said the Loggers, who were the defending Marawood champions and took sixth at state last year, were Prentice-Rib Lake’s target from the start of their off-season workouts.

“Even in the off-season we were like, we know how close it was going to be,” he said. “We knew that. We were just putting the miles in.”

Senior Elijah Scott got the last spot in the top 20 with a time of 18:00.6 that was his second-best of the season and Kaleb Scott was 33rd in 18:37.2 and looks to rebound at state.

“This is the best team I could’ve ever wanted,” Elijah Scott said. “I’m really happy with them. They are some really handsome guys. I’m really glad I can finish out this year with a fast team and even if we weren’t fast, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Today I crossed the line and I haven’t really been ever disappointed with my bad races, just a lot of why questions,” Kaleb Scott said. “Even in the back, I was just trying to do the quickest math possible. I was like (Phillips’) three, four and five guys are right ahead of me still and our guys are gone. So I was like our team was doing exactly what they needed to do. When Jeremy passed me, he was flying. I was like, no shame in that. Truman, he was zooming. The whole pack, they just kept pushing, pushing, pushing. I saw them just pick off one guy after another and I’m like, it’s OK.”

The Hawks made sure to include their entire team in most team photos after the race, recognizing their importance to the team. Runners such as Hagan Isaacson, Connor Highfill, Seamus Highfill and Jackson Schutt, just to name a handful were among the team’s scorers at times or were quite close.

“That played a lot,” Wiitala said. “Obviously we had these three guys (Kaleb Scott and the Regiers) who I feel like were our lock, and then especially Truman for our four. But between Elijah, Heston and I and then our next four or five, it was always a constant reminder of who really wanted more. Our one guy, Seamus, is consistently our 10 or 11 but he’s still running 18:40s. With everybody switching spots, it’s really just a friendly little push and competition that we all like.”

With the number-one ranking they’ve held since late September, the Hawks will go into state with a target on their backs. Jack Regier is the only boys team member with state experience, having finished 38th last year in Division 3. But they’ll go into Saturday’s 2 p.m. race at The Ridges in Wisconsin Rapids as a confident bunch who will do their best and see where the results fall.

“(State) is a lot of fun,” Jack Regier said. “There are a lot of runners. The start is really fast. You can’t get too excited. You can’t go out too hard. That’s probably the biggest thing.”

“The next thing is win state,” Kaleb Scott said.

“That’s our goal,” Jack Regier said. “Everything we’ve done, all the glory goes to God,” Henry Regier said. “We know that He’s going to help us through state and whatever happens, it’s His plan.”

Eau Claire Regis was a distant third in the boys team standings with 139 points, while Chetek-Weyerhaeuser (152) and Glenwood City (153) rounded out the top five. The individual state qualifiers from the meet were Richardson, Cadott’s Beau Steinke, who was fifth in 16:52.2, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser’s Owen Hamholm, who was sixth in 16:55; Glenwood City’s Clayton Hoffman, who was seventh in 17:04.9 and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser’s Jude Poppe, who was eighth in 17:06.1.

Girls results

Prentice-Rib Lake’s three girls runners ended their years with solid efforts in Saturday’s opening race at noon.

Junior Kylie Orysen, a two-time state qualifier, fell a little short this time around, but ended the season with one of her best times at 21:17.4 and took 10th out of 98 runners. With just two members of state qualifying teams ahead of her, she placed eighth among those jockeying for the five individual state berths.

Sophomore Kloey Paul was 89th in 27:08.6 and freshman Avie Schutt wasn’t far off her season-best time while taking 91st in 27:43.9.

Boyceville and Prairie Farm-Turtle Lake got the state team berths with 57 and 96 points, respectively. Barron (103), Durand-Arkansaw (115) and Eau Claire Regis (122) filled out the top five.

Kira Dunn of Prairie Farm-Turtle Lake won the race in 19:53.5. Individual state qualifiers were Augusta’s Laney O’Brien, second in 20:01; Colfax’s Kaysen Goodell, third in 20:02.2; Thorp’s Shaylie Zarza, fourth in 20:05; Fall Creek’s Audrey Koehler, fifth in 20:10.6, and Sylvia Spangler of Regis, seventh in 20:25.9.

Left: Jeremy Wiitala runs around a curve early in Saturday’s race. Right: Truman Smith stays focused as he approaches the final mile of his 11th-place finish.