C/A cross country hosts home meet

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Colby girls and Colby/Abbotsford boys cross country teams hosted their annual cross country meet this past Saturday, inviting athletes from 13 area programs to compete.

Only five teams in both the boys and girls competitions had enough varsity members to count for final scoring. The Hornet girls placed third, finishing the day behind first place Medford and second-place Bonduel with a score of 72 while the co-op boys took fifth with a score of 97. Columbus Catholic’s Isaac Scheer took the top spot in the boys race with a time of 16:31.1 and Bonduel’s Mariah Wondra won the girls competition with a time of 19:39.4 Annamarie Schmitt had her second top-five finish in a row, earning fourth place for the Hornets. She crushed her previous personal best that she had set the week prior after earning second in Loyal. Her time of 21:08.9 in Colby was over 40 seconds faster than her prior PR as she kept close to Abbotsford’s new cross country record holder, Azul Diaz, for much of the race.

Veronica Mateer and Pearl Feiten stuck together for much of Saturday’s race and ended up finishing back-toback for the Hornets, claiming 20th and 21st respectively. Mateer finished with a time of 24:18.4 while Feiten came in a bit later with a time of 24:32.0.

Alexis Vanderhoof served as the girls fourth runner at their home meet, posting a time of 26:08.9 to take 33rd.

Jenelle and Jasmine Ertl rounded out the varsity team finishers. Loyal/Greenwood’s Noelle Teschner separated the pair, who finished in 38th and 40th, the former coming in with a time of 27:29.7 while the latter completed the course in 27:45.6.

During the boys race, Matthew Sprotte and Miguel Bautista-Carreon ran together at the front of the co-op’s squad. Sprotte came in just ahead of his teammate, posting a final time of 20:02.5, earning himself 17th place. Bautista-Carreon crossed the finish line not long after, picking up 18th place with a time of 20:05.7, which was over a minute faster than his time in Loyal.

Braylon Schoelzel also took some time off of his prior race’s time, finishing over 10 seconds faster with a time of 20:47.9 on Saturday. His performance earned him 28th place.

Jack Sheahan ran near identical races in his second and third meets of the season, finishing with a time of 21:07.1 in Colby. He earned 30th as co-op’s fourth runner. Jacob Raatz finished as the Colby/Abby squad’s final scoring runner, taking 34th overall with a time of 21:14.5, a new season best.

Preston Belanger and Andrew Empey came in 40th and 49th respectively. Belanger posted a new season best time of 22:08.5 and Empey finished the course in 24:56.5.

The two squads will continue their season at Wausau East’s Smiley Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21. The meet is scheduled for an 8:30 a.m. start.

STICKING TOGETHER - Teammates Miguel Bautista-Carreon, left, and Matthew Sprotte, center, helped pace each other during Colby/Abby’s home meet on Saturday. The two led the co-op squad, with Sprotte taking 17th and Bautista-Carreon grabbing 18th.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD

FINAL STRETCH - Annamarie Schmitt pushes towards the finish line during the Hornets home meet. The junior set a new personal best as she went on to take fourth place.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD