Colby, Abby runners take on Smiley Invitational
By Nathaniel Underwood
Members of the Colby and Abby girls cross country teams, as well as the co-op Colby/Abby boys team all competed at one of the largest meets of their season over the past weekend, traveling to Wausau East for the annual Smiley Invitational. With over 25 programs from across the state represented in the smaller division races, over 160 athletes competed in both the Division 2 & 3 varsity boys and girls races on Saturday.
On the girls side, the Hornets took 15th overall as a team, finishing the day with 362 points. The co-op boys team took 21st with 500 points and the Abbotsford girls squad did not have enough varsity runners to qualify for final team scoring. Two Rivers edged out Rib Lake/Prentice for the top spot in the boys’ race, finishing with 126 points to Rib Lake/Prentice’s 129 points, while Little Chute dominated the girls competition, ending the day with 45 points.
Abbotsford’s Azul Diaz had the top individual finish among the three local teams on Saturday. The senior battled against a familiar face in Marathon’s Shilo Blake at the end of the race, the Red Raiders runner’s final push just edging out Diaz at the finish line, coming in one-tenth of a second faster. Diaz still claimed the only top-20 spot for any Colby or Abbotsford athlete at the race by finishing 17th with a time of 20:53.7.
Colby’s Annamarie Schmitt was not far behind, in a close race of her own against Auburndale’s Rose Hasenohrl. The Eagles’ runner was able to finish a few tenths of a second faster than Schmitt, but the Colby junior had a solid race for the Hornets, coming in 23rd overall as the Hornets’ first runner with a time of 21:09.4.
Seniors Makenna Herrmann, Veronica Mateer, and Pearl Feiten came in as the Hornets’ second through fourth runners in Wausau. In her first race of the season, Herrmann placed 85th overall with a time of 23:58.4, narrowly outpacing Auburndale’s Grace Schulte and Tomahawk’s Abbie Rosenmeier. Mateer finished the race in 24:06.3 to earn herself 89th place and Feiten posted a time of 24:36.5 to take 95th.
Carissa Steen broke up the train of seniors for the Hornets as the sophomore picked up 121st place for Colby with a time of 26:10.8. Teammates Kalea Liedberg and Kaitlyn Weiland rounded out the varsity squad, finishing back-to-back by putting up times of 29:14.0 and 29:14.5 to take 150th and 151st respectively.
Five Colby/Abbotsford boys ran in the
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FIGHTING FOR POSITION - Gavin Reis, left, and Veronica Mateer, right, jostle for their spots in the first mile of the Smiley Invitational last Saturday while Makenna Herrmann, center, pushes through the final stretch as she nears the finish line.
STAFF PHOTOS/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Smiley
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varsity race on Saturday, all improving on their times from the Colby meet the week prior. They were led by Matthew Sprotte, who crossed the line just two-tenths of a second before Oconto Falls’ Landon Timm to earn himself 91st place with a time of 19:43.0. Teammate Miguel Baustista-Carreon followed closely behind Sprotte, beating out Albany’s Brooks Wachholz for 97th with a time of 19:52.5.
Jacob Raatz and Braylon Schoelzel finished back-to-back for the co-op team, the pair coming in 116th and 117th respectively. Raatz posted a time of 20:38.8, about 35 seconds faster than his time at the Colby meet a week prior while Schoelzel had a time of 20:45.2. Gavin Reis put up a time of 20:48.1 as he came across the finish line shortly after, grabbing 120th place in the process.
The Colby girls and the co-op boys squads will have a week off before hitting the course again on Thursday, Oct. 3 when they travel to Levis Mound outside of Neillsville for a meet hosted by Alma Center. The meet is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start The Abbotsford girls will similarly have a small break before returning to action on Thursday, Oct. 3, but they will travel to Athens instead. Start time for the Athens meet is 4:30 p.m.
