Schmitt on to state, Falcons season closes in Colby
By Nathaniel Underwood
A new personal best and a new school record helped send one Hornet to state at the D2 and D3 sectional meets that were held in Colby on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning this past weekend. The Colby/ Abbotsford boys team competed in the D2 competition, taking 11th with a final score of 275 points while the two girls teams competed in the D3 race. Colby took fourth, finishing with 102 points and the Falcons placed 11th with 244 points.
There was tough competition at the top of the D3 ladder, but Annamarie Schmitt had a career day for the Hornets to punch her ticket to the state meet in Wisconsin Rapids. The top six runners all finished the course in under 20 minutes, a time that had not been reached by a runner from Colby since the WIAA changed the girls’ course length to a 5K in 2014.
On Saturday, Schmitt was the first Hornet to record a sub-20 minute race for the girls team, keeping pace with the front runners to post a new personal best time of 19:55.8, 22 seconds faster than her previous record-setting time. The impressive performance earned the junior fifth place overall and qualified her as the fourth individual for the state meet this coming weekend.
Another state hopeful and current school record holder just missed the cut off for the second year in a row. The Falcons’ Azul Diaz had one of her best races of her career on Saturday, finishing with a time of 20:20.6, which was nearly a minute faster than her time on the same course at last year’s sectional meet and only three seconds off the pace of her personal best. Despite that, Diaz found herself one position short from the final individual qualifying spot, taking eighth overall in the race. Northland Lutheran’s Alexa Leonard grabbed the last individual state position with her time of 19:58.1.
While the Hornets will not be returning to state as a team for a fifth straight season, there were still a number of personal best performances on Saturday. Veronica Mateer finished her career with a new PR, shaving off four seconds from her previous best time to finish 25th with a time of 22:51.0. Carisa Steen and Jasmine Ertl also set new PRs at sectionals, the former continuing her strong finish to the season by taking another 38 seconds off her time to finish in 23:53.5 and taking 43rd while the latter shaved off 40 seconds from her time at the Cloverbelt conference meet to finish with a time of 24:59.9, earning herself 54th place.
Makenna Herrmann finished as the Hornets’ second runner, placing 22nd with a time of 22:34.0, an almost identical performance to her race the week prior at Levis Mound. Pearl Feiten was the Hornets’ fourth runner and had her best race of the 2024 campaign, posting a time of 23:20.1 to take 34th. Jenelle Ertl rounded out the varsity squad, completing the course in 26:20.3 and taking 79th.
It was also a solid day for the rest of the Falcons’ squad. Monse Ochoa set a new personal best as Abbotsford’s second runner, running nearly 20 seconds faster than her prior PR to take 59th with a time of 25:03.9. Asia Atkinson was Abbotsford’s third runner and also set a new personal best on Saturday, putting together a time of 25:36.5 to take 70th.
Angie Chavez grabbed 87th for the Falcons with a time of 27:18.0 and Azalea Atkinson and Sinai Tomas finished back to back in 95th and 96th with times of 30:21.0 and 33:04.8 respectively.
In the boys’ competition on Friday, seniors Braylon Schoelzel and Miguel Bautista-Carreon ended their high school careers on a high note, posting new personal best times. Schoelzel had the fastest time for the co-op boys this season, running his first sub-19 minute race to lead Colby/ Abby with a time of 18:52.8. This was 24 seconds faster than the PR he had set the week prior at the Cloverbelt conference meet and earned him 41st place. Bautista-Carreon ran a near identical race to his conference pace, finishing one-tenth of a second faster with a time of 19:11.5. He grabbed 53rd for the co-op.
Matthew Sprotte finished shortly after his teammates, picking up 55th place with a time of 19:15.9. Gavin Reis was Colby/ Abby’s fourth runner to cross the finish line with a time of 19:35.6 and Jacob Raatz was fifth with a time of 19:38.1, both season bests. They took 62nd and 64th respectively. Preston Belanger took 76th with a time of 20:07.2 and Jack Sheahan was 88th with a time of 21:01.2.
Schmitt will run in the Division 3 girls state race in Wisconsin Rapids on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 12 p.m. The meet will once again be held at Ridges Golf Course.
RACE TO THE FINISH - Annamarie Schmitt battles against Northland Lutheran’s Alexa Leonard in the final 200 meters of Saturday’s meet. Schmitt won the race to the finish and earned herself a spot at the state cross country meet in Wisconsin Rapids.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
SETTING THE PACE - Braylon Schoelzel led the boys team with a new PR at the sectional meet.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
NEW CAREER BEST - Asia Atkinson cruises to a new PR in Colby.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
