Boyceville runners face the heat at Bruce and St.Croix Central Invitationals

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Boyceville cross country teams traveled to Bruce on Tuesday, August 28 and St. Croix Central on Thursday, August 30 where they competed against various other schools in the 90 degree heat.

Invite at Bruce

The boys’ had two runners finish in the top 20 with Tanner Johnson-Hetchler in 13th with a 19:00.4 and Nick Adams in 15th with a 19:13.9.

Rounding out the rest of the boy’s team were Mitchell Pustol in 43rd (21:05.9), Ian Kane following close behind in 45th (21:13.4), James Lindo in 74th (23:12.1), Tyler Wolfe in 82nd (23:42.9) and Tristan Debell in 85th (24:00.1).

There were 128 boys that competed and senior Laclan Hinwwod from Colfax finished in first place with a 17:21.9.

The girl’s team finished more in the bottom half of the race with their closest runner to first coming in 51st place by Michaella Kegan with a 20:40.1. Following were Alex Wold in 64th (21:13.6), Alex Kapsner in 67th (21:31.9), Katie Kegan in 71st (21:41.4), Sammi Merkel in 79th (22:071) and Katelyn Merten in 104th (24:57.1).

There were 120 girls that competed and senior Andrea Ostenso of Ladysmith placed first with a 15:02.1. The next closest runner to her was one minute and 11 seconds behind.

“Times were slower with some rolling hills and heat, but I believe there were a lot of improvements for the boys and girls,” said coach Corey Day.

All together the Boyceville boy’s team finished sixth out of 13 teams and the girls finished 11th out of 13 teams.

SCC Invite

There were 13 teams that competed at the St.Croix Central Invitational on Thursday afternoon. The Boyceville boys finished fourth and the girls finished 11th as a team.

Tanner Johnson-Hetchler led for the Bulldog boys with a run time of 19:46.55, which resulted in 10th place. Not too far behind were teammates Nick Adams in 12th with a 20:04.91 and Ian Kane in 15th with a 20:18.82.

Following were Mitchell Pustol in 45th (21:56.22), James Lindo in 47th (22:04.71), Tristan Debell in 70th (23:43.07), Tyler Wolfe in 92nd (26:03.18), Ian Fontaine in 105th (27:34.36), Peter Duerst in 120th (30:02.80) and Alec Scaefer in 125th (33:39.44).

“The guys ran very well considering the conditions,” said coach Corey Day.

There were 130 boys that competed in the race and first place went to Sasha Maro of Mondovi with a 17:39.37.
The girl’s team recently added a new addition with senior Anna Jenkins joining as a strong runner who spent her summer in basic training.

Jenkins led the girl’s team for her first race in 50th place with a 19:59.89. Following were Michaella Kegan in 66th (20:33.90), Alex Wold in 71st (21:05.77), Katie Kegan in 72nd (21:06.04), Sammi Merkel in 90th (22.32.10) and Katelyn Merten in 98th (24:04.72).

“The girls showed great improvements. Anna was excited to see her hard work in the heat this summer transfer to a good first race as well,” shared Day.

There were 114 girls that competed and Breanna Colbenson of Spring Valley took first place with a 14:59.53.

“I was very pleased with all of the Bulldog performances and I was happy no one went down in the heat,” said Day.

The next scheduled invitational is in Fall Creek on Saturday, September 8.