Elk Mound runners race at SCC Invite

By Marlys Kruger

Led by a third place finish by Ben Holzwarth in a field of 130 individuals, the Elk Mound boys finished 10th out of 13 teams at the St. Croix Central Invitational while the girls placed 11th out of 14 teams as Emma Hayes finished seventh among 114 runners.

The meet was held Aug. 30 under humid conditions with the temperature in the high nineties.

Holzwarth ran the 5K course in 18:55 as last years conference champion Sasha Maro of Mondovi won in a time of 17:39.

There was a big gap however between Holzwarth and the next Mounder as Andrew Zabel finished 32nd with a time of 21:21. Shawn Lane was next in 42nd place at 21:52 and Mitch Zimmer, who was the number two runner for Elk Mound last week, was 52nd at 22:40.

The fifth point scorer for the team was Dakota Peters in 74th with a time of 23:57 and finishing close together were Hunter Hermes in 83rd at 24:58 and Drew Sternecker in 85th at 25:17.

Rounding out the boys were Alex Winter in 95th (26:19), Dan Bachman in 102nd (27:16), Chris Jaenke in 110th (28:13), RJ Cheek on his heels in 111th (28:31), two spots behind came Josh Hall in 113th (28:49), keeping pace with Hall was Seth Kruger in 114th (29:10), Gabe LaRock in 116th (29:26) and Jon Baggs placed 127th (34:42).

And like the boys, there was a big gap between Hayes and the second Elk Mound runner as Jamie Solum finished 40th. Hayes finished the 4K course in 17:23 as Spring Valley’s Breanna Colbenson, runner up at the state meet last year won the race in a blistering 14:59.

Solum crossed the line at 19:29 and the third runner for the Mounders, Waive Melgaard, came in at 20:29 in 63rd place.

Sam Jain placed 73rd at 21:10 and Danae Sternecker and Josie Hayes ended up in 95th and 96th place respectively as they were less then a second apart with Sternecker coming in at 23:19.32 and Hayes at 23:19.88.

Elk Mound’s Elizabeth Fasbender won the girls Middle School race in a field of 23 competitors and Jake Johnson was seventh for the boys among 21 runners.

Boys varsity team scores: Somerset 106, St. Croix Central 116, Spring Valley 120, Boyceville 125, St. Croix Falls 127, Baldwin-Woodville 148, Osceola 151, Mondovi 183, Amery 188, Elk Mound 190, Glenwood City 282, Durand 287. Prescott 296.

Girls varsity team scores: Spring Valley 59, Amery 115, Glenwood City 123, Prescott 144, Osceola 148, Durand 166, Mondovi 169, Baldwin-Woodville 200, St. Croix Falls 223, Elmwood 246, Elk Mound 250, Somerset 295, Boyceville 316, St. Croix Central 325.