Glenwood City girls place first at Boyceville invite

BOYCEVILLE — Sweltering temperatures and high humidity instead of running became the main storyline at Boyceville’s Annual Alumni Cross Country Invitational held last Thursday, August 22 at Tiffany Creek Elementary.

Several runners succumbed to heat-related illnesses during and after the girls’ 4K race as a result of the 90 degree plus  midday heat and energy-sapping humidity.

Several runners required medical help and six were transported by ground ambulances to medical facilities for further treatment. Both of Boyceville’s ambulances responded to the scene of the race along with ambulances from Menomonie and Colfax. Medics began treating those afflicted at the scene with intravenous fluids prior to transport.

Meet and school officials quickly gathered coaches from the participating schools and immediately announced that the rest of the meet, which was to include the high school boys’ race, a middle school race, and the alumni run, was cancelled due to the weather conditions and the medical emergencies.

Although the results proved secondary to medical concerns, the Glenwood City girls’ team did come out on top as it bested conference foe and defending Division 3 state champions Spring Valley for the title.

Through blistering heat and sweat in their eyes, the Glenwood City girls cross country team prevailed as they placed first in the Boyceville Invitational, which featured 19 schools and 14 that participated in the race.

The team of seven featured freshman Taylor Drinkman, sophomores Macie Rasmussen, Maya Petersen and Morgan Kadinger, juniors Jennifer Kopacz and Kaitlin Konder and senior runner, Jenny Lindquist.

Kadinger was the number one runner for the team last season and she followed suite this race as well, finishing in seventh place overall with a time of 18:00.6 on the 2.5 mile course.

Next in line was Kopacz who ran a 19:09.5 for a 15th place finish and then it was Lindquist with a 19:34.3 for 20th place.

For her first high school race, Drinkman ran well as she finished fourth for the team and in 25th place overall (19:52.4) out of the 128 girls that participated.

Rounding off the top five was Konder in 34th place (20.22.7). Following her was Petersen in 46th (20.37.7) and Rasmussen in 52nd (20:46.8).

Also competing in the race was senior Jenna Magsam who finished 66th, sophomore Ashley Holmquist who finished 101th and junior Hannah Steinberger who finished 109th.

“It was a great start and confidence booster, but the team knows that we have a lot more work and learning to do to achieve our late season goals, said coach Matt Schutz. We were able to compete in those extreme conditions that day, but under normal conditions we are going to have to work our butts off to compete with some excellent area runners and teams.”

The Boyceville girls competed as well with four runners participating, however that was not enough for a complete team.

Senior Michaella Kegen finished in 73rd and teammate Emma Harnisch was two steps behind her in 74th place. Next was Katie Kegen in 84th place and finishing for the Bulldogs was Anna Hagan in 115th.

The Bulldogs headed to Bruce for an Invitational on Tuesday (Sept. 3) and will be at St. Croix Central this Thursday. The Hilltoppers’ next invitational is also at SCC with the start time at 5:00 p.m.