Colfax girls third, boys fourth at Knudtson Invite

FALL CREEK — After an 11 day layoff from competition, the Colfax cross country team traveled to Fall Creek for the Knudtson Invitational Saturday, Sept. 14 and made a pretty good showing despite missing a varsity runner from each team.

The girls, running without Dannielle Dachel who was playing volleyball in Hudson, placed third in a field of 12 teams as their first three competitors were all in the top 10 of 74 individuals. Dempsey Fogarty was fourth with a time of 16:32, Courtney Dressel was fifth at 16:51 and Abbagail Schotter was sixth at 17:03. Ally Heidorn crossed the finish line in 33rd place at 19:13 and Heidi Lieffort was 37th at 19:27. Rounding out the varsity team, Cienna Cooper was 41st at 19:52 and Mallie Doucette finished 48th at 20:27.Cora Bruxvoort of Bloomer took the top spot at 16:16.

“It was a solid meet for the girls and we had a nice group up front,” Colfax coach Joe Doucette said. “If things go well, our top four (with Dannielle) may be our best top four ever. If two or three of our 5-7 runners can get closer to them, we have a chance to be very good.”

The boys were missing their usual number three runner Zack Arvold but still ran a competitive race, finishing fourth out of 10 teams. Hunter Lieffort led the Vikings in ninth place at 19:09 and the next two Colfax runners both finished under 20 minutes as Tucker Hovde closed the gap on Lieffort, coming in at 19:11 for 11th place and Brett Prince filled the third spot for 14th place at 19:26. Jacob Larson finished 31st at 20:43, Issac Lee followed in 36th at 21:05 and Daniel Schneider was 41st at 21:17. Darin Lau of Immanuel Lutheran won the race at 16:48 and there were 74 individuals in the meet.

“The boys ran well,” Doucette said. “Hunter and Tucker just missed earning medals and Brett was very good in the third spot while Jacob had his best race so far. The boys are very young with four sophomores and a freshman in out top five but they have a great work ethic. We will see where we stand after our two meets this week.”

Colfax competes at Rice Lake Sept. 17 and Osceola Sept. 21.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Tomahawk 54, Eau Claire Regis 82, Colfax 85, Bloomer 93, Fall Creek 113, Glenwood City 125, Elk Mound 180, Flambeau 217, Immanuel Lutheran 238, Boyceville 278, Augusta 290, Osseo-Fairchild 300.

BOYS TEAM SCORES: Immanuel Lutheran 55, Tomahawk 86, Boyceville 90, Colfax 101, Bloomer 128, Eau Claire Regis 133, Elk Mound 157, Augusta 210, Fall Creek 214, Osseo-Fairchild 221.