Colfax boys win Ladysmith Invite, girls place second

LADYSMITH — With their top seven runners all clocking in under the 20:00 mark, the Viking boys’ cross country team defeated seven other teams to win their first meet of the season at the Ladysmith Invitational Oct. 3. The girls’ team ran hard themselves and placed second behind a sectional rival, Eau Claire Regis, in a field of nine teams.

Tucker Hovde crossed the finish line  as the lead runner for Colfax, placing fourth in a field of 83 runners. Hovde finished at 18:13 with Clint Heinze of Bloomer taking the top spot at 17:17.

Zack Arvold and Hunter Lieffort cracked the top ten for the Vikings with Arvold placing eighth at 18:43 while Lieffort was ninth at 18:48. Brett Prince was close behind in 13th with a time of 19:00, Jacob Larson followed in 23rd at 19:41, Isaac Lee was 25th at 19:44 and Brady Simonson placed 27th at 19:49. Also competing were Nate Leibfried (30th, 20:21), Daniel Schneider (39th, 20:47), Brad Foyt (44th, 21:05). Grady Gibson (45th, 21:05) and Rowdy Kadinger (72, 22:35).

“It was great for our boys to win a meet,” coach Joe Doucette said. “We had a nice spread of our 1-7 runners of about one and a half minutes. We thought Tucker was ready to have a good race since he has had some great workouts. A couple of weeks ago I didn’t think we had a chance to compete for a conference title but although it will still be tough, I think we have a fighting chance now.”

The girls saw their first three runners finish in the top ten of 86 competitors as Dempsey Fogarty was the runner up for the second time this year to Cora Bruxvoort of Bloomer. Fogarty crossed the line at 20:27, 20 seconds behind Bruxvoort. Courtney Dressel was a close fourth in 20:39 while Abbagail Schotter was seventh at 21:25. Heidi Lieffort placed 29th at 23:06 and on her heels was Ally Heidorn in 30th at 23:16. Mallie Doucette came in for 34th place at 23:29 and Cienna Cooper completed the race at 24:14 for 42nd place.

“Regis has won just about every meet they have been in,” coach Doucette said. “Dempsey had lost to their lead runner earlier in the year but beat her this time. Our 4-5-6- runners were pretty solid but our key is continued improvement in these spots. It will be a fun end of the year and I think we can be in the mix at the conference and sectional meets.”

Colfax won the Middle School boys’ meet as Dalton Schotter was fourth individually and Jacob Jensen fifth, while the girls were third as Erica Kallstrom placed third and Mckenzie Jensen sixth.

BOYS VARSITY TEAM SCORES: Colfax 56, Hayward 60, Eau Claire Regis 77, Bloomer 79, Cameron 111, Barron, 146, Cadott 201, Ladysmith 209

GIRLS VARSITY TEAM SCORES: Eau Claire Regis 52, Colfax 66, Cameron 77, Bloomer 77, Cadott 138, Bruce 172, Hayward 173, Barron 175, Cumberland 256