Viking girls win home meet, boys place fourth

COLFAX — By virtue of taking the 3,4,5 and 6 spots, the Colfax girls’ cross country team won their own six team invitational held at Whitetail Golf Course Oct. 7. All Dunn-St. Croix Conference teams except Elmwood-Plum City competed in the race. The Colfax boys’ team finished fourth in the meet that was used as an opportunity to become acquainted with the course where the conference meet will be held Oct. 17. There was plenty of cat and mouse games going on among the coaches as they all used different strategies for the race to set their teams up for conference.

The weather was ideal for running with the temperature in the low 70s under sunny skies as Dempsey Fogarty was the first runner in for the Viking girls, placing third with a time of 16:44 on the 4K course. Spring Valley’s Emma Gaustad took top honors in a time of 16:32 with Amanda Rud of Mondovi in the second spot at 16:40.

Following Fogarty was Courtney Dressel in 16:46, Dannielle Dachel at 16:47 and Abbagail Schotter at 17:13.With the top five for each team earning team points, Ally Heidorn was the all important fifth runner in for Colfax at 18:23 in 17th place, and right behind her was Heidi Lieffort in 18th at 18:29. Mallie Doucette finished 28th at 19:01 and Cienna Cooper was 36th at 19:45. There were 52 individuals in the race.

“We tried to stay together for most of the race to help our 5-6-7- runners get closer to our top four,” coach Joe Doucette said. “I’m not sure if it helped and I’m not sure where our top four would have finished in a normal situation. I think Glenwood City and Spring Valley rested some people and they will be much improved next week. The conference meet will be tough which is how it should be.”

St. Croix Central won the team title while Tucker Hovde cracked the top ten to lead the Viking boys, placing ninth at 18:29. Ben Holzwarth of Elk Mound took medalist honors at 17:01, but two-time defending conference champion Sasha Maro did not complete the race. Hunter Lieffort was the second runner in for Colfax, finishing 15th in a field of 73 competitors at 18:57 followed by Brett Prince in 17th at 19:08, Zach Arvold in 18th at 19:13 and Jacob Larson was the fifth runner in for Colfax at 19:29 for 22nd place.

Nate Leibfried finished in 28th place at 20:01, Brady Simonson completed the course in 20:12 for 32nd place, Grady Gibson was 34th coming in at 20:26, Daniel Schneider placed 36th at 20:34, Brad Foyt was 38th at 20:56, Rowdy Kadinger placed 60th at 22:36 and David Blanchard was 68th at 24:33.

“This race went much like we thought with Boyceville, St. Croix Central and Elk Mound all running well,” coach Doucette said. “It will be tough to catch them and keep our conference winning streak going. We have a lot of potential but are extremely young.”

Erica Kallstrom defeated 83 other runners in the Middle School race to win it for Colfax while Dalton Schotter was eighth in the Middle School boys’ division in a field of 69 runners.

GIRLS VARSITY TEAM SCORES: Colfax 35, Glenwood City 67, Spring Valley 71, Mondovi 76, St. Croix Central 125, Elk Mound 139

BOYS VARSITY SCORES: St. Croix Central 45, Boyceville 57, Elk Mound 63, Colfax 81, Spring Valley 121, Mondovi 135