Colfax girls return to state XC meet, boys fall short

BOYCEVILLE — Finishing as the sectional runner up in a field of 14 teams at the meet held in Boyceville Oct. 26, the Colfax girl’s cross country team will return to the WIAA State meet this weekend.

 They boast a sectional champion in Dempsey Fogarty along with some pretty solid teammates to back her up. The boy’s team, consisting of six sophomores and a freshman, placed fourth as a team out of 15 teams and couldn’t get any individuals through to the state competition.

This will be the seventh appearance at the state level in eight seasons for coach Joe Doucette’s girls. With Eau Claire Regis coming in as the favorite, the Vikings knew they would be contending with them as well as Fall Creek, Glenwood City and Spring Valley for one of the two top spots to qualify for state. After Fogarty used a strong kick to nip the Regis runner by two seconds with a time of 16:06, Colfax had their next three runners all finish in the top ten, beginning with Courtney Dressel in fourth teamwise (fifth overall), at 16:19, Dannielle Dachel in fifth for team points and sixth overall at 16:22 and Abbagail Schotter ninth for team points and tenth overall in 16:37. After finishing as the seventh runner for Colfax a week earlier at the conference meet, senior Mallie Doucette saved her best for this race as she became that all important fifth runner in for 42nd to put her team in a solid second place, just three points behind the Regis team. Fellow senior Heidi Leiffort was 48th overall in 18:15 and Ally Heidorn was 53rd at 18:31. There were 99 competitors in the race.

“We knew there were a few teams that all had a chance to beat us,” coach Doucette said. “For us to have the individual champion, four in the top ten and Mallie finishing where she did was great. Dempsey was very patient on a tough, windy day but the rest of the girls gave a great performance, too. We ran our best race of the season and would have liked to have beat Regis but they ran a good race and are very deep. We know it gets tough at state but five of our seven runners have raced their before so our experience will help. We are going to do our best.”

After winning the sectional last year with a team full of seniors, the boy’s team had some rebuilding to do and showed steady improvement throughout the season, winning a conference championship along the way. Tucker Hovde crossed the line first for the Vikings in 21st place with a time of 18:31 with Hunter Lieffort next up in 29th at 18:55. Right behind him were teammates Brett Prince in 30th at 18:56 and Zack Arvold in 31st also at 18:56. Jacob Larson, the lone freshman, came in at 19:14 for 42nd place, Brady Simonson was 49th in 19:25 and Isaac Lee was 61st at 19:58. There were 111 runners in the meet and Darin Lau of Immanuel Lutheran won it at 16:01.

“This was a great way to finish the season for our boys,” Doucette said. “To win a conference title after losing allthose seniors last year and to  place fourth here with this young group is great. We were one of the most improved teams in the state this year. They should be really tough next year.”

The WIAA State Meet will be held this Saturday at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Eau Claire Regis 58, Colfax 61, Fall Creek 96, Spring Valley 108, Cadott 170, Glenwood City 186, Cornell-Lake Holcobe 209, Immanuel Lutheran 223, Elk Mound 252, Durand 259, Augusta 287, Chippewa Falls McDonell 297, Stanley-Boyd 300, Elmwood 303

BOYS TEAM SCORES: Chippewa Falls McDonell 53, Immanuel Lutheran 63, Boyceville 121, Colfax 152, Elk Mound 167, Elmwood 211, Eau Claire Regis 215, Mondovi 222, Spring Valley 240, Fall Creek 244, Augusta 258, Cadott 279, Durand 297, Stanley-Boyd 316, Glenwood City 355