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Lady Toppers heat up on the course in time for conference meet

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Topper cross country runners finished off their regular season with a meet in Amery last Tuesday and then they were in Eau Claire on Saturday.

The Lady Hilltoppers were victorious on Tuesday after their top seven runners scored 29 points against the three other teams in the small schools division.

The boys’ team also competed and place sixth out of seven total school district with 128 points; first went to Unity/Luck with 42.

Taylor Drinkman and Makayla O’Brien led the Toppers across the finish line in third and fourth place out of 39. Taylor ran a 21:51.24 and Makayla followed a few strides behind at 22:12.88.

Kaitlin Konder and Morgan Kadinger then followed in sixth and seventh with times of 22:45.54 and 22:53.96.

Next in line for the Toppers was Elizabeth Wink in 14th with a time of 23:45.89. Three places down from her was Macie Rasmussen with a 25:17.11.

Anchoring for the team was Emma Scholler in 26th with a time of 25:37.63.

The boys’ team had Riley Schutz and Jack Kremer leading the way. Schutz placed 15th with a time of 19:44.58 and Kremer had a 20:01.50 for 18th place out of 59 runners.

Matthew Wink was next in 30th with a time of 20:46.03 and then it was Andrew Bauman in 35th with a 20:58.01.

Wrapping up the team of seven was Matthew Bauman in 43th (21:50.73), Owen Wagner in 45th (22:04.73) and Corey Klatt in 49th (22:43.17).

Saturday’s race hosted by the Eau Claire Memorial High School saw the Lady Toppers finish seventh against 14 other schools.

They had a total of 197 points; first went to EC Memorial with 32 after four of their seven runners finished in the top ten.

Drinkman was out front for the team in 16th with a time of 20:14.1. Aubrey Roberts ran a 17:57.8 to earn first place against the 99 total runners.

Kadinger ran second for the team with a significantly improved time of 21:03.2, which put her in 33rd.

O’Brien came in third and 36th overall with a 21:08.1, which was also a good minute off her time in Amery.

Konder also took over a minute off her previous time with a 21:15.1, which was good for 41st place.

Rounding out the rest of the seven was Wink in 71st (23:08.7), Rasmussen in 77th (23:33.9) and Scholler in 84th (23:59.6).

Macie and Emma both had stand out performances with nearly two minutes shaved off from Tuesday.

As for the boys’ team, they placed 13th overall out of 15 total with a points score of 425. New Richmond took first overall with a score of 80.

As a team, they too ran with improved times from Tuesday’s meet.

Schutz was first across the finish line again for the team with a time of 18:41.5, which put him in 71st overall out of 103 runners. First went to Patrick Treacy of EC Memorial with a 15:46.5.

This was one of Schutz’s best races this season and was a minute and three seconds faster than in Amery.

Kremer ran second for the team and 82nd overal with a time of 19:18.9. Wink followed three places behind in 85th with a time of 19:34.8.

Andrew and Matthew were next in 90th and 97th. Andrew ran a 19:51.2 and Matthew had a 20:49.6.

Rounding out the team was Klatt in 100th with a 21:17.9 and Ludwig Canonge ran a 23:51.8 for 102nd.

The Toppers will be in Boyceville on Thursday, October 16 for the Conference meet that is set to begin at 4:30 p.m.