Viking girls win Durand Invite, boys place third

Doing some pack running on the course on which the Dunn-St. Croix Conference meet will take place on Oct. 15, the Colfax girls outdistanced 11 other teams to win the Durand Invitational by 45 points over the second place Ellsworth team. The boys finished third behind Altoona and new conference rival Durand as 14 total teams competed. All of the teams from the D-SC were in the meet, allowing coach Joe Doucette to get a look at what the competition will be like come October.

All six runners for the girls finished in the top 20 for team scores with Courtney Dressel leading the Vikings in third place with a time of 22:08. Erica Kallstrom was close behind in fifth at 22:12, Dempsey Fogarty followed in eighth in 22:29, Abbagail Schotter ended up in the top ten by placing ninth in 22:29, Ally Heidorn was 16th in 23:27 and Hailey Prince was 19th with a time of 23:39. Kassye Todd of  Elmwood-Plum City won the competition in 21:36 with 100 individuals in the race.

Tucker Hovde was the first Viking boy to cross the finish line for 11th place in 19:19 while Brett Prince finished 16th in 19:38. Zac Arvold returned to the lineup and placed 17th in 19:38, followed by Brady Simonson in 23rd at 19:53, Jacob Larson was 29th in 20:13, Ike Lee finished 33rd in 20:40 and Jelani Smit continues to lower his times with a 21:26 for 52nd place. Jacob Jensen was 89th in 22:47 and Rowdie Kadinger finished in 94th at 23:31. Sam Bell of Division II Ellsworth won the contest in a blazing 16:59.

“Both of our teams did some pack running with the top six staying together for the first two miles,” Doucette said. “It seemed to work well but it may have cost our boys a few medals. Our girls had to come from behind but they closed hard and passed a lot of runners near the end. Late season success for us will depend on getting better in our 4-7 spots. Right now our boys would be close for a conference title but we are still a little behind,” he added.

In the Middle School race, Jasmine Best placed fifth for Colfax while Addisyn Olson was sixth with 112 girls competing. Sawyer Best paced the boys with a third place finish and Cole Seehaver was fourth in a field of 97.

Next up for the Viking varsity runners is a meet at Ladysmith Oct. 1.