Hilltopper harriers tune-up in Spring Valley

SPRING VALLEY  — Getting healthy and back to full strength for the upcoming tournament series are top priorities for the Glenwood City cross country teams.

And the Hilltoppers took a step or run in that direction last Thursday in Spring Valley.

Toppers’ girls runners Macie Rasmussen and Taylor Drinkman made their season debuts at the  October 1 meet which featured several Dunn-St. Croix teams along with former member St. Croix Central and Ellsworth, both of the Middle Border.

The return of the GC duo helped the Hilltopper girls finish in third place overall and first among the D-SC schools. Ellsworth and St. Croix Central finished one and two in the meet among the six competitive teams.

Glenwood City’s boys placed fifth, finishing just ahead of Boyceville and Elmwood/Plum City in the seven-team boys’ standings.

Drinkman, who has been sidelined since suffering an ACL tear during the basketball season last winter, ran a 23:43 in her first race back to take 17th. Rasmussen, also mending, was 29th; the senior ran a 25:33.

Senior Morgan Kadinger paced the girls with a finish of sixth placed after running a 22:39. Teammate and sophomore Makayla O’Brien was the next GC girl to cross the finish line taking ninth in a time of 22:50.

Maya Petersen and Elizabeth Wink were the Toppers fourth and fifth runners as they placed 20th and 22nd in times of 24:02 and 24:13 respectively.

Emma Scholler ran to 32nd in 25:47 and Tia Carlson placed 41st in 27:17.

On the boys side, Jack Kremer and Riley Schutz scored top ten finishes. Kremer was ninth in a time of 19:18 with Schutz one place and two seconds back in tenth.

Andrew Bauman came in 18th with a time of 20:21. Owen Wagner and Corey Klatt were the Toppers number four and five runners to finish as they took 27th and 28th respectively. Wagner finished in 21:00 and Klatt ran a 21:05.

Matthew Bauman and Nathan Hill completed the scoring for the Toppers. Matthew Bauman placed 34th in 21:30 and Hill finished with a 26:29 for 60th.

The Hilltoppers will conclude the regular season schedule this week with races in Amery yesterday (October 6) and at Eau Claire this Saturday. The conference meet will be held in Durand on Thursday, October 15.

Both Glenwood City middle school teams also competed.

The girls placed second behind the top six finishes of Isabella Williams (4th), Emily Bethel (5th) and Bella Simons (6th).

The boys’ middle school squad placed fourth out of eight teams. Elijah Simmons was the first to finish taking 14th and Lane O’Meara was 20th.