Colfax runners prepare for conference with meet at ECM

EAU CLAIRE — In their final competition before the conference meet, the Colfax cross country teams raced on a fast course under very comfortable weather conditions at the Eau Claire Memorial Invite Oct. 10 against teams from all three divisions in the state. The Viking girls, without number one runner Courtney Dressel, placed seventh of 14 teams overall and were  first among  the small schools, while the boys were 12th of 14 teams overall.

Erica Kallstrom led the Colfax girls, earning a medal for 14th place in 20:02, followed by Dempsey Fogarty in 21st at 20:39, Abbagail Schotter was 48th in 21:54, Hailey Prince ran a personal best time of 22:08 for 52nd place and Ally Heidorn was 61st in 22:46. There were 101 total runners with Aubrey Roberts of Memorial winning in 17:22.

“There was a lot of good competition in this meet with a lot of big schools,” Doucette said. “Courtney has been battling some shin problems so we held her out to keep her healthy for our big meets coming up.”

Tucker Hovde paced the Viking boys with a time of 17:56 for 37th place in a field of 103 runners. Brett Prince was close behind in 44th at 18:16, Zack Arvold was a spot behind in 45th at 18:17 and further back came the rest of the group including Brady Simonson in 67th at 18:56, Jacob Larson in 71st at 19:12, Ike Lee in 74th at 19:22 and Hunter Leiffort for 77th in 19:43. Anthony Anderson of D.C. Everest claimed the top spot in 15:57.

“Our top three ran solid but we have to get our 4-7 runners closer,” Doucette said. “Durand should be our biggest challenge for the conference title and they have three good runners, so it will come down to the 4-7 runners for both teams. We can win it with a very good race,” he added.

Conference will be held in Durand this Thursday starting at 4:30.