Double Take: Colfax boys and girls win conference meet

DURAND — Before the first cross country meet of the season, Colfax coach Joe Doucette thought his boys’ team, led by five seniors, had a good chance of taking the conference title back after relinquishing it to St. Croix Central a year ago. He seemed to be a little unsure of the girls however, with just six runners competing including a freshman. As it turned out he was right about the boys as they won their third title in four years by a margin of 51 points, while the girls showed it’s quality not quantity that counts as they won the title by 59 points. Glenwood City was the runner-up in both divisions.

Although a pair of Durand runners claimed the first and second spot, the Colfax boys took five of the 3-14 places for points. Tucker Hovde finished third in 18:36, Brett Prince fourth in 19:01 and Zack Arvold fifth in 19:05. Jacob Larson claimed 12th in 19:42 and Brady Simonson was 14th in 19:52. (First seven finishers are named First Team All Conference while the 8-14 runners are Second Team). The sixth runner for Colfax, Isaac Lee was 16th in 20:03, and Hunter Leiffort was 23rd in 20:29. Jacob Jenson finished 41st in 21:24 while Rowdie Kadinger finished 53rd in 22:42. There were 67 individuals in the race which was won by Durand’s Brett Tomlinson in 18:09.

“Durand was missing some runners which gave us a huge advantage,” Doucette said. “But our boys were ready and they ran well. They did what we needed to do and that was have a solid 4-7 after our first three runners”.

The girls’ competition, which had 64 competitors, was won by Elmwood-Plum City’s Kassye Todd in 20:25, but again it was a matter of where all six of the Viking runners finished. Courtney Dressel was 12 seconds away from winning her first conference championship, placing second in 20:37, It was her fourth First Team All Conference finish in as many years. Freshman Erica Kallstrom was third in 20:47 and another senior, Dempsey Fogarty was sixth in 21:33, placing her on the AC First Team for the third time in four years. Abbagail Schotter was close behind in seventh at 21:46, Hailey Prince finished in 11th at 22:26 and Ally Heidorn was the final Viking in at 22:39 for 14th place.

“The girls ran probably their best race of the year,” Doucette said. “Everybody worked together and our two seniors were the leaders. They were very excited and anxious to run and it was great to see them run so well.”

Up next is the sectional meet at Boyceville this Saturday.

“Hopefully both our teams will continue to build and improve,” Doucette said. “We think both teams have a chance to win sectionals and that’s all we can ask for. We are excited to represent our school and community in a solid way”.

The Colfax middle school teams concluded their season with the boys winning the meet and the girls taking third. Leading the boys were Cole Seehaver in fourth, Sawyer Best in fifth and Luke Blanchard in seventh of 55 competitors. For the girls,with 73 runners, Addisyn Olson was third and Jasmine Best fourth.

BOYS VARSITY TEAM SCORES: Colfax 38, Glenwood City 89, Spring Valley 98, Durand 109, Boyceville 111, Elk Mound 127, Mondovi 162, Elmwood-Plum City 179

GIRLS VARSITY TEAM SCORES: Colfax 29, Glenwood City 82, Elmwood-Plum City 83, Elk Mound 85, Durand 153, Boyceville 156, Spring Valley 158, Mondovi 163