Bulldog runners conclude season at sectional meet

Running on their home course on a cool and windy day, the Boyceville boys’ cross country team finished ninth in a field of 17 teams at the sectional meet Oct. 24 while the girls were tenth out of 12 complete teams.

With 122 contestants in the race, the Bulldog boys were led by Samuel Retz in 32nd place with a time of 19:10, followed by Maxwell Engel in 49th at 19:47. Next to cross the finish line was Rian Corr for 51st place in 19:48, Jerod Nelson was 57th at 19:52, Kiel Anderson followed in 62nd with a time of 20:10, Michael Chich came in for 98th at 21:25 and Emmett Kapsner was 119th at 23:38. Dan Lau of Immanuel Lutheran won the race in 16:59 while McDonnel Central won the team title with Colfax second.

“Our top five boys all ran between 19:10 and 20:10 which is where they have run all season,” Bulldog coach Corey Day said. “We had some injuries that slowed us down this year and we finished about where we expected. But all of our boys are underclassmen so if they put in some hard work we could have a good team next year,” he added.

With just five girls in the competition, Boyceville was led by last year’s state qualifier Shiann Wagner who placed 18th overall in a time of 22:07.

“Shiann had a late start for us this year and her time was a minute slower than her sectional time last year,” Day said. “She was disappointed she didn’t get back to state but I thought  the competition was really tough this year.”

Following Wagner to the finish line was Lauren Dominick for 43rd place at 23:48, Marissa Dormanen was 48th in 23:57, Emma Harnisch claimed 69th in 25:07 and Sarah Kapsner was 97th in 31:59. Kassye Todd, the Dunn-St. Croix Conference champion from Elmwood-Plum City won this race too, in 19:58.

“Our girls continued to improve as the season went on and like the boys, they are all underclassmen,” Day said. “Hopefully they will put in some time in the off season and we can build our team up next year. Our conference will be well represented at state and we wish them all the best of luck,” he concluded.