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Glenwood City, Boyceville cross country teams improving as season continues

By Cara L. Dempski

HAMMOND — The Glenwood City and Boyceville cross country teams, competing for the second time this season, took part in an 11-school invitational held Thursday, September 1 at St. Croix Central High School in Hammond.

Both Glenwood City squads came in sixth while the Boyceville boys were fifth and the girls finished ninth.

Durand took the boys’ competition with 33 points followed by Menomonie with 56. Menomonie’s girls won their race with a 40 with host St. Croix Central coming in second with a score of 57.

Glenwood City

The Hilltopper boys and girls topped their Boyceville counterparts with respective scores of 195 and 177 points at St. Croix Central. The boys and girls’ teams both finished sixth.

Junior Jacob Nadeau led the Glenwood City boys, coming in 15th with a time of 19:16. Matthew Bauman finished in 27th place a little over a minute later. Senior Corey Klatt ran third for the team and finished 47th at 21:30.

Freshmen runners Elijah Simmons and Aaron Holmquist finished the top five for the Hilltoppers. Simmons came in 54th at 21:50, while Holmquist was 55th at 21:51.

“The boys’ team really stepped it up,” coach Matt Schutz said. “Aaron Holmquist and Elijah Simmons were just behind our top three this time.”

Kyle Myers and Jabin Hojem finished the Hilltoppers team. Myers, whose 23:11 time earned him 83rd place, ran sixth, and Jabin Hojem, who finished 108th with a time of 26:49, ran seventh.

The Hilltoppers’ coach said the majority of the boys shaved time off their previous finishes. He also stated the girls dealt with some minor injuries, but said his top three girls ran very well.

The top boys’ runner for the meet was Durand’s Brett Tomlinson. He led the field with a time of 17:22. The Durand boys also won the meet, racking up only 33 points.

Taylor Drinkman led the way for the Hilltopper girls, coming in eighth at 22:06. Makayla O’Brien ran second for Glenwood City and finished 20th with a time of 23:30. Elizabeth Wink came in a little over a minute later and placed 33rd.

Tia Carlson was in 67th place for the Hilltoppers, and freshman Nyah Anderson finished her second race at 92nd in 35:29.

“They ran very competitively as a group,” Schutz said.

The Hilltoppers will be joined by the Bulldogs on September 10 in Fall Creek. Running begins at 10 a.m.

Boyceville

The Bulldog boys earned 181 points to place fifth out of 11 teams during the September 1 meet. The girls placed ninth in a group of 10 teams with a score of 224.

Senior Kiel Anderson was first to finish for the Bulldogs. He came in 18th overall with a time of 19:47. Teammate Maxwell Engel was less than one minute behind Anderson with a time of 20:30 and finished 26th. Rian Corr ran third for the team and followed Engel by only eight seconds taking 31st in the field of 117 runners.

Completing Boyceville’s top five boys were senior Jerod Nelson (51st) and junior Ryker Ferg, who earned times of 21:39 and 22:02.

Emmett Kapsner, Michael Chich, and Casey Owen rounded out the Boyceville boys coming in 99th, 116th and 117th.

Coach Corey Day said his boys improved from last week’s home meet, but knows there is room for improvement.

“The boys did not improve times as much (as the girls), but were competing with kids that beat them last week,” Day said.

On the girls’ side, junior Emily Voelker ran in the number one spot this week. She finished 34th with a time of 24:31. Naomi Hillman was second across the line in 26:00 to place 48th and Emma Harnisch ended her race in 55th with 26:59 on the clock.

Noelle Wheeldon was on Harnisch’s heels, coming in 56th with a time of 27:01. Senior Lauren Dominick completed the girls’ top five for the Bulldogs, finishing 63rd with a time of 27:48.

Ashleigh Lemke ran sixth for the Bulldog girls. She had a  time of 40:08.

Anya Swanson of Somerset was the girls’ individual champion, finishing in 20:03.

Day expressed satisfaction with the performance of his female team.

“The girls raced well, many improving times by over a minute from last week,” he said. “I was pleased both teams are showing improvement.”

Day also said there is a lot of racing in the next few weeks.