Lady Toppers capture SCC Cross Country Invitational crown
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GLENWOOD CITY girls’ Emily Bethell (back) and Kinzie Strong competed in the cross country meet at St. Croix Central last Thursday, September 5. —photo by Missy Klatt
RUNNING WITH ONE SHOE — The Toppers’ Brady McCarthy (left), who lost his shoe towards the end of the race at St. Croix Central last Thursday, ran with teammate Austin Nelson. —photo by Missy Klatt
By Missy Klatt, Sports Correspondent
HAMMOND — With mild temps and the sky full of clouds, it was a good day for a race. The Lady Hilltoppers capitalized on this and took first place at the St. Croix Central Cross Country Invitational last Thursday, September 5th, competing mainly against larger schools.
Hilltoppers’ head coach Matthew Schutz commented that the girls’ team had a solid performance against all Division 2 teams and Spring Valley.
“We have struggled in the past to get a girl in the top 10 at this meet,” said Schutz. “But we managed two plus two others in the top twenty.” And their fifth runner just missed the top twenty coming in 21st.
Schutz went on to say that the girls went out harder than the last race and most of them held their position throughout the race.
The top runner for Glenwood City was Bella Simmons in seventh place with a time of 21:40.32. Izzy Williams (10th) was the next Topper to cross the line followed by Kendall Schutz (15th), Kinzie Strong (17th) and Emily Bethell (21st).
Nel Hansen of Hayward was the individual champion for the girls with a time of 20:29.89.
The Glenwood City boys’ team also had a good day placing sixth in a field of twelve teams.
Schutz stated that the boys also made gains with most of them shaving off minutes from their last race.
“We pushed Elijah Simmons making him run with JJ (Williams) from the start. He lost some ground throughout the race, but now he needs to find what will work for him to bring his times down more,” commented Schutz.
Schutz also praised freshman Elek Anderson saying, “he ran a great race as he was on Elijah’s back to finish the race. He should get better every race as he learns to adjust to the 5K.”
JJ Williams just missed a top ten finish in eleventh place with a time of 18:31.74. Then it was Simmons (29th) and Anderson (33rd) for the Toppers. Despite losing a shoe with about two hundred yards to go before the finish line, Brady McCarthy (43rd) edged out teammate Austin Nelson (44th) to finish fourth for the Hilltoppers.
Elk Mound’s Cade Hanson was the first to cross the line in the boys’ race with a time of 17:14.04 to help lead the Mounders to the boys’ crown with 54 points.
The Hilltoppers race next in Cameron on Thursday, September 12 and will be at UW-Barron County in Rice Lake next Tuesday, September 17.
Results:
Boys: 11. Williams 18:31.74, 29. Simmons 19:26.76, 33. Anderson 19:33.28, 43. McCarthy 20:16.29, 44. Nelson 20:17.61, 55. Hojem 20:43.30, 84. Booth 21:53.02, 102. Wallin 22:49.50, 103. Bauman 22:50.04, 120. Hager 23:36.37, 128. Peralta 24:11.39, 152. Hansen 26:16.34, 180. Draxler 33:22.35.
Girls: 7. Simmons 21:40.32, 10. Williams 22:09.80, 15. Schutz 23:16.93, 17. Strong 23:37.34, 21. Bethell 23:53.29, 26. Moede 24:23.90, 50. Peterson 25:35.16, 92. E. Knops 28:03.46, 96. Bauman 28:09, 108. Nadeau 28:01.09, 112 Swanepoel 29:32.40, 21. P. Knops 30:55.22, 135. Wittmer 34:26.00.
Team
Results:
Boys: 1. Elk Mound 54, 2. St. Croix Central 64, 3. Northwestern 77, 4. Ellsworth 106, 5. Spring Valley 131, 6. Glenwood City 158, 7. Prescott 178, 8. Somerset 237, 9. Bloomer 245, 10. Barron 269, 11. Baldwin-Woodville 290, 12. Hayward 310.
Girls: 1. Glenwood City 70, 2. Barron 120, 3. Northwestern 128, 4. St. Croix Central 128, 5. Somerset 137, 6. Hayward 143, 7. Prescott 160, 8. Baldwin-Woodville 169, 9. Bloomer 190, 10. Spring Valley 190, 11. Elk Mound 235, 12. Ellsworth 301.