COLBY — With a second place finish at the WIAA Division 2 Colby Sectional last Saturday, October 26, the Elk Mound boys’ cross country team has officially earned its first-ever trip to the State Championships. The championship meet will be held this Saturday, November 2 at Wisconsin Rapids’ Ridges Golf Course.
The Mounder girls, meanwhile, wrapped up their 2019 season with a tenth-place finish in Colby with 252 points.
“Coming in we thought we’d be in the hunt for second, but knew all of our runners would have to perform well,” said Mounders’ head coach Jeremiah Fredrickson. “Our runners did not disappoint, from Cade setting the pace and leading us, to the rest of our team stepped up and ran amazing races…”
La Crosse Logan, led by individual winner Zach Slevin and runner-up Tracy Bye, beat Elk Mound by 25 points to take the sectional championship. The Rangers finished with a top score of 43 while the Mounder boys posted a 68.
Senior Cade Hanson was the first to finish for the Elk Mound boys placing fifth overall with a time of 17:24.0. This will be Hanson’s fourth year running at state. He was an individual qualifier the past three seasons.
Younger brother Ian Hazen beat older brother Seth Hazen. Ian took a 12th-place finish in a time of 17:58.6 while Seth finished 16th with a run of 18:17.6.
“Ian continues to grow and improve finishing with his second best time and finishing second on our team for the first time,” said Fredrickson.
Andrew Pathos and Lukas Wagner were the next to finish for Elk Mound, taking 17th and 18th places respectively with a tenth of a second between the pair, with times of 18:22.4 and 18:22.5.
Also stepping up for Elk Mound was freshman Aiden Schiferl in 20th place and Trae Schaefer in 24th place with times of 18:24.0 and 18:31.4.
“Aiden and Trae also stepped up as freshmen to help push not only our other runners, but also finish in front of other teams’ fourth and fifth runners to help our scoring,” Fredrickson explained.
Saturday was a tough run for the Lady Mounders, they finished in tenth place with 252 points. Medford and Wisconsin Dells took the top two spots with 35 and 67 points respectively. Wisconsin Dells’ Laura Beghin won the girls’ individual gold.
“We were led by Kristin Martinson who ran her best time of the season,” said Coach Fredrickson. “All the ladies ran hard and put up a nice finish on a good season for them to build from moving forward.”
Martinson finished in 33rd place for Elk Mound with a time of 22:57.1.
In 39th place was Rosie Kaminski with a time of 23:21.2, followed by Kyra Hadenfeldt, who ran her best race of her career, in 49th place with a time of 23:43.2.
Taya Schaefer and Olivia Schreiber wrapped up the scorers for Elk Mound in 62nd and 74th place with respective times of 24:51.9 and 25:30.6.
Also competing for Elk Mound was Aleya Hadenfeldt, who finished in 76th place with a time of 25:33.7 and Laney Moyer in 83rd place with a time of 26:33.5.
“We look forward to representing the sectional at State and can’t wait to see what we can do at the next level, our shirts this year have ‘Just send it’ on the back and our athletes definitely sent it on Saturday,” Fredrickson stated.
Boys’ Team Results: 1. La Crosse Logan 43, 2. Elk Mound 68, 3. West Salem 125, 4. G-E-T 149, 5. Medford 152, 6. Viroqua 203, 7. Arcadia 213, 8. Mauston 216, 9. Altoona 248, 10. Wisconsin Dells 259.
Boys’ Individual Results: 5. Cade Hanson 17:24.0, 12. Ian Hazen 17:58.6, 16. Seth Hazen 18:17.6, 17. Andrew Pathos 18:22.4, 18. Lukas Wagner 18:22.5, 20. Aiden Schiferl 18:24.0, 24. Trae Schaefer 18:31.4.
Girls’ Team Results: 1. Medford 35, 2. Wisconsin Dells 67, 3. La Crosse Logan 82, 4. G-E-T 139, 5. Mauston 155, 6. Colby/Abbotsford 185, 7. Arcadia 192, 8. Viroqua 200, 9. West Salem 209, 10. Elk Mound 252.
Girls’ Individual Results: 33. Kristin Martinson 22:57.1, 39. Rosie Kaminski 23:21.2, 49. Kyra Hadenfeldt 23:43.2, 61. Taya Schaefer 24:51.9, 70. Olivia Schreiber 25:30.6, 72. Aleya Hadenfeldt 25:33.7, 78. Laney Moyer 26:33.5.
