Heidorn repeats as CC conference champion; Mounder boys finish second

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DURAND — Colfax sophomore Molly Heidorn joined an elite group of Viking athletes last Thursday afternoon, October 15 when she captured her second consecutive Dunn-St. Croix girls’ individual cross country championship during a chilly run on the Rolling Green Golf Course in Durand.

Heidorn claimed the 2020 conference title with a run of 20:12.25 on the 5,000-meter course atop the bluff overlooking Durand. She finished 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Bella Simmons of Glenwood City in the first race this season in which all eight conference schools competed together.

“Molly joins and elite group of Colfax runners to win more than more than one conference (championship) race,” said her coach Joe Doucette. “Only Travis Logslett, Laura Bjork, Tim Smit and Sarah McMahon have won more than one (title),” added Doucette. “All were great kids who won state medals and ran in college.”

Heidorn’s effort, coupled with those of her teammates, almost earned the Lady Vikes a team title as well. Fellow sophomore Ansley Olson and junior Jasmine Best notched top-ten finishes for Colfax, who finished with a score of 46, just four points behind host Durand in the chase for the team title.

The Lady Panthers, who had their top two runners come in sixth and seventh but placed all five scoring runners finish among the first 14, tallied 42 points to win the 2020 Dunn-St. Croix conference meet and dethrone four-time champion Glenwood City, who placed third with 52 points. Spring Valley and Elk Mound rounded out the teams’ scores with a 99 and 115 respectively. Mondovi, Boyceville and Elmwood/Plum City had incomplete squads.

In the boys’ competition, Spring Valley defeated two-time defending conference champion Elk Mound by 11 points. The Cardinals saw their top three finishes take seventh or better, including runner-up Charlie Maier, while their other two runners came in 15th and 17th for an overall score of 43. The Mounders’ Ian Hazen, Aiden Schiferl and Trae Schaefer all finished in the top nine as the team tallied a score of 54.

Glenwood City (70), Durand (87) and Colfax (88) rounded out the boys’ team scores. Again, Mondovi, Boyceville and Elmwood/Plum City had incomplete teams.

Parker Schneider of Durand also won his second straight individual conference crown with a winning run of 16:42.75 on his home course, which he holds the record on.

Due to the coronavirus, the WIAA added a subsectional meet prior to the sectional meets this year to cut down on the number of schools and athletes competing at each site. Colfax hosted a division 3 subsectional this past Monday (October 19) at the Whitetail Golf Course while Elk Mound traveled to Somerset that same day for a division two subsectional meet. The top two teams along with the first five individual runners from non-qualifying teams will advance to sectional meets on Saturday, October 24. The area D3 sectional will be held in Durand at noon with the D2 sectional meet slated for Barron.

Colfax

While the top three runners for the Colfax girls – Molly Heidorn, Ansley Olson and Jasmine Best – all finished ahead of Durand’s first three competitors (5th, 6th and 9th) at Thursday’s conference meet, it was the Panthers fourth-, fifth-, sixth and seventh-place runners that secured the team championship for the hosts as they all finished better than the Vikings’ respective fourth and fifth runners, Jaycey Bowe and Jaclyn Olson.

“We knew the girls had a fighting chance to win the meet,” said Coach Doucette after the Lady Vikings beat the Panthers a week and a half earlier at the final regular-season meet at Whitetail. “And we ran our best race of the year.”

“Durand has a solid team and beat us with their depth having seven (runners) in before our fifth,” continued Coach Doucette.

Doucette had high praise for his entire girls’ squad especially Molly Heidorn.

“Molly was great again, winning her second conference title over a great field,” stated Doucette. “She is so consistent and mentally and physically very strong. She just goes out and competes.”

Heidorn’s winning time of 20:12.25 was backed up by solid running from Ansley Olson and Jasmine Best. Olson placed fifth with a time of 21:09.23 and Best ran a 22:01.74 to capture ninth. All three girls earned all-conference honors with Heidorn and Olson landing on the first team and Best taking a spot on the second team.

“Ansley Olson ran her best race of the year,” commented Doucette.

Freshman Jaycey Bowe just missed grabbing the final all-conference spot as she placed 15th in 22:59.73; the top 14 runners are named all-conference. Colfax’s lone senior Jaclyn Olson was the fifth runner to finish on her team, taking home 24th place in 24:23.45.

Rounding out the Vikings’ team finishes were juniors Jenna Goodell (33rd, 25:37.71) and Emilee Burcham-Scofield (40th, 26:53.77).

“Second doesn’t win any trophies but we feel good about our improvement and effort,” concluded Doucette of his girls’ finish.

As has been the case all season, senior Noah Heidorn led the way for the Colfax boys in Durand.

Heidorn came in tenth with a time of 18:29.25, and that allowed him to earn his second all-conference selection. He second-team performance was a nice way to finish the final D-SC race of his career, according to the coach.

Junior Luke Blanchard was the next Viking boy to cross the finish, taking a 16th place in 19:25.17. He was followed by sophomore Jadent Buchholz, who placed 21st in 19:30.83, Jarod Loew in 26th with a time of 20:15.76, and Ashton Yarrington came in 28th in a time of 20:36.27 to round out the top five for Colfax.

Mark Sonnentag was Colfax’s final runner as he placed 30th in 21:03.18.

“Luke Blanchard had very good race and beat a lot of guys he hadn’t before,” stated Doucette. “From there we were solid, as Jarod Loew and Mark Sonnentag continue to really improve.”

Elk Mound

After a two-year run atop the Dunn-St. Croix boys’ cross country standings, Elk Mound was knocked from its perch by a group of pesky Red Birds from Spring Valley.

Valley scored a low of 43 to beat the Mounders, who finished with a 54, by 11 points.

Ian Hazen and Aiden Schiferl paced the Mounders as they finished in fourth and fifth places respectively in the field of 38 runners. Hazen ran the course in 17:55.78 while Schiferl was clocked in 18:06.83. Both were rewarded with first-team all-conference honors.

Trae Schaefer, who made the all-conference second team, was the next Elk Mound boy to cross the finish, taking ninth place in 18:25.86.

A minute later, Carter Sundeen finished 18th with a time of 19:28.48 and Caleb Beskow earned 23rd in 19:34.6 to complete the Mounders’ scoring.

AJ Miller was the final Mounder boy to complete the course, taking 29th in 20:41.14.

Marley King had the best finish, a 16th place with a time of 23:19.31, for the Mounder girls’ team that finished fifth in the final team standings with a score of 115.

Kyra and Aleya Hadenfeldt took 26th and 29th respectively with times of 24:38.13 and 25:05.28.

The other four Elk Mound ladies finished in a close grouping. Madison Lehman (25:40.23) and Lilly Tanula (25:48.91) were 34th and 35th respectively while Madisyn Mohr (26:23.44) and Olivia Schreiber (26:51.81) placed 38th and 39th out of 43 runners.