Hazen finishes second at CC sectional, earns state berth
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BARRON — And then there was one!
Ian Hazen, Elk Mound’s lone sectional competitor, made the most of his opportunity in freezing temperatures at the WIAA Division 2 cross country sectional in Barron this past Saturday, October 24. The sophomore extended his season, and that of the Mounders, one more week as he qualified for this coming Saturday’s state meet after taking second out of a field of 38 runners.
The sophomore cruised through the 5,000 meter course and bone-chilling conditions in a time of 17:02.9 to finish with the silver. Hazen was just three seconds off the winning pace of Osceola’s junior Quinn McDonald, who won the individual title with a 16:59.3.
Hazen’s effort gave him one of the five individual state qualifying spots and assured that Elk Mound would be represented at the state meet for a fifth straight year. Last year, the entire boys’ team qualified which included Cade Hanson, who had also been an individual state qualifier the previous three seasons (2016, 2017 and 2018).
Hazen finished six seconds ahead of third-place runner and state qualifier senior Jakob Eggen of St. Croix Central. Marcus Peterson of Barron, Lucas Anderson of Bloomer and Cougar Holder of St. Croix Central earned the other three individual state qualifying spots. Holder, Eggen and Anderson had finished ahead of Hazen in the Somerset subsectional meet held October 19.
The Osceola boys won the meet with a score of 29 and Northwestern tallied 52 to take second. Both teams earned state berths. In the girls’ sectional team competition, Osceola again took top honors with 35 points while St. Croix Central was a close second with 39 points to nab the final state team berth.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s state championships will be held at three different locations throughout the state. The Division 2 state championships will be held at Colby High School this Saturday, October 31. Hazen will run in the first of three sessions. Race times have yet to be determined.
Somerset Subsectional
Ian Hazen was the only Elk Mound cross country runner to advance following the WIAA Division 2 subsectional race held last Monday, October 19 in Somerset.
The sophomore placed fourth in the boys’ race standings after running the 5,000-meter course in 17:11.43 to nab one of the five individual sectional qualifying spots reserved for those not on one of the top two qualifying teams.
Fellow sophomores Aiden Schiferl and Trae Schaefer both ran sub 18-minute races and finished in the top 12. Schiferl, who just missed qualifying for this past Saturday’s sectional race in Barron by two places and 15 seconds, came in ninth after posting a time of 17:45.91. Schaefer took 12th when he crossed the finish line in 17:55.96.
Three other Mounder boys also competed at the subsectional competition. Junior Carter Sundeen copped 26th place in a time of 19:03.77, freshman Caleb Beskow made it to the line in 19:34.59 to place 31st, the team’s fourth sophomore to run, AJ Miller, came in 42nd after a run of 20:07.51 and senior Avery Lauer ran a 21:56.85 in the final cross country race of his high school career to finish 53rd.
As a team, the Elk Mound boys finished in fifth place with 82 points. Bloomer won the meet with 64 points and Altoona was runner-up with 69. Both squads qualified for the 4-team sectional meet. St. Croix Central placed third with a score of 74 based on tie-breaker criteria, followed by Ellsworth in fourth with a 74 also, the Mounders were fifth, Prescott with 139 for sixth, host Somerset was seventh with a 195 and Baldwin-Woodville tallied a 211 for eighth place.
The other four individual sectional-qualifying spots went to St. Croix Central’s Cougar Holder (16:52.48) and Jakob Eggen (16:54.56) who finished first and second respectively, and Alex Pazdenik (17:11.65, 5th) and Addison Peters (17:30.54, 7th) both of Ellsworth.
The Elk Mound girls were unable to compete in Somerset according to athletic director Mike Schiszik, who was not able to elaborate on the reason.
St. Croix Central won the girls’ team title with 24 points and Altoona came in second with a 70, both qualified for the Barron sectional. St. Croix Central senior Mya Kizer took medalist honors (first place) with a time of 19:13.61 while teammate Kaitlyn Carlson, a sophomore, finished second in 20:04.17.