GC harriers compete in Rice Lake, Osceola
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
The Glenwood City cross country teams ran on courses in Rice Lake and Osceola this past week competing in a pair of large invitationals.
The Hilltopper harriers began the week at the Rice Lake Invitational held on the UW-Eau Claire/Barron County campus last Tuesday, September 14. Both the girls’ and boys’ squad finished well in the small school competition with the girls taking second and the boys coming in third.
Individually, seniors Bella Simmons and Austin Nelson both finished 13th in fields that featured 185 girls runners and 195 boys runners.
Simmons and Nelson led their squads again when Glenwood City participated in the Osceola Invitational Saturday morning, September 18. The Lady Toppers came in sixth and the boys finished 11th.
“Both teams are doing well,” noted Toppers’ head coach Matthew Schutz.
“But the boys have to be able to bring down their times or place better among their competitors if they are looking for any kind of championship in October,” he added.
Glenwood City competed in Mondovi yesterday, taking advantage of an opportunity to run on The Valley Golf Course, site of next month’s Dunn-St. Croix Conference meet.
Rice Lake Invitational
Both Glenwood City teams placed high in the small school competition in the Rice Lake Invitational Tuesday, September 14.
With just five varsity runners competing, the Lady Toppers brought home the second-place plaque. The boys ran to a third place finish.
In the overall standings, the boys finished 12th with 326 points and the girls were 13th after scoring a 367. Both races featured 26 complete teams with Osceola taking the boys’ team title with 92 points while the girls’ championship went to Menomonie with a score of 52. Seniors Quinn McDonald of Osceola won the boys’ individual title in 16:23.43 and Isabella Jacobsen from Menomonie topped the girls’ field with a time of 18:07.34.
Bella Simmons topped the final standings for the GC gals running a 20:28.55 to place second in the small-school competition behind Colfax’s Molly Heidorn. Simmons was 13th overall.
Senior Kendall Schutz was the girls’ second runner to finish the race in Rice Lake taking home a fourth (33rd overall) after running a 21:52.84.
Freshman Elsja Meijer, who has been showing some dramatic improvement of late, came in third for Glenwood City. She was 22nd (98th overall) in a time of 24:48.41.
Finishing right behind Meijer was senior Samantha Peterson who ran a time of 24:55.46 to place 23rd in the small-school competition (99th overall).
Haylie Hannah was the Toppers’ fifth and final finisher taking 40th (148 overall) with a time of 27:38.37.
Senior Austin Nelson and junior JJ Williams finished among the top ten in the boys’ small-school standings. Nelson crossed the finish line in 17:40.42 to place fifth (13th overall) and Williams was seventh (21st) in 18:00.86.
Juniors Elek Anderson and Anthony Nelson were the next to finish. Anderson was 19th (71st) in 19:11.02 and Nelson ran a 19:36.94 to take 27th (99th).
Earning the fifth spot for the Topper boys was senior Brendan Booth who cruised to the finish line in 20:52.24 for 42nd (138th).
A pair of freshman grabbed the final two varsity finishes. Ilan Anderson was 44th (144th) in 21:07.61 and Zeb Holden placed 49th (156th) with a time of 22:09.10.
Osceola Invitational
The Topper boys had 13 runners compete in Osceola last Saturday. While senior Austin Nelson turned in another top performance taking 11th to lead Glenwood City, conspicuously absent on the placement sheet was junior JJ Williams.
Williams did not run in the Osceola Invitational due to illness according to Coach Schutz which drove up the boys’ team score as they finished 11th out of 16 teams with a final tally of 241
The Topper girls placed sixth out of 14 teams with a 193.
Bella Simmons had another outstanding race. The senior finished in 20:55.7 to place fifth.
Fellow senior Kendall Schutz followed in 14th with a time of 22:14.2.
Freshman Elsja Meijer shaved nearly a minute off her personal best which she had set the previous Saturday in Fall Creek after running a 23:52.2 in Osceola to finish 45th.
The fourth and fifth place finishers for the Topper girls were seniors Samantha Peterson and Ella Knops. Peterson placed 65th in 24:51.4 and Knops finished in 27:55.9 to take 11th.
Sophomores Haylie Hannah (28:48.5) and Savanna Millermon (29:33.9) finished 118th and 129th to complete the varsity squad.
Austin Nelson ran a 17:44.2 on the 5,000 meter course to lead the Glenwood City boys.
In Williams’ absence, fellow junior Elek Anderson moved up to finish second for the boys as he copped 28th in 18:46.8.
Following Anderson and rounding out the top five spots were junior Anthony Nelson, 58th in 19:43.3; freshman Ilan Anderson, 81st in 20:14.9; and sophomore Connor Berends, 85th in 20:27.7.
Also competing and finishing for the boys were: Zeb Holden (FR), 97th, 20:58.5; Brendan booth (SR), 103rd, 21:17.1; Elliott Springborn (FR), 106th, 21:24.9; Owen Bauman (JR), 116th, 21:40.8; Henry Draxler (SR), 152nd, 23:44.6; Xander Jacobsen (SO), 157th, 24:02.3; Tyler Rogers (FR), 176th, 25:23.5; and Evan Hojem (FR), 29:23.3.
Led by winner Quinn McDonald (16:43.7), Osceola claimed the boys’ title with 83 points. Mahtomedi, MN took home the girls trophy with a 62 while Minnehaha (MN) Academy freshman Greta Gesik was the girls’ individual champ in 19:59.7. 187 boys and 153 girls competed in Osceola.