Topper girls run to victory in meet hosted by Bulldogs
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.
RUNNING SIDE-BY-SIDE during a D-SC west pod cross country meet in Boyceville on October 8 were Glenwood City’s Bella Simmons (left) and Kendall Schutz. The juniors took the top two spots in the girls’ race with Simmons winning in 20:28.5 and Schutz finishing as the runner-up in 21:11.9. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent
BOYCEVILLE — Thursday, October 8th was a beautiful day for a cross country meet as the same four teams – Boyceville, Glenwood City, Spring Valley and Elmwood/Plum City – once again squared off for a west pod conference meet.
The numbers were up some as the Glenwood City Hilltoppers had their full teams running again and the Bulldog girls also had a full team this week as well.
For the Hilltoppers, it was another easy win for the girls’ team as they had four of the top five runners.
Bella Simmons once again led the way for the Glenwood City gals with a first-place finish in a time of 20:28.5. Kendall Schutz was next in second with Kinzie Strong taking the third spot. Having her best run of the season, Natasha DeSmith crossed the line in fifth place. Rounding out the top five for the Lady Tops was Ella Knops who came in eleventh overall.
In the boys race, the top three runners ran most of the race together until Spring Valley’s Charlie Maier pulled ahead and won the race with a time of 17:31.9 beating out Toppers’ JJ Williams and Austin Nelson who finished second and third respectively. Elek Anderson finished fifth overall while freshman, Jacob Flettre was fourth for the Hilltoppers and Anthony Nelson was the fifth Topper runner to cross the line. According to head coach Matthew Schutz, this was Flettre’s best race of the season.
Schutz also praised Henry Draxler for having his best run of the season.
Coach Schutz concluded that they had a pretty good night with his top three runners for each the boys and girls doing well.
“Those six runners will set up for an interesting race at the conference meet as they have finally decided to run all varsity runners from each school together,” stated Schutz. “Preparation for that race is definitely challenging as the west and east sides of the conference have never raced one another.”
For the Lady Bulldogs, Haylee Rasmussen and Jaden Stevens led the way placing sixth and seventh, respectively. Sarah Stoveren was next in 14th followed by Rachel Montgomery and Shiloh Wheeldon in 18th and 20th.
Nathan Corr was the top runner on the boys side for the Bulldogs with a time of 20:02.7, which placed him in the tenth spot. Freshman Noah Evenson, the only other runner for Boyceville’s boys, finished in 19th overall.
NOAH EVENSON, a freshman cross country runner from Boyceville, ran on the Bulldogs home course last Thursday during a D-SC west pod race. Evenson placed 19th. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Boyceville head coach Corey Day remarked that Rasmussen and Stevens continue to improve on their times. Unfortunately for the boys, they “just did not have their night” as Coach Day put it.
On a bright note for Day and the Bulldogs, his middle schoolers continue to improve.
“Middle school boys showed the biggest improvement finishing second,” Day commented. “They were not pacing to finish they were racing the whole way. Middle school girls snuck out the win by a point (over Glenwood City). The girls continue to get better. Every time we race I see a new girl on the team step it up. They are fun to watch.”
In the boys’ team competition, Spring Valley and Glenwood City were the only ones to have complete teams. Spring Valley once again took the top honors with 26 points to the Toppers 32. In the girls’ race, it was the Hilltoppers with another easy victory with 21 points followed by Spring Valley with 46 and Boyceville with 58.
Both Glenwood City and Boyceville will be heading to Durand’s Rolling Greens Golf Course this Thursday, October 15 to run in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference championship meet. Running will begin at 4:30 p.m. with the boys’ race followed, at approximately 5:00 p.m., by girls’ race. Currently, all eight schools, both the west and east pods, will run together in the same races.
Due to COVID-19, a subsectional race has been added prior to the sectional meets this year in order to limit the number of runners that will be completing at one site. Each subsectional site will feature up to 12 teams with half running in race one for boys and girls and the other half competing in race two.
Glenwood City and Boyceville will be competing in the same subsectional race to be held next Monday, October 19 at Whitetail Golf Course near Colfax.
The WIAA has not released any information, as of this past Monday, October 12, on the criteria to be used to determine which teams and individuals will be advancing to the sectional meet to be held Saturday, October 24 at Rolling Greens GC in Durand (a change from TCE in Boyceville). Check the WIAA website for the latest information at www.wiaawi.org.
Individual
Results
Boys: 2. Williams 17:47.5 GC, 3. Aus. Nelson 17:54.1 GC, 5. Anderson 18:31.3 GC, 10. Corr 20:02.7 BV, 12. Flettre 21:03.7 GC, 16. Ant. Nelson 21:41.5 GC, 17. Wallin 21:46.4 GC, 19. Evenson 21:59.8 BV, 20. Draxler 22:48.2 GC.
Girls: 1. Simmons 20:28.5 GC, 2. Schutz 21:11.9 GC, 3. Strong 22:50.8 GC, 5. DeSmith 23:53.4 GC, 6. Rasmussen 24:19.2 BV, 7. Stevens 24:26.4 BV, 11. Knops 25:19.8 GC, 14. Stoveren 26:40.2 BV, 15. McCarthy 27:19.9 GC, 17. Hannah 28:31.9 GC, 18. Montgomery 29:46.2 BV, 19. Millermon 30:44.2 GC, 20. Wheeldon 31:08.8 BV.