Hazen and Schiferl earn state cross country berths
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.
BLACK RIVER FALLS — A pair of Elk Mound senior boys qualified for this Saturday’s WIAA State Cross Country Championships thanks to top five finishes in last weekend’s sectional meet.
Ian Hazen and Aiden Schiferl earned their second straight individual state berths following their races at the WIAA Division 2 Black River Falls Sectional meet held October 22 at Skyline Golf Course and will compete October 29 in Wisconsin Rapids.
Hazen placed second and Hazen was fifth to lead the Mounder boys, who finished eighth out of 16 complete teams with a score of 192.
Hazen ran a 16:49.6 to cop the silver medal while Schiferl clocked the 5,000 meter course in 17:15.2.
The boys’ other five sectional competitors (a maximum of seven runners are allotted each school for sectional and state competitions) were seniors AJ Miller, Tobey Westcott and Lucas Hanson and juniors Bodie Folczyk and Caleb Beskow.
Folczyk and Beskow were Elk Mound’s third and fourth runners, respectively, to cross the finish line Saturday in Black River Falls with just a tenth of a second and one place separating the pair. Folczyk finished in 54th with a 19:52.7 and Beskow was 55th in a time of 19:52.8. Miller was the final scoring runner for the Mounder boys taking 76th in 21:18.8 followed by Westcott with a 21:36.0 for 82nd and Hanson was 87th with a time of 21:48.1. There were 111 runners in the boys race which was won by senior Eli Boppart of Mauston in 16:33.3. He led his team to the championship as well as it finished with a score of 72, six points less than runner-up and fellow state qualifier West Salem.
Hazen and Schiferl will compete in Saturday’s Division 2 state race which is slated to begin at approximately 2:35 p.m. at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.
As she has in just about every meet this season, sophomore Ellie Schiszik was the top finisher for the Elk Mound girls, who finished 12th out of 13 complete teams with a score of 272.
Schiszik, who ran in the state meet a year ago, came in 28th in last week’s sectional meet with a time of 22:59.6.
Junior Marley King was the next Lady Mounder to finish her race taking 40th place in 23:46.2, senior Aleya Hadenfeldt ran a 27:26.7 to place 67th, sophomore Kylee Anderson ran a 28:07.8 for 72nd followed by junior Carly Mohr in 73rd with a time of 28:15.2 and junior Addison Young was the team’s final runner to the finish line taking 79th in 29:40.9. There 89 runners in the girls’ competition.
Britt Fitzgerald, a sophomore from Mosinee, won the girls’ race in 20:00.6. Medford claimed the girls’ team championship after scoring 31 points with West Salem, again finishing as the runner-up, with 55 points. Both schools qualified for state.
THE ELK MOUND Boys’ Cross Country Team captured the Dunn-St. Croix Conference championship at the 2022 meet held Thursday, October 13 at Whitetail Golf Course. Members and coaches are shown with their championship plaque. Front row (L to R): Lucas Hanson and Bodie Folczyk. Middle row (L to R): Brody Niven, Aiden Schiferl, Ian Hazen, Alex Miller, Evan Lauer, Jesse Moyer, and Trae Schaefer. Back row (L to R): Head coach Jeremiah Fredrickson, assistant coach Kyle Hazen, Caleb Beskow, Cooper Reese, Dalton Banaszak, and Tobey Westcott. —photo by Shawn DeWitt