Elk Mound cross country teams compete in sectional
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RICE LAKE — The cross country season for the Elk Mound runners ended at the sectional meet in Rice Lake last Friday as neither team nor any individuals were able to secure a state berth.
The Mounder boys scored 299 points and finished 11th out of 14 complete teams at the WIAA Division 2 Rice Lake Cross Country Sectional held on the UW-Eau Claire Barron County Campus Friday afternoon, October 25. The Elk Mound girls placed 15th or last with a score of 332.
Osceola won the boys’ sectional crown with 84 points and Hayward finished second with a score of 102. Bloomer won the girls’ team championship with a tally of 57 and St. Croix Central was the runner-up with 96. Those four teams will advance, along with the top five individual boys and girls from non-qualifying teams, to the state championships to be held this Saturday, November 2 in Wisconsin Rapids.
Sophomore Hudson Banaszak was the Mounders boys top finisher as ran the 5,000-meter course in a time of 18:51.7 to place 48th. The second Elk Mound runner to the finish line was junior Dalton Banaszak who placed 54th with a run of 19:13.3. Freshman Keston Niven finished 62nd in 19:42.1 and was followed by junior Brody Niven with a 19:53.5 for 67th and freshman Jack Stroh who placed 71st after a run of 20:02.8 to complete the boys’ team scoring.
Junior Grady Larson and sophomore Jacob Karstens were 76th and 78th, respectively, in a field of 99 competitors with times of 20:25.7 and 20:28.4.
Bloomer junior Seth Rogge won the boys’ race in 15:51.4, seven seconds ahead of fellow junior Carter Kucko of Rice Lake. Those two along with juniors Ian Findlay of Baldwin-Woodville, Tristan Blancarte from Ashland and Northwestern senior Morgan Martens are earned individual state berths.
The Elk Mound girls were led by a pair of seniors. In the final cross country race of their prep careers, Ellie Schiszik finished 16th out of 100 runners after posting a time of 20:21.6 and Jaidynn Sarauer came in 31st when she crossed the finish line in 21:11.4.
The Lady Mounders other three competitiors finished in the 90s. Junior Elli Beskow took 93rd in 25:13.0, senior Kylee Anderson ran a 25:21.5 to place 94th and senior Yolo Delgado took 98th with a time of 26:20.8.
The girls’ five individual state qualifying spots went to Greta Peters, an Altoona senior who placed second with a time of 18:10.4, freshman Macie Boe of Amery (4th), sophomore Sophie Navarro of Northwestern (6th), freshman Abbie Hoage form Altoona (7th) and Rice Lake junior Clara Drost (9th).
Bloomer sophomore Ciara Hartman not only led her team to the championship, but claimed the girls’ individual gold medal with a 5K run of 17:40.8.