Viking boys’ CC place second in Mondovi, girls fighting to stay healthy

By Cara L. Dempski

MONDOVI — The Colfax cross country teams were back in action at Mondovi’s home course at Valley Golf Course September 20.

The Viking boys’ team took second at the Mondovi Invitational, a course they will run again at the conference meet on October 13. The Colfax girls, who have been plagued by recent injuries and only had four runners competing, did not earn a team score.

“Our boys came in second, but it was not a great race for them,” Coach Joe Doucette said.

He further stated the Mondovi course is a difficult one and many runners struggled with it. Doucette is hoping his team will be better on the course for conference in a few weeks.

The Colfax coach felt Luke Heidorn ran a solid race. Heidorn was 11th overall with a time of 19:57.1 and the first Viking boy to finish. He was followed by Jacob Larson, who placed 14th with his 20:03.3 race. Freshman Cole Seehaver crossed the line eight seconds later to take 16th.

Another freshman, Trey Hovde, raced to a 22nd-place finish with his 20:25.1 run and Sawyer Best completed race in 20:58.5 to pick up 24th place.

Rowdy Kadinger and Trevor Rothbauer formed the rest of Colfax’s seven-man varsity roster. Kadinger crossed the finish line in 21:50.1 for 40th and Rothbauer was 47th after his 22:09.6 race.

Durand won the boys team competition with 23 points. Panther senior Brett Tomlinson won the boys individual competition with a time of 18:07.3.

Doucette said his team has had a lot of workouts.

“We looked tired, but we were hoping to see more teamwork, fight and leadership,” he said.

Doucette said that the September 20 meet was the first time in a long time Colfax has not had a scoring team for the girls. The team again raced without Hailey Prince and Ally Heidorn, both of whom are still banged up, according to Doucette.

“It would not have mattered,” Doucette said. “Glenwood City and Elk Mound would have both beaten us handily.”

The Hilltoppers edged out the Mounders for the girls’ team title by a point – 76 to 77. Glenwood City freshman Emily Bethell won the race in 21:27.1.

Senior Abbagail Schotter ran another nice race, copping second place with her 21:41.4 run. She was followed swiftly by Erica Kallstrom in fourth place. Kallstrom crossed the line in 22:05.2.

Jayna Bowe nabbed 20th overall for her run of 24:10.5, and Juelia Berger took home 47th place for a race run in 26:37.7.

“The girls need to get healthy if we have any chance at defending our conference and sectional titles,” Doucette stated.

The Vikings will head to Ladysmith for an invitational September 30 before the teams go to South Middle School in Eau Claire for an October 8 invitational meet.

Team Scores — Mondovi Invitational

Varsity Boys: 1. Durand 23, 2. Colfax 87, 3. Cochrane-Fountain City 110, 4. Spring Valley, 5. Glenwood City 145, 6. Elk Mound 162, 7. Melrose-Mindoro 198, 8. Blair-Taylor 206, 9. Boyceville 207, 10. Independence-Gilmanton 230, 11. Whitehall 320.

Varsity Girls: 1. Glenwood City 76, 2. Elk Mound 77, 3. Melrose-Mindoro 94, 4. Cochrane-Fountain City, 5. Blair-Taylor 126, 6. Boyceville 146, 7. Independence-Gilmanton 194, 8. Durand 195, 9. Spring Valley 249.

Middle School

The Colfax Middle School cross country teams joined their varsity brethren in Mondovi on September 20. The girls won the team competition with four runners finishing in the top 10 and the boys had only four runners and did not earn a team score.

Seventh-grade runner Jasmine Best led the Vikings with her first-place finish and a time of 15:18.8. Fifth-grader Jaycee Bowe crossed the finish line in 16:10.6 to pick up third place overall. Molly Heidorn was fifth with a time of 16:23.4.

Addison Olson placed ninth with her 17:06.5 race, and Ansely Olson brought home a 16th-place finish for her time of 18:16.1.

Jillian Bowe, Juliann Geissler, Kelly Turner and Marah Smith also ran as part of the middle school girls team.

The middle school boys saw a quartet of seventh-graders running the race in Mondovi. Luke Blanchard was the first Viking to finish, taking home fourth place for his 15:10.4 run. Otto Winings grabbed 32nd place after finishing in 18:24.3.

Tristan Lenz was exactly 20 seconds behind Winings and ended up in 37th place. Lucas Knutson was the final Viking to finish. He had a time of 19:51.5 and placed 46th.

Glenwood City topped the middle school boys race with a score of 27 after all five scoring runners finished in the top 10. Damian Jilk, and eighth grade student from Cochrane-Fountain City was the overall winner of the boys race with his time of 14:53.5.