Busy week of action for Tri-County Area prep cross country teams

The Tri-County Area's prep cross country teams were busy last week with multiple meets across the region they ran in.

On Tuesday, Sept. 19 was the Cadott Invitational that Fall Creek was involved with. FCHS finished 10th in the boys race out of 18 teams competing in the meet. No. 7 ranked Chippewa Falls McDonell edged out No. 11 Glenwood City for the team title 43-121 with Cameron third and Dairyland Conference favorite Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran fourth. Joel Stump finished in 38th place in a time of 20:21 on the 5000-meter Whispering Pines course. Following him for the Crickets were Jamison Carey, 47th in 20:50; Marcus Kleinhans, 61st in 21:27; Marcus Coleman, 63rd in 21:39; Kaden Prock, 71st in 22:06; freshman Alex Anderson, 79th in 22:41 and Shane Moore, 117th in 25:02. Junior Gavin Stewart of Ladysmith won the race in 16:50.

Fall Creek's girls finished in fifth place with 154 points led by Audrey Koehler. The freshman finished 13th in 22:02. Teammate Evelyn Bergeron was 27th in 23:08 followed by Larissa Johnson, 44th in 24:19; Kamryn Dahlberg, 51st in 24:50; Cora Peterson 58th in 25:23; Rebecca Krenz, 61st in 25:47 and Paige Aldrich, 68th in 26:19. Winning the race was Cameron freshman Inez Schmidt in 19:59 and winning the team title was Cloverbelt Conference favorite Eau Claire Regis with 54 points, edging out Cameron with 62.

Also that same day was the Blair-Taylor Invitational that Eleva-Strum competed in. Sophomore Russell Hulett had the Cardinals beat time at 20:31 in the boys' race while teammate Alex Awe placed 24th in 25:81. Ben Grace of the Chippewa Valley Lightning homeschool running co-op won the race in 19:49 and led the Lightning to the team title. In the girls' race, Amalia Dyar finished in sixth place in 25:46 while teammate Jillian Awe was 21st in 32:23. Independence/Gilmanton, led by their top runner Taylor Sylla won the team title as Sylla finished first in 22:32.

And Sept. 19 was the date of the Hudson Invitational that Osseo-Fairchild competed in. O-F's sophomore Jonas Sackmann-Van Hoof finished 154th Osseo-Fairchild in 26:58.3 and junior Nolan Olson was 161st in 27:55.1 in a meet of nearly all Division 1 state and Minnesota big schools. The Thunder's Alyssa Burmesch finished 70th in the girls race in 28:26.

Thursday, Sept. 21 was the date of the Durand-Arkansaw Invitational at Rolling Greens Golf Course in Durand. The field was one of the largest in meet history with some 23 teams in attendance including Fall Creek, Augusta and Eleva-Strum. The meet was delayed due to lighting but managed to finish before dark.

No. 7 ranked Glenwood City won the boys' team title with 68 points, edging out Chetek-Weyerhaeuser's 85 points despite C-W's Owen Hamholm winning the race in 17:28. FC finished seventh as a team in the boys race. Their runners competing were Stump 36th in 20:35; Carey, 46th in 21:54; Marcus Kleinhans, 521st in 21:08; Coleman, 66th in 21:34; Prock, 77th in 21:59; Anderson, 87th in 21:59 and Moore, 116th in 24:43. Augusta's runners were Preston Schafer, 38th in 20:40; Damian Sovereign, 59th in 21:26; Damien Fuentes, 67th in 21:36 and Garrett Larson, 123rd in 25:18. Eleva-Strum's Hulett finished 29th in 20:06 while Awe was 131st in 26:21.

Fall Creek finished eighth in the girls' race while Augusta was 12th. FC's runners were Bergeron 19th in 23:32; Johnson, 31st in 24:07; Dahlberg, 49th in 24:44; Peterson 61st in 25:22; Krenz, 63rd in 25:30; Reece Asmussen 73rd in 26:11; Iris VanWormer, 84th in 26:55; Lylian Anderson, 88th in 27:19; Sophia Schultz, 96th in 28:00 and Ellie Coach, 118th in 30:22. AHS's runners were Jade Pairsi, 60th in 25:14; Sophia Wanke 62nd in 25:24; Roella Weiss 80th in 26:30; Cecelia Hanson 83rd in 26:53; Abby Boone, 110th in 29:25 and Sam Truog, 115th in 30:06. Eleva-Strum's Anabel Howie finished 20th in 20:35; Dyar was 59th in 25:14 and Awe was 119th in 30:29.

Augusta and Fall Creek with join with Osseo-Fairchild in the O-F Invitational this Thursday, Sept. 28 along with Black River Falls, Cameron, Chippewa Valley - Lightning Bolts, Marshfield Columbus,
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, Chippewa Falls McDonell, Mondovi and Eau Claire Regis in what's a very competitive field. The meet begins at 4 p.m. at Osseo Golf Course. Eleva-Strum is participating in the Lincoln Invitational in Alma Center the same day, also beginning at 4 p.m.