Bulldogs/Tigers Sweep Conference Meets

Peshtigo Boys/Girls
Claim Packerland
Conference Crowns
The Peshtigo Bulldogs ran away with Thursday’s Packerland Conference Championships in Gibraltar, as both the school’s cross country teams were crowned conference champions.
Peshtigo’s boys were first of four teams and the Bulldog girls were first of eight. Both had the fastest individual in the race, and neither was particularly close.
Senior Andrew Nelson won the boys’ race in 17 minutes, 30.34 seconds, which was 34.55 seconds faster than second-place finisher Ben Grosta of Southern Door.
Freshman Rachel Nelson won the girls’ race by 18.09 seconds over Kewaunee’s Hannah Miller, who took second.
Both Peshtigo teams also had the third-best runners in Reese Yunke (18:12.96) and Holly Pesch (20:51.19).
The girls’ race was first. Peshtigo beat out Sevastopol, the only other team really in close contention, by 10 points. The Pioneers had three top-10 runners and five in the top 14, but Peshtigo’s quality at the top ultimately won out.
Beyond Nelson and Pesch, Alaina Archambault took eighth (22:01.83), Shayla Boettcher was 11th (22:25.14), and Addisen Olson took 15th (23:15.7).
“I knew we had a great chance. The girls came ready to run,” Peshtigo coach Derek Smith said. “Sevastopol was going to be our biggest challenge. They have some really good runners and we needed to be at our best. The girls showed that they wanted it more.”
It’s the first time the Peshtigo girls have won the Packerland Conference title.
“Early in the week I took the kids to the trophy case. I asked them what was missing,” Smith said. “Our last conference championship came in 2019 and I think that gave everyone a little extra drive. This team as a whole came together for one common goal: to work hard and put in their best effort to achieve a pair of conference championships. They earned it.”
The boys followed it up by beating what Smith described as the “favorite” coming into the race, Kewaunee, by 12 points.
Kewaunee had six runners in the top 17, but Peshtigo put five in the top 14.
Cole Grabian took 10th (19:28.43), Eli Berndt was 13th (19:46.88), and Liam Smith placed 14th (19:50.61).
“I knew we had the talent to contend. It would be a matter of who was willing to go to the well,” coach Smith said. “Led by Andrew Nelson and Reese Yunke, who ran an amazing race, six boys had a personal record time today. We won the second half of the race and that’s where the difference came.”
Oconto was third in the boys’ standings and fifth in the girls’ race.
For the boys, Kadin Baxter took seventh (18:52.41), Dominik Baxter placed ninth (19:11.97), Daniel Alwin took 18th (20:18.05), Jackson Martin was 19th (20:25.15), Bryton Fuller came in 20th (20:35.8), and Angel Jordan was 21st (20:38.43).
On the girls’ side, Addisyn Viestenz took 19th (23:51.2), Madilyn Thomson was 20th (24:15.47), Betsy Finger took 22nd (24:26.63), June Iza took 27th (25:19.61), and Alexandra Hyland was 42nd (27:34.89).
Oconto is in the Division 3 sectional at Athens this weekend and Peshtigo’s D2 sectional is at Oconto Falls.
Tigers Take Home Two
M&O Conference Titles
Gillett claimed both the boys and girls cross country M&O Conference titles in Three Lakes on Thursday.
The Tigers had the top three runners in the boys’ race and three of the top four in the girls’ race.
Carleigh Kaczmarek won the girls’ race with a time of 20 minutes, 32 seconds, beating every other runner by 48 seconds or more.
Sophia Limberg took third (22:16.6), Cheyenne Krueger took fourth (22:24.5), Laney DeBauch was sixth (23:05.3), and Lily Hansen took eighth (23:29.4) to make up Gillett’s top five.
For the boys, Alex Peterson won the race by over a minute, in 16 minutes, 24.7 seconds. Evan Peterson took second (17:29.6), Braydin Wendorf was third (17:38.8), Scott Herroux came in eighth (19:45.6), and Nash Stage took 10th (19:59.2).
“One of the goals for both the boys and girls was to be conference champs and they were determined to be up to the task,” Gillett coach Bill DeJung said.
For Gillett’s senior girls, Kaczmarek, Krueger, DeBauch, Kasey Hansen, and Megan Wagner, it was their fourth straight conference title.
“I told the senior girls that winning it all four years they were out is something no one can outdo,” DeJung said.
Suring was the only other girls team. Georgia Gerndt took second (21:20.8), Ginger Gerndt was seventh (23:17.3), Hailey Thomson was 11th (24:40.8), Allyson Seibert took 12th (25:06.5), and Morgan Suring came in 13th (25:28.1).
For Coleman, Clare Gappa took 10th (23:58.2), Aliza Jensen took 14th (25:45.1), and GraceLynn Nowak took 15th (25:45.2).
Lena/Saint Thomas Aquinas Academy had four finishers. Haley VanArk took 16th (26:00.7), Miriam Alberts was 18th (27:42), Chaela Rabas took 19th (29:13.2), and Kali Fischer took 20th (32:05.3).
Coleman took second and Oneida Nation was third in the boys race.
For Coleman’s boys, John Nowak took fourth (18:34.1), Conner Markiewicz took 13th (20:04.9), Chase Gruber was 16th (21:23.1), Isaiah Nowak took 19th (22:36.1), and Wyatt Van Haren was the Cougars’ fifth-best finisher in 20th (22:36.6).
For Crivitz, Ben Brown took fifth (19:06.3) and James Caine took sixth (19:07.1). Brock Banaszak took 23rd (25:50.8).
Lena/STAA had four runners: Dylan Comins took seventh (19:19.6), Mason Belongia was ninth (19:48.4), Reed Hosking took 12th (20:04.6), and Eric Kosch was 14th (20:08.5).
Panther Girls
Take Silver at
NEC Championship
Oconto Falls’ girls cross country team took second at Saturday’s North Eastern Conference Championship in Marinette.
The Panthers had a great team outing from top to bottom, with five runners finishing in the top 20.
Brooke Hodkiewicz took seventh of 55 runners with a time of 21 minutes, 3.9 seconds, Hannah Ludemann was ninth (21:15.3), Hailey Delzer took 12th (21:33.2), Maddy Przybylski came in 16th (22:11), and Mackenzie Lotto finished 20th (22:22.3). Sydney Bell finished 24th (22:48.1).
All six earned all-conference honors. Ava Hodkiewicz was 29th (23:05.6) to round out the Panther finishers.
The Oconto Falls boys were fourth of nine, with Little Chute, Luxemburg-Casco, and Freedom occupying the top three positions.
The Panthers had three runners in the top 11, including Ben Adams in fourth (17:39.3), Griffin Kopke in ninth (18:19), and Evan Yuma in 11th (18:26.7). There were 61 runners in the race, which Little Chute’s Riley Huss won in 17 minutes, 1.1 seconds.
Adams, Kopke, and Yuma were all-conference selections.
“Overall, both teams had fantastic performances and are running their best at the right time,” Oconto Falls coach Lon Ludemann said. “They are looking forward to next weekend’s sectional hosted by Oconto Falls High School.”
Brant Laluzerne took 34th (19:53.8) and Emerson Rice came in 35th (19:56.5). Layton Rickert was 50th (21:28.7) and Garrett Ganter took 52nd (21:41.8).
Marinette’s boys took seventh. Jackson Draheim took 21st (19:08), David Jezowski was 24th (19:11.8), Dylan Demmith took 43rd (20:39.2), Hunter Schneider placed 47th (21:15.3), Aidan Anderson was 49th (21:26.7), Evan Reines took 53rd (22:14.2), and Aaron Peterson came in 61st (25:06.8).
For the Marinette girls, which took sixth of eight teams, Addison Lacy took 22nd (22:34.2), Julia Cano Hidalgo was 30th (23:10), Madison Kunick took 23th (23:47.1), Lauren Sadowski came in 41st (24:38.9), Lacy Carviou took 46th (25:52.7), and Karissa Valitchka was 47th (26:00.6).
Marinette had an added advantage of running on its home course. The Marines responded with some strong individual performances.
“I felt overall they did fantastic. We had a lot of PRs on both the girls’ and boys’ side today, right where we want to be at the conference meet,” Marinette coach Jenni Campbell said. “We have a very talented conference amongst the talent that’s in our conference, so they leveled up and ran hard. I’m proud of them. They had a great advantage today being on their home course. They know it well, they knew what was coming, used it, and on a windy, chilly day, they did awesome.”
Oconto Falls will host 14 other teams, including Peshtigo and Marinette, for sectional competition this weekend.
Menominee’s
Brandt Takes Fourth
at GNC Meet
Marquette swept the Great Northern Conference Championships in Escanaba on Thursday.
Menominee’s top finisher was Attica Brandt. The Maroon senior was fourth in the girls’ race with a time of 21 minutes, 32.1 seconds.
Mikakah Mead was the only other girl in the race, taking 20th of 22 runners in 27:23.3.
Menominee’s boys were fifth of five teams. Brock Murphy was 16th of 29 runners (19:35.6), Aden Short took 20th (19:53.7), Ethan Howarth came in 25th (21:40.5), Brayden Bourion took 27th (22:14.3), and Blake Bourion finished in 28th (22:39.5).