Marine boys/girls claim home invite titles

The Marinette Marines had the top runner in both the boys’ and girls’ races at their home Marinette Invite on Saturday, with Jackson Draheim and Addison Lacy both claiming individual gold medals.

Lacy won the 31-runner girls’ race in 21 minutes, 44.5 seconds despite continuing to battle through hip and calf injuries.

She’s been in physical therapy and is on a weekly regimen of mostly cross training with running a few days a week.

“We’re getting there,” she said. “It feels amazing. I put in so much work for this.”

Saturday’s win could be a big boost in her recovery from a mental standpoint.

“To come out and win the girls’ race was phenomenal because I think it’s been hard on her mentally and physically. I think today was kind of what she needed for that boost of pick-up for her,” Marinette coach Jenni Campbell said.

Draheim finished the course in 18:48.3, about 18 seconds faster than anyone else in the field. He led from the first corner of the race to the last.

Campbell said Draheim puts in a lot of work in the offseason, and his approach was clear in his comments after the race.

“Right away at the start, going into this meet, I had the mindset I was going to go as hard as I possibly could and if I took first, that was the goal. Just kind of eyeing up my competition as I was warming up, I was pretty pumped up and ready to run.”

Marinette claimed the girls’ team crown with just three complete teams in the race. Anna Marzahl took seventh (23:26.9), Madison Kunick was ninth (23:54.2), Lauren Sadowski took 11th (24:26.3), Kylie Kunick took 17th (26:17.9), and Lacy Carviou was 21st (26:45.2). Courtney Campbell took 30th (30:51.9).

The boys were also first of four full squads. Hunter Schnieder took fifth of 36 runners (19:52.7), Cole Grabowski was 10th (20:32.9), Micah Jezowski took 11th (20:33.9), Cade Campbell was 12th (20:41.4), Evan Reines placed 15th (20:59), and Dylan Demmith took 22nd (22:05.3).

Coleman’s boys’ team took second, and the Cougars had second-place finisher Conner Markiewicz as well, who ran a time of 19:06.2.

He said 19:06 “isn’t my best time but it wasn’t a terrible race,” adding he was still a little sore from Thursday’s race at a tough course.

“Nothing you can really complain about, but I would’ve liked to have got a little more juice at the end and pass him, but just focus on the next race,” he said.

Landon Risner was 17th (21:22.3), Jake Cullinane-Maleport was 18th (21:25.8), Hunter Seefeldt placed 20th (21:56.8), Logan Kurth came in 23rd (22:54.7), and Wyatt Van Haren was 28th (23:24.7).

For the Cougar girls, Ava Kuchta took 10th (24:19.8), Kiersten Jensen took 13th (25:02.4), Clare Gappa was 19th (26:34.3), and Aliza Jensen placed 24th (27:19.7).

Coleman coach Kyle Johnson was happy with the race, including the effort from the Cougars.

“It’s nice to have some of these more local meets that are smaller and get the competition of runners that are from the area,” Johnson said. “I saw a lot of great effort. It’s a great day for a race.”

Menominee’s Winley Brandt took third in the girls’ race with a time of 22:13.

“She had a really good time of 22:13. That was kind of the goal: get out fast, get a good spot before you go in the woods, and then just run a smart race,” Maroons coach Brenda Brandt said.

Brandt got passed around the Marinette soccer field portion of the race, finishing below Lacy and Wrightstown’s Natalie McDonald, but she was happy with her approach to the competition.

“I just focused on my personal race, not the other people’s, which really helps me,” she said. “My breathing was pretty good, which helped.”

The Maroons’ Kaelyn Doubek took 22nd (27:05.2) as well. For the boys, Henry Zuhels took eighth (20:05.1), Brayden Bourion took 13th (20:42.6), Blake Bourion took 25th (23:10.9), and Ethan Howarth came in 29th (23:27.6).

For Goodman-Pembine’s boys, Ryan Ehlert took 16th (21:17.5), Wailer Severson took 32nd (25:03), Timmy Strietzel placed 35th (28:30.7), and Caleb Hesseling took 36th (29:45.4).

The Patriot girls were paced by Joley Berger, who was fifth in the field (23:21.9). Rebekah Strietzel took 16th (25:52.2), Krissy Stahley was 20th (26:40.5), Emmy Suther was 26th (27:40), and Sophia Vogel was 31st (31:22.4).

There were also runners from Escanaba and Stephenson in town for the meet.

Nelson leads Bulldogs
at Smiley Invite

Peshtigo’s Rachel Nelson ran a strong race to take sixth of 142 runners in Division 2 and 3 at Saturday’s Smiley Invitational hosted by Wausau East High School.

Nelson finished the race in 20 minutes flat.

“Rachel had a great finish for a sixth-place medal,” Peshtigo coach Derek Smith said. “She continues to be a consistent runner for us.”

Holly Pesch was 45th (22:32.1), Alaina Archambault took 66th (23:30.4), Shayla Boettcher was 71st (23:47.1), Addison Olson took 96th (25:06.1), Samantha Miller took 102nd (25:26.7), and Rebekah Nutt came in 107th (25:47.2).

As a team, the girls were 10th of 19. Little Chute and West Salem were the top two teams.

The Bulldogs boys took 19th of 25 teams, led by Dominik Baxter, whose nine-second PR of 18:13.4 put him 46th of 177 individuals.

“He is continuing to gain confidence and drop those times,” Smith said.

Reese Yunke took 101st (19:49), Liam Smith was 114th (20:12.8), Eli Steele took 129th (20:50.9), Gavin Hartwig took 139th (21:11.2), Andrew Halfmann took 138th (21:10.4), and Madison Vorpah took 143rd (21:15.4).

“Had a few really solid times,” coach Smith said. “The Smiley is one of the bigger meets on the year and it seems to get tougher every year.”

Wendorff paces Tigers
at Angel Invite

Gillett traveled down to UW-Parkside for Saturday’s Angel Invitational, competing against mainly Milwaukee-area teams and holding their own.

The Tiger boys were 20th of 28 complete teams. There were also seven incomplete squads.

With 201 runners in the race, Gillett sophomore Bradyn Wendorff was 12th, finishing the race in 16 minutes, 55.39 seconds.

Nash Stage was 120th (19:43.55), Ben Peterson took 129th (19:47.02), Scott Herroux was 137th (19:55.85), Chase Anderson came in 145th (20:08.37), and Zander Davis took 173rd (21:19.32).

Gillett’s girls’ team was incomplete, with Hope Soper pacing the three Tigers in 42nd of 181 (21:50.2). Sophia Limberg took 138th (25:01.75) and Lily Hansen was 144th (25:25.96).

Cougars Compete at
Mike Jameson Invite

All of the top 12 runners in the varsity girls’ race at the Bay Port Mike Jameson Invitational on Thursday were from either West De Pere or Appleton North.

Coleman’s Clare Gappa (26:17.7) and Aliza Jensen (26:34) were 41st and 42nd in the race, respectively.

There were five girls teams and 43 runners. The boys’ race had seven complete teams, Coleman included.

Sheboygan North won the boys’ title and Appleton North’s girls were first.

Of 52 runners, Jake Cullinane-Maleport was 41st (21:21) and Landon Risner took 44th (21:23.8).

Hunter Seefeldt placed 46th (21:30.1), Logan Kurth took 51st (22:49.3), and Wyatt Van Haren was 52nd (22:50.1).