Nelson/Adams Pace Area Runners at Freedom Invite

The cross country season kicked off last week, with several schools getting their first steps in at the Freedom Irish Waters Invite on Friday.
Oconto Falls’ boys were ninth of 17 schools overall and the Panther girls were 10th of 16.
Of individual runners in the large school pool, Falls junior Ben Adams took third of 66 runners with a time of 16 minutes, 46.31 seconds. De Pere’s Grady Lenn won the race in 15:26.55 by about 59 seconds.
Junior Griffin Kopke was 25th in 18:28.16, junior Brant Laluzerne took 37th (19:34.78), junior Emerson Rice placed 51st (20:20.12), freshman Isaiah Holtz took 53rd (20:26.88), and freshman Landon Timm was 55th (20:35.29).
Of 67 large school runners, Falls junior Brooke Hodkiewicz was 23rd (21:08.05), junior Hailey Delzer took 29th (21:35.92), senior Hannah Ludemann took 33rd (21:57.05), junior Josie Holtz placed 48th (23:08.83), freshman Emma Meissner placed 49th (23:10.6), senior Maddy Przybylski was 56th (24:11.64), and sophomore Mackenzie Lotto finished 59th (24:49.04).
Peshtigo’s boys took 12th and the girls were 14th.
Bulldog sophomore Rachel Nelson was second of 52 small school runners, finishing as one of two runners under 20 minutes (19:51.22). Assumption’s Lucy Dolan won the race in 19:24.59.
Junior Holly Pesch took 28th (23:46.37), sophomore Shayla Boettcher was 39th (24:50.9), junior Alaina Archambault placed 40th (24:51.23), freshman Samantha Miller was 41st (24:54.34), and freshman Rebekah Nutt took 51st (27:49.24).
Peshtigo sophomore Dominik Baxter took seventh of 52 boys small school runners (18:43.79), senior Reese Yunke was 13th (19:13.46), sophomore Eli Berndt took 16th (19:32.3), and freshmen Keelan Schmidt (20:17.74), Andrew Halfmann (20:39.28), and Eli Steele (20:50.78) were 23rd, 29th, and 32nd, respectively. Junior Om Shine took 42nd (22:05.54).
“I’m very happy with some of our results from the race. We had a few runners starting this season off ahead of where we ended last season,” Peshtigo coach Derek Smith said. “Our plan is to continue our program and get better each race. We have a lot of new runners this year, so it’s exciting to see a new group come in and hopefully we can continue to create the success we have seen the last few years.”
Marinette’s boys took 14th with the girls 15th.
The Marines leader in the boys race was junior Jackson Draheim, who took 21st of the large school runners (18:07.12). Sophomore Hunter Schneider took 48th (20:02.30), freshman Cole Grabowski placed 50th (20:15.88), junior Evan Reines was 60th (20:56.47), junior Micah Jezowski took 61st (20:57.48), freshman Cade Campbell was 63rd (21:09.13), and sophomore Dylan Demmith came in 64th (21:11.08).
Junior Addison Lacy finished 14th of the girls large school runners, junior Madison Kunick took 54th (24:04.86), freshman Anna Marzahl took 57th (24:38.01), junior Lauren Sadowski took 61st (25:11.13), sophomore Lacy Carviou took 63rd (26:13.14), and freshmen Kylie Kunick (26:22.15) and Courtney Campbell (32:50.02) were 64th and 67th, respectively.
Gillett’s boys took 13th in the field. In the first year since the graduation of Alex and Evan Peterson, who led the program for four years, sophomore Bradyn Wendorff led the way, taking second of 52 small school runners with a time of 18:25.83.
The Tiger girls didn’t have enough runners for a team score. Freshman Hope Soper paced the Tigers in 22:55.66 to take 18th, sophomore Sophie Limberg was 42nd (24:59.62), junior Lily Hansen placed 46th (26:22.99), and freshman Maggie Kaczmarek took 48th (27:04.83).
Junior Scott Herroux was 18th (19:53.2), sophomore Nash Stage placed 26th (20:29.46), freshman Ben Peterson placed 27th (20:36.78), sophomore Chase Anderson was 36th (21:17.53), and junior Zander Davis came in 44th (22:32.22).
Coleman had four boys in the race. Junior Conner Markiewicz took 14th (19:24.07), freshman Landon Risner came in 37th (21:17.53), sophomore Jake Cullinane-Maleport took 43rd (22:07.89), and Emery Kostreva took 46th (23:14.21).
Coleman junior Clare Gappa took 50th (27:25.64) and sophomore Aliza Jensen took 52nd (30:56.01).

Crivitz/Oconto Compete
at Chief K Invite
Oconto and Crivitz opened the cross country season with the Chief K Invite in Gibraltar on Thursday.
Oconto’s boys were fifth of eight teams and Crivitz took sixth. Mauston came out victorious as a boys team.
Reedsville’s Hunter Taddy was the only runner to break 18 minutes, winning the race in 17 minutes, 58 seconds.
Crivitz had two top 10 runners. Of 65 total competitors, sophomore James Caine took eighth in 18:43.74 and junior Ben Brown took ninth (18:51.01).
Wolverine junior Phillip Angel took 58th (23:32.43), sophomore Donovan Brandow was 59th (24:02.43), and junior Brock Banaszak was 63rd (27:46.31).
Oconto junior Trenton Hartman took 18th (20:03.71), junior Garrett Goetsch was 29th (20:42.98), junior Owen Bryzozowski took 34th (21:08.25), junior Daniel Alwin was 40th (21:38.04), junior Carter Koch took 51st (22:46.77), and sophomore Dalton Bastian was 65th (29:27.69).
In the girls race, Oconto was seventh and Reedsville claimed the top spot.
Roncalli senior Libby Schmidt won the race in 20:17.92 and the top local finisher was Oconto senior Betsy Finger (26:26.96). Freshman Ashlyn LeTourneau took 31st of 64 (26:56.73), sophomore Willow Burke took 41st (29:09.68), and sophomore Harper Burke was 45th (29:46.43).
Sophomore Jorgie Runnerstrom took 49th (30:24.08), senior Hayden Beekman placed 50th (30:31.72), and senior Gracie Simon was 51st (30:45.54).

Blue Devils Run in
T-Bird Invitational
Oconto got on the course for the Iola-Scandinavia T-Bird Invitational at the Iola Winter Sports Park on Tuesday.
St. Mary Catholic won the girls team event and Amherst was the top boys team.
Oconto’s boys were 11th. Of 137 individuals, Garrett Goetsch led the way (20:22).
Jackson Martin was 54th (21:03.3), Owen Bryzozowski took 57th (21:20), Daniel Alwin was 59th (21:23.1), Carter Koch took 60th (21:24.6), Trenton Hartman placed 68th (21:32.7), and Dalton Bastian was 126th (25:39.1).
Oconto had 10 of the 118 runners in the girls race, with Betsy Finger’s 48th place the top finish (26:04.6). Oconto’s top six included Willow Burke in 84th (29:16.3), Harper Burke 89th (29:34.2), Jorgie Runnerstrom 98th (31:13.8), Gracie Simon in 104th (33:34.3), and Hayden Beekman in 106th (33:43.7).

Maroon’s Compete at
Wildcat Invitational
Menominee competed at the Wildcat Invitational at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome on Saturday, which included over 100 runners in both races.
Marquette won both the boys and girls races, while Menominee had less than five runners and did not qualify for a team score.
Of 121 individuals, Maroon freshman Winley Brandt finished 13th in the girls race with a time of 21 minutes, 34.4 seconds and freshman Kaelyn Doubek was 71st (26:17.2).
Menominee had four runners in the 132-runner boys race. Junior Brayden Bourion took 48th (19:29.7), sophomore Henry Zuhels was 58th (19:59.2), junior Blake Bourion took 89th (22:36.8), and junior Ethan Howarth was 90th (22:37.3).