MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Sept. 13-20)
PREP CROSS COUNTRY: Boscobel Greg Bell Memorial Night Meet

By A.J. Gates and Jason Nihles

Hillmen sack #2 Cardinals: Goal line stand in the final minute preserves upset win over Brodhead/Juda

BOSCOBEL – Climbing the mountain is a challenge in and of itself, but the most daunting task can often times come down to how long you can remain there before being knocked off.

The Lancaster girls cross country team has climbed the Division 3 mountain throughout the early portions of this year’s schedule, and with their second-place finish at last Thursday night’s Greg Bell Memorial Night Meet, should now enjoy the view from the peak.

Going into last Thursday night’s meet at Boscobel, coach Taylor Reynolds’ girls held the No. 2 spot in the latest division 3 WCCCA Coaches Poll, right behind top ranked Darlington.

The Flying Arrows have run up against the Redbirds two times earlier in the season, finishing 11 points behind the home team at the Darlington Invite and just five points behind them at the River Valley Invite.

On Thursday night though, the Lancaster girls got the upper hand, finishing second of 19 competing teams with a final score of 88, 23 points ahead of third-place Darlington and 66 points ahead of fourth-place Boscobel. Winning the girls team title was Dodgeville/Mineral Point, who happens to be the state’s second-ranked team in the division 2 coaches poll.

“We were very happy and excited with our second-place finish considering the competition was so strong with Darlington ranked number one and Boscobel, who was ranked number four a week ago. We were really, really thrilled,” said coach Taylor Reynolds.

“The girls did a nice job. It was our best race as far as everyone putting it together and having a rock solid race,” he added. “It was really, really nice to see our entire crew, boys and girls, where everyone ran solid. We had a ton of season bests and personal records.”

“I think this is a good sign of how tough and how talented they are,” he said of his girls team. “It is definitely a good indicator, but we gotta keep working, stay healthy and stay focused, but it’s definitely a good sign for sure.”

Leading the Lancaster ladies with a time of 19:47.4 was senior Mallory Olmstead, who finished ninth of 214 runners.

“She’s been a great leader and she’s been our number one runner all four years,” Reynolds said of Olmstead. “She’s doing a nice job of leading by example.”

Rounding out the top five finishers for the Flying Arrows were: sophomore Kylie Olmstead in 14th place (20:16.3), freshman Katie Murphy in 16th (20:25.6), sophomore Sara McWilliams in 23rd (20:40.0) and junior Carley Vesperman in 27th (20:59.7).

With the Lancaster girls team returning six of their top seven runners from a year ago, and adding two new freshmen who are contributing at each meet, the Arrows will be tough to knock off if they are in fact ranked No. 1 in the latest WCCCA Coaches Poll.

“It’s very, very cool, but we’ll just stick to our game plan of doing our best every day,” said coach Reynolds. “I don’t even know how much the kids pay attention to it. They’re just accustomed to what we have to do today and they do a good job of just keeping their nose down and working hard.”

On the boys side, Lancaster placed 11th of 21 teams with a score of 320, while Dodgeville/Mineral Point claimed the team title with a score of 47.

Freshman Marshall Harris led the Flying Arrows with a 28th-place finish and a time of 18:16.8, followed by senior Brady Sperle, who finished 59th (18:58.9), junior Logan Harding in 61st (19:04.8), junior Clement Duve 84th (19:47.4) and junior Will Schindler 108th (20:31.1).

HENKEL LEADS FENNIMORE BOYS TO SECOND PLACE FINISH

The Fennimore boys ran to a second-place finish in the 23-team boys’ division with 49 points, finishing just two points back of Dodgeville/Mineral Point, the 10th-ranked team in Division 2.

The Fennimore girls finished seventh out of 19 complete teams in the girls race with 245 points.

The #4-ranked Dodge–Point girls won the girls’ team title with 44 points to complete the sweep.

“The night meet was electric and it was great to again see some of the best teams in the state of Wisconsin and race against them,” said Fennimore head coach Ryanne Carl. “This was definitely one of the biggest meets that we’ve run in all season and I thought the athletes responded well to the large fields.”  

Junior Isaac Henkel placed second out of 185 runners in the boys race with a new school record time of 16:12.5.

Senior Riley Foreyt (7th, 16:49.8), junior Ben Varela (8th, 16:57.3) and senior Carter Bunn (13th, 17:13.8) also ran to top-15 finishes for the Fennimore boys.

“Again, the guys team got out strong to the front of the pack and raced from there,” said Carl. “On the guys side, our goal was to respond to Dodgeville/Mineral Point as we knew that they would be ready to race.  They are currently ranked 10th in D2, but I would assume they will move up in the rankings. 

“Head to head, Dodge–Point is a very comparable team and they had one up on us Thursday night edging us out by two points. It was great to see the boys race them and react to them throughout the race. Although we lost, it was a great loss for us and it will help us as we tune up for the postseason.  

Henkel crushed the boys’ school record, running 16:12.50 beating Ian Barry’s record set in 2018 (16:36).  

This time currently places Henkel sixth overall in Division 3 this year. 

HOST BULLDOGS FINISH 4TH IN GIRLS RACE

The Boscobel girls ran to a fourth-place team finish with 154 points in a field of 19 complete teams.

Senior Aleya Kliesner ran the fifth-fasted girls 5K time in Boscobel girls history at 19:21 to place fifth out of 214 runners in the girls meet to pace the Lady Bulldogs. Junior Nora Jillson was right with Kliesner the entire race and finished sixth at 19:26. Senior Lilah Glasbrenner finished 44th at 21:57.3, sophomore Aubrey Seep (22:09, 53rd) and freshman Kira Kinney (22:14.8, 58th) rounded out the Boscobel girls’ scoring lineup.

For the BHS boys, senior Gabe Davis led the way, placing 13th out of 185 runners with a time of 17:15. Freshman Tyler Miller finished 36th at 18:29.8, while freshmen Ashton Udelhoven (18:36.0, 41st) and Bodey Bright (18:36.9, 42nd), senior Tucker Schmid (18:42.9, 47th) and sophomore Alex Kreul (18:43.8, 48th) ran in the same pack most of the race.

The Boscobel boys finished fifth with 179 points, behind Dodge–Point (47), Fennimore (49), Richland Center/Ithaca (93) and Monroe (99).

Boscobel cross country also honored 2023 Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame selection Jason Wilkinson, as well as Boscobel’s top-10 state finishes of all-time. 

“The Greg Bell Memorial Night Meet was extra special this year with our past top ten state finisher recognition, and surprise Hall of Fame announcement for Jason Wilkinson,” said Boscobel head coach Matthew Fritz. “I am extremely grateful for all of the help that I received in making the night meet one of the best experiences of the year for most teams in attendance. The guys and girls ran their most complete race of the year, and everyone on the team finished with their best performance of the season. I am proud of how well they battled and raced!”

Greg Bell Memorial Night Meet
(from Thursday, Sept. 14 @ Boscobel)
(Girls, 5,000 meters)
Top 10 team standings: 1.Dodgeville/Mineral Point 44, 2.Lancaster 88, 3.Darlington 111, 4.Boscobel 154, 5.Monroe 157, 6.La Crosse Aquinas 171, 7.Fennimore 245, 8.Westby  248, 9.Viroqua 252, 10.La Crosse Central 318, 11.Richland Center/Ithaca 325, 12.Iowa–Grant 341, 13.Prairie du Chien 349, 14. Caston 358, 15.Kickpoo/La Farge 370, 16.Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton 420, 17.Wauzeka/Steuben 433, 18.River Ridge 447, 19.Riverdale 456.
Top individuals: 1.Ellie Robinson (D/MP) 18:25.5, 2.Annie Robinson (D/MP) 18:28.1, 3.Adalee Berget (Dar) 18:48.4, 4.Hanna Martensen (SW/CC/B) 18:54.9, 5.Aleya Kliesner (Bos) 19:21.0.
Lancaster (88): 59. Mallory Olmstead 19:47.4; 14. Kylie Olmstead 20:16.3; 16. Katie Murphy 20:25.6; 23. Sara McWilliams 20:40.0; 27. Carley Vesperman 20:59.7.
Boscobel (154): 5.Kliesner 19:21.0, 6.Nora Jillson 19:26.0, 44.Lilah Glassbrenner 21:57.3, 53.Aubrey Seep 22:09.0, 58.Kira Kinney 22:14.8, 88.Grace Manning 23:34.0, 103.Nakia Stitzer 24:06.5. 
Fennimore (245): 12.Kylee Mumm 20:09.7, 15.Natalie Horsfall 20:16.6 ,42.Keira Kartman 21:54.9, 100.Kate Kenney 24:01.4, 126.Julianne Washa 24:53.6, 139.Mallori Oyen 25:29.9.
(Boys, 5,000 meters)
Team standings: 1.Dodgeville/Mineral Point 47, 2.Fennimore 49, 3.Richland Center 93, 4.Monroe 99, 5.Boscobel 179, 6.Iowa–Grant 183, 7.Kickapoo/La Farge237, 8.Westby 238, 9.La Crosse Central 273, 10.Darlington 305, 11.Lancaster 320, 12.River Ridge 355, 13.Riverdale 377, 14.Cashton 383, 15.Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton, 16.Prairie du Chien 412, 17.River Valley 453, 18.Viroqua 479, 19.Hillsboro 490, 20.Wauzeka–Steuben 520, 21.Pecatonica/Argyle 569.
Top individuals: 1.Layne Aurit (D/MP) 16:01.7, 2.Isaac Henkel 16:12.5, 3.Tre Dammen (Monroe) 16:32.2, 4.Bret Connolly (IG) 16:40.6, 5.Cody Yoder (D/MP) 16:41.7.
Fennimore (45): 2.Henkel 16:12.5, 7.Riley Foreyt 16:49.8, 8.Ben Varela 16:57.3, 13.Carter Bunn 17:13.8, 19.Nick Needham 17:50.6, 22.Griffin Fry 17:55.4, 68.Orlando Bonilla 19:17.5.
Boscobel (179): 14.Gabe Davis 17:15.4, 36.Tyler Miller 18:29.8, 41.Ashton Udelhoven 18:36.0, 42.Bodey Bright 18:36.9, 47.Tucker Schmid 18:42.9, 48.Alex Kreul 18:43.8, 58.Carter Molzof 18:58.7.
Iowa–Grant (183): 4.Bret Connolly 16:40.6, 17.Noah Lange 17:44.3, 38.C.J. Straka 18:32.7, 53.Jason Bartolo-Garcia 18:57.5, 77.Everett Zimmer 19:40.1, 99.Myles Pettit 20:15.7, 113.Beckem Stecklein 20:46.3.
Lancaster (320): 4.28. Marshall Harris 18:16.8; 59. Brady Sperle 18:58.9; 61. Logan Harding 19:04.8; 84. Clement Duve 19:47.4; 108. Will Schindler 20:31.1.