For the Tomahawk Leader
TOMAHAWK – The Hatchet cross country team hosted Gillett and Ashland for a triangular at Bradley Park on Thursday, Sept. 10.
In the first race of the evening, Drew Bolder and Noah Buckwalter raced neck and neck with Hansen from Gillett throughout the event, with Bolder surging at the finish to claim the title over Hansen in a time of 17:12 to claim the gold medal. Derek Hansen from Gillett took the silver in 17:13, and Noah Buckwalter grabbed the bronze in a time of 17:23 over the 5000 meter course.
The Hatchets were well-represented in the top ten, with Alex Norman 5th (19:00), freshman Owen Dickrell 6th (19:02), Arden Ziert 8th (19:15) and freshman Presley Gutbrod 10th (19:26). Other Hatchet finishers: Ethan Liebnitz 12th, Jacob Towle 16th, Brett Borchardt 17th, John Mark Hawley 24th, and Taje Casey 26th.
“The boys’ race was very exciting as three premier runners dueled it out ‘head to head’ for the title,” said Hatchet cross country coach John Zuelsdorf. “Drew made a veteran move down the stretch to take top honors, and Noah bettered his performance from the alumni race by over 80 seconds, both outstanding accomplishments!”
Team scores were Tomahawk 23, Gillett 39, and Ashland 69.
In the final race of the event, Gillett (runner-up state champs in D3 last year) showed their strength as they placed three runners in the top 5 to upend the Hatchets by six points (34 pts to 40 pts). Tomahawk was led by freshman Rachael Reilly as she placed 4th in a time of 21:31. Other scorers for the Lady Hatchets were: Greta Tjugum 6th (21:49), Macey Mann 8th (22:30), Morgan Hansmann 10th (22:46), and Kate Reilly 12th (23:11). Rounding out the finishers for Tomahawk: Geena Wanta (16th), Tiana Gerstenberger (21st), Marie Gorell (23rd), Ava Dragosh (24th), Autumn Peissig (25th), and Kambyl Mattke (26th).
“Our depth on the boy’s side propelled us to the team title and helped keep the boys record unblemished at this point in the season,” Zuelsdorf stated. “The girls, with one of their top runners out (Emily Lacina), still gave Gillett all they could handle. Their top end was just stronger than ours as they went 2-3-5, while we countered with 4-6-8 and couldn’t overcome that 8-point deficit with our #4-5 scoring runners. Before the race we told the girls that someone would have to ‘step it up’ and we saw some early race awesome efforts out of a few of our girls, but still not enough to overcome the set back of losing a top scorer.”
Team scores were Gillett 34, Tomahawk 40, and Ashland 48.
“To return to Bradley Park a few weeks after our Alumni Race gave the athletes a ‘true measure’ of how they have improved,” Zuelsdorf said. “Most improved by over a minute and several over 2 minutes! That’s a testament to how hard they have been working!”
The Hatchet harriers’ next meet is set for Thursday, Sept. 17 when they will travel to Medford for a triangular.