For the Tomahawk Leader
OCONTO FALLS – With the new WIAA qualifying format, the Tomahawk cross country team competed in the Oconto Falls Sub-Sectional on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Despite being in the final grouping of the day, which competed in a steady rain, the Hatchets were able to top the overall field and sweep both ends of the meet.
In the first race, the Hatchets placed all seven runners in the top nine to dominate the grouping, and when the other race results came in, the lady harriers had seven in the top 20 for the overall competition.
Freshman Rachael Reilly won the grouping and prevailed as the Sub-Sectional Champion in a time of 20:28. Macey Mann, Greta Tjugum, and Morgan Hansmann packed tightly together, separated by only three seconds (21:20-21:23) at the finish for a 2-3-4 wave finish and a 6-7-8 overall finish in the 8-team Sub-Sectional. Emily Lacina (6th/11th overall-21:56), Kate Reilly (7th/13th-22:09) and Ava Dragosh (9th/20th-22:53) completed the scoring for Tomahawk.
Team results were Tomahawk-33, Amherst-48, Bonduel-50, Oconto Falls-101, Clintonville-DNS, Nekoosa-DNS, Northland Pines-DNS, Wittenberg-DNS.
In the final race of the day, in the final grouping, the boys were able to place all five scorers in the top 11, and in the overall results all of their scorers in the top 14. They were led by the 1-2 finish of seniors Drew Bolder and Noah Buckwalter as they crossed the line in times of 17:09 and 17:11 respectively. In the combined race results, Drew prevailed as the Sub-Sectional Champion and Noah kept his runner-up spot. Alex Norman turned in his 3rd-straight sub-18 minute performance, holding off a late charge by a Wittenberg runner to finish 8th (9th overall) in 17:53. Junior Arden Ziert ran a super 2nd mile, moving up a couple of spots to finish in the top ten in the wave and 13th overall in a time of 18:28. Hunter Borchardt completed the Hatchet attack with a strong race placing 11th (14th overall) with his 18:30 clocking, right on the heels of his teammate. Senior Ethan Liebnitz and freshman Owen Dickrell rounded out the Hatchet finishers as they placed 22nd and 23rd overall in times of 19:16 and 19:23, respectively.
Team results were Tomahawk-39, Wittenberg-51, Bonduel-100, Amherst-116, Oconto Falls-128, Clintonville-133, Northland Pines-135, and Nekoosa-DQ.
The Hatchet boys host Wittenberg, Freedom, and Little Chute on Saturday, Oct. 24, while the Lady Hatchets hosted Amherst, Freedom and Appleton Xavier. Additionally, 20 individuals qualified (10 in each event) for the Sectional. The top two teams in each race will advance to the Division 2 State Meet in Colby, along with the top five non-team qualifying individuals on Saturday, Oct. 31.
This weekend at the Tomahawk Sectional the girls will race first at 11:00, followed by the boys at 11:45.