For the Tomahawk Leader

TOMAHAWK – The Tomahawk Hatchet cross country team hosted 13 teams for its annual invitational at Edgewater Country Club on a beautiful fall morning on Saturday, Oct. 9, where the varsity girls finished in second place, varsity boys placed third, JV girls placed first, and the JV boys had an incomplete team.

On the traditionally fast course at Edgewater, 13 of the 24 Hatchet runners that competed had either personal best times or seasonal best efforts at the event.

“Our athletes really love running at Edgewater, as evidenced by over 50% of the athletes running seasonal best or career best times,” said head coach John Zuelsdorf. “It also never hurts to have the added support of your classmates, parents and the community cheering you on, that combination is motivational in itself.”

The Lady Hatchets were led by Macey Mann with her 11th-place medalist effort, covering the 5K distance in a time of 21:24. Joining Macey on the podium was Emily Lacina, as she placed 13th in a time of 21:34.

Other scorers for Tomahawk included Kate Reilly (19th-22:00), Serena Reinke (20th-22:07 PR), and Ava Dragosh (21st-22:22 PR). Geena Wanta (28th) and Morgan Hansmann (50th) rounded out the Hatchet attack. 76 runners competed in the varsity event. Currently, the ladies have defeated 91 teams, while only falling to four (pct. .958) on the season.

Girls team scores were: Mosinee-65, Tomahawk-79, New London-94, Phillips-116, Lakeland-124, Rhinelander-131, Chequamegon-141, Crandon-196, Waupaca-215, Hurley-258, Laona/Wabeno-Inc., Antigo-Inc., Butternut-Inc., Three Lakes-Inc.

“Our varsity girls, without the services of their top runner, were still very competitive and gave Mosinee a run for the title,” Zuelsdorf stated.

The boys positioned three in the top 15 for medalist honors, led by Owen Dickrell, as he placed 8th in a personal best time of 17:59, followed by teammates Presley Gutbrod (12th -18:11, PR) and Arden Ziert (15th -18:26, SB). Freshman Sam Zastrow had a seasonal best improvement by 40 seconds, just missing the podium with his 17th place-18:32 effort. Rounding out the scoring was Ty Anthes with over a 60-second seasonal best improvement effort as he placed 30th in 19:10. Brett Borchardt (36th) and Taje Casey (49th) also figured into the mix for the third-place boys’ varsity. The boys also complete their pretournament record at 79 wins against 19 losses (pct. .806) on the season.

Boys team results: Phillips-54, Rhinelander-56, Tomahawk-74, Lakeland-109, Chequamegon-122, Crandon-162, Hurley-164, Mosinee-191, Waupaca-220, Laona/Wabeno-Inc., Antigo-Inc, Butternut-Inc., Three Lakes-Inc., New London-Inc.

“The boys’ top four scorers did what we asked of them and were in the thick of it with a strong Phillips squad and the Hodags, who Tomahawk has been chasing in recent weeks,” Zuelsdorf said.

In the last race of the day, the junior varsity girls wrapped up a solid meet for the Hatchets as they cruised to the JV team title by placing all their scoring athletes in the top six, nearly completing a perfect score in the process. They were led by freshman Alli Palmer as she cruised to victory, taking the lead early and never looking back. She PR-ed by 84 seconds (22:00) en route to victory and made a bid for varsity level competition at the conference meet. She was joined by medalists Halle Derleth (2nd-22:26- PR), Marie Gorell (3rd-23:13-PR), Robin Schmidt (4th-23:24), Kambyl Mattke (6th-23:47-SB) and Sophie Urmann (10th). Other finishers for the JV girls were Izzy Lee (11th) and Araween Alberg (17th), both with PRs.

The JV boys, once again with an incomplete team, were led by medalists Jacob Towle (2nd-20:00-SB) and Johnmark Hawley (6th-21:13-PR).

“With 13 best efforts, there were a lot of positives,” Zuelsdorf stated. “Owen made a great move after the mile and finished real strong on the way to his PR, Serena and Ava continue to improve, as witnessed by their PRs, and John Mark had the race of his life as he PR-ed and finished in a medalist position. I was particularly impressed with how a couple of our first year runners (Halle and Alli) responded in the girls JV race as they crushed the competition and are making a late season push for varsity spots at tournament time. We are proud of all of our athletes. It will be an exciting tournament season in the next few weeks.”

The Hatchets will travel to Lakeland for the Great Northern Conference Championships on Saturday, Oct. 16. The meet gets underway at 10 a.m.

Athletes of the Week

Alli Palmer – “She really went out aggressively and challenged herself, leading the JV race early on and never looking back. This paid off for her, as she was able to finish as JV champion with a medalist effort, and she had a career best time by over a minute! To see her rate of improvement over the course of the season has been nothing short of amazing!”

John Mark Hawley – “For John Mark it was a bittersweet day. In his last race as a Hatchet, he went out with a bang! A big P.R., exceeding his time goal and finishing as a medalist. He will always be able to look back on his last race and smile!”