For the Tomahawk Leader

RHINELANDER – The Tomahawk Hatchet cross country team opened their season at the 14-team Rhinelander Invitational, held at the Rhinelander High School on Thursday, Aug. 25, utilizing their neighboring school forest.

Both the Hatchet girls and boys teams dominated in their debut invitational meet amongst the small school competition, winning 1st place in both races with scores of 24 (girls) and 23 (boys).

“Our racing strategy to progressively get faster and pack run worked for both teams, but not all the runners were able to move up in their positioning throughout the race, which will be a point of emphasis in these early season races,” said coach Connor Ahrens.

Placing six in the top ten of the small school race for the Tomahawk girls were Rachael Reilly (1st-22:30), Morgan Hansmann (2nd-22:46), Serena Reinke (6th-23:52), Robin Schmidt (7th-24:05), Alli Palmer (8th-24:21) and Halle Derleth (9th-24:28).

Other finishers for Tomahawk were Marie Gorell (25:34), Izzy Lee (26:02), Kambyl Mattke (26:09), Abi Micke (26:49), Lydia Shaney (27:31), Faith Derleth (27:59), Kailynn Hanse (31:30), Sumer Gaedtke (32:22) Jennie Frederickson (34:59).

Girls team scores: Tomahawk-24, Crandon-44, Suring-65, Three Lakes-Inc, Laona/Wabeno-Inc., Menominee-Inc.

The boys also had six in the top ten of the small school race, including Owen Dickrell (2nd-19:16), Sam Zastrow (3rd-19:19), Presley Gutbrod (4th-20:02), Ty Anthes (6th-20:49), Brett Borchardt (8th-21:24), and Taje Casey (10th-21:54).

Other finishers for Tomahawk were Jeremiah Johnson (22:45), Nathan Rosenmeier (22:59), Jacob Towle (23:24), Bruce Peetz (24:54), Masen Towle (24:58), Elliot O’Connor (26:32) and Cayden Shepler (28:04).

Boys team scores: Tomahawk-23, Menominee-45, Crandon-61, Suring-Inc., Three Lakes-Inc., and Laona/Wabeno-Inc.

Ahrens noted that both teams rose to the occasion.

“Our veterans are typically used to kicking off the season in Ashland against lots of small school teams,” he stated. “Running toe-to-toe with teams such as Wausau West and East was awesome to see, especially finding out that had the race been scored with all teams, the Lady Hatchets would have taken second behind Wausau West, and the boys would have tied for third with Lakeland. It was encouraging to see so many of our runners finish as strong as they did in the remaining 200 meters of our first major competition, though the coaching staff will be looking for the Hatchets to start those ‘finishing kicks’ earlier in the race.”

On Thursday, Sept. 1, the Hatchets will travel to 9-Mile Forest in Wausau for the Marathon Invitational. The meet gets underway at 4:30 p.m.

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