For the Tomahawk Leader
THREE LAKES – The Tomahawk Hatchet cross country team took another step forward in the annual Three Lakes Blue Jay Invitational at the Big Stone Golf Course on Thursday, Sept. 22.
With tons of seasonal-best performances, the Hatchets were nearly dominant, bringing home the girls’ champion trophy and boys’ second place trophy in the ten-team event.
“With the middle school teams setting the bar with the first race of the day with lots of their own seasonal-best performances, the high school squads carried the energy into both races,” said coach Connor Ahrens. “It was inspirational and heartwarming seeing the middle school team rip around the course after their meet to cheer on our girls and boys.”
The high school girls kicked off the evening with a dominating performance, winning the meet by more than 30 points.
The girls were led by individual race champion Rachael Reilly, who nearly ran a career personal record with in a time of 20:15 (1st).
“Rachael ran much of the race alone,” said coach Steph Ahrens. “Had she had someone in front of her or with her, we might be talking about another all-time top-ten Hatchet performance.”
A little over a minute behind was the rest of the girls varsity pack, which included: Morgan Hansmann (21:29 – 5th), Serena Reinke (21:50 – 10th), Alli Palmer (21:57 – 11th), Halle Derleth (22:26 – 14th), Marie Gorell (22:33 – 16th) and Robin Schmidt (22:44 – 18th).
Potential varsity alternates Abi Micke (22:59 – 19th) and Izzy Lee (23:12 – 23rd) continued the barrage of Hatchet runners in the top portion of the race standings.
Encapsulating the Lady Hatchet racers were Faith Derleth (23:54), Kambyl Mattke (24:14), Lydia Shaney (25:04), Kailynn Hanse (26:11), Summer Gaedtke (29:03) and Jennie Frederickson (34:30).
Girls team scores: Tomahawk-38, Rhinelander-72, Crandon-72, Marathon-91, Three Lakes-107, Northland Pines-152, Florence-Inc., Goodman-Pembine-Inc., Laona-Wabeno-Inc., Lakeland-Inc.
The boys’ race would prove to be won by the narrowest of margins.
The Hatchet boys came out determined to race with the best, and it showed. Junior Presley Gutbrod had a standout performance, PR’ing in a time of 17:55, which landed him in 7th place. The boys’ varsity followed suit, and all had seasonal-best performances, competing with the best the boys’ race had to offer, falling short of the champion trophy by one point. These efforts included Owen Dickrell (18:20 – 10th), Sam Zastrow (18:44 – 16th), Ty Anthes (18:58 – 18th), Brett Borchardt (19:16 – 22nd), Taje Casey (19:43 – 25th) and Jacob Riemer (20:29 – 30th).
The rest of the boys performances included Jeremiah Johnson (20:45), Jacob Towle (21:18), Masen Towle (22:19), Elliot O’Connor (22:34), Bruce Peetz (23:48), Eli Albrent (24:11) and Gerard Gorell (24:15).
Boys team scores: Marathon-53, Tomahawk-54, Rhinelander-58, Crandon-89, Goodman-Pembine-110, Laona-Wabeno-Incl., Northland Pines-Inc., Florence-Inc., Three Lakes-Inc., Lakeland-Inc., Crivitz-Inc.
“Today the student-athletes got to see a little bit of their reward for following the training program under the new coaching staff,” coach Kurt Cordova said after the meet. “It’s hard to see the fruit of your labor mid-season and harder yet to stay focused the entire season, but the kids are learning just that.”
“It was a great day for the team,” coach Steph Ahrens stated. “Every single girl but one ran a seasonal-best time, while all but three boys did the same. This is an extremely rare achievement. The team is looking good and spirits are rising. Now the team just needs to carry this into our final few weeks of higher mileage training.”
“Our athletes are dialing in on their goal paces,” said coach Connor Ahrens. “This was clearly evident in the first two miles of the race. Now we need to dial down for the final mile if we’re going to compete at an elite level.”
On Thursday, Sept. 29, the Tomahawk runners will head to Athens for a meet that gets underway at 5 p.m.
Athletes of the Week
