Hatchet harriers take part in Athens Invitational with end of regular season on horizon

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For the Tomahawk Leader

ATHENS – The Tomahawk Hatchet cross country team competed in the annual 18-team invitational at Erbach Park in Athens on Thursday, Sept. 29.

The girls finished in 3rd place, despite missing the team’s top two runners, as well as several others on the injured list. The Lady Hatchets ultimately finished behind only #2 state-ranked Assumption (Div. 3) and Phillips by 15 points.

The boys were also missing a few injured teammates, taking 4th place behind three Division 3 state-ranked teams in Phillips, Athens and Chequamegon.

“The weather was again perfect, combining that with the familiar racing grounds Athens offers, it was an excellent day for our team to really challenge themselves,” said coach Bill Turgeon. “Plenty of state-ranked teams to push those paces and see what we’re made of.”

“A priority coming into our home meet and the cross country postseason is making sure that our student-athletes are healthy and ready to compete,” coach Connor Ahrens stated. “This was our final opportunity to rest those who needed it, so inadvertently this became a neat race to see who was willing to push themselves to fill those gaps.”

Utilizing an old Tomahawk trademark, the girls’ team pack ran the race, impressively cracking the top five teams while missing five runners. Leading the female Hatchets in the day’s first high school race was sophomore Alli Palmer, taking 20th in a time of 22:04. She was followed closely by her varsity teammates Serena Reinke (22:19), Marie Gorell (22:27), Halle Derleth (22:46), Robin Schmidt (22:51) Kambyl Mattke (24:02) and Izzy Lee (24:09).

Completing the rest of the Lady Hatchets were Faith Derleth (24:14), Lydia Shaney (25:14) and Jennie Frederickson (37:15).

Girls team scores: Assumption-51, Phillips-82, Tomahawk-97, Colby-106, Chequamegon-139, Marathon-155, Cadott-161, Thorp-233, Antigo-234, Athens-244, Abbotsford-262, Auburndale-Inc., Columbus Catholic-Inc., Laona/Wabeno-Inc., Prentice/Rib Lake-Inc., Spencer-Inc., Stanley-Boyd-Inc., Three Lakes-Inc.

Photos courtesy of Connor Ahrens.

Not intimidated by the competition, the boys’ team held their own, and as a result added even more seasonal-best times to boot.

Junior Presley Gutbrod set the tone with his 15th-place finish in a time of 18:00. Other Hatchet boys followed in pairs for most of the race: Owen Dickrell (18:40), Sam Zastrow (18:41), Brett Borchardt (18:55), Taje Casey (19:00), Jacob Riemer (20:21) and Jeremiah Johnson (21:10).

The rest of the Hatchet speedsters included Elliot O’Connor (21:40), Masen Towle (21:55), Bruce Peetz (23:12), Eli Albrent (24:00), Gerard Gorell (24:04) and Cayden Shepler (25:09).

Boys team scores: Phillips-36, Athens-84, Chequamegon-111, Tomahawk-132, Auburndale-143, Marathon-145, Colby/Abbotsford-187, Prentice/Rib Lake-191, Stanley-Boyd-238, Assumption-266, Columbus Catholic-290, Cadott-303, Thorp-334, Spencer-298, Antigo-Inc., Bowler-Inc., Laona/Wabeno-Inc., and Three Lakes-Inc.

“Year over year improvement is something our coaching staff follows closely,” said coach Steph Ahrens. “Seeing that many of our veterans had that improvement from last year’s race was great to see, even plenty of newcomers with new personal records.”

“Lots of our athletes looked relaxed during the race, which is a great sign,” noted Coach Kurt Reinke. “Additionally, some key veterans are showing some signs of where they need to be if we’re going to make a run at State.”

The next meet for Tomahawk is the 46th Hatchet Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 8, at Inshalla Country Club in Tomahawk, a brand new course for the Hatchets, with the first race kicking off at 10 a.m. The meet will include concessions in the clubhouse and a 50/50 raffle fundraiser for the team’s end-of-season awards.

Athletes of the Week

Kambyl Mattke – “Junior Kambyl Mattke is a deceiving teammate. Being one of the friendliest and most well liked individuals on the team, one would not think she would be a fiery competitor. Toe the line and once that gun goes off, she’s about as competitive as they come. Starting the Athens race in 70th place, she passed 10 runners each mile to finish in 50th place, coming across the line in a seasonal-best time of 24:02, earning 42 varsity points. The coaching staff has always enjoyed working with this experienced junior and knows just how important Kambyl really is to this team, both athletically and mentally.”
Elliot O’Connor – “Early- to mid-season improvement is typically a bonus and not expected, due to the higher mileage training during these periods. Don’t tell this to freshman Elliot O’Connor though, who has gone from a 27:10 to, just recently at Athens, a new personal record of 21:40, dropping a staggering five minutes and 30 seconds. Elliot’s in-practice effort and respect for the training program have allowed him to continually learn how to become a much more efficient distance runner. Starting the Athens invite in 102nd place to finishing 91st, proving he follows the body passing mentality of the 2022 squads. The coaching staff looks forward to seeing just how much Elliot can keep improving as he begins to realize what he’s capable of.”
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