For the Tomahawk Leader
ANTIGO – The Tomahawk Middle School cross country team had a busy week with meets both on Monday and Thursday.
The weather has been stellar for this time of year, but runners can agree that it’s a bit warm for expecting top performances. That didn’t stop the young Hatchets, as all Tomahawk runners would have either seasonal or personal bests over the two-mile distance at a time where the coaching staff would begin to see the hard early season workouts begin to show up in the results.
GNC Conference Championships
On Monday, Sept. 23, Antigo hosted the Great Northern Conference championships on a fantastic two-lap, spectator-friendly course.
The boys were led once again by a strong performance from Connor Zorn in 16th place with a new personal best time of 13:55, moving the boys’ pack to 5th, while the girls placed 6th, but the team results don’t show what the coaches have noticed in their improvement on catching up on those leading teams, and the young team is aware and proud of that effort.
Charlee Lund, for the second year in a row, would take 1st team-level honors with her 3rd-place finish in a seasonal best time of 13:07 on the two-mile course. Scoring runners for the Hatchet pack were Kamron Ristau (23rd), Hector Luna-Perez (27th), Victoria Towle (27th), Max Micke (31st), Max Childers (35th), Alyse Arndt (35th), Levi Cerkas (36th), Elaine Huber (39th), Tripp Tabbert (42nd), Leigha Vassar (46th), Lily Meurer (63rd). Hatchets also charging hard to the finish line were: Chastin Dziura (45th), Finn Childers (57th), Vallyn Ott (61st), Allie Reiff, (64th), Nora Bubolz (66th), George VanAsten (66th), Zach Scott (67th), Eli Scott (68th). Navaeh Mathis (68th), Alaina Stogbauer (72nd), Kortney Busterud (73rd) and Gabby Ulrich (74th).
Three Lakes Invitational
The middle school runners took to the golf course for a two-mile race, joining their high school counterparts at the Three Lakes Invitational on Thursday evening.
Both teams continued to improve week after week and came away with 5th place for the boys, led by Connor Zorn’s best placing this year with a 12th place finish in 14:02. Charlee Lund would lead the girls’ squad to their best finish of the year, placing 2nd overall in a time of 13:28 and putting the young team within striking distance of their area competitors, taking home 3rd as a team.
Scoring runners at the Three Lakes Invitational were Hector Luna-Perez (15th), Victoria Towle (20th), Kamron Ristau (24th), Max Micke (25th), Levi Cerkas (31st), Alyse Arndt (34th), Leigha Vassar (35th), Elaine Huber (36th), Allie Reiff (40th), Tripp Tabbert (44th), Chastin Dziura (46th), Lucy Nelson (49th). Hatchets also charging hard to the finish line were: Max Childers (52nd), Lily Meurer (53rd), Nora Bubolz (54th), Alaina Stogbauer (55th), Navaeh Mathis (56th), Finn Childers (55th), George VanAsten (57th), Gabby Ulrich (57th), Kortney Busterud (58th), Vallyn Ott (62nd), Zach Scott (64th), Eli Scott (65th) and Colton Welke (68th).
The team will travel to Medford High School for their invitational on Thursday, Oct. 3.
