TOMAHAWK – The Tomahawk Middle School (TMS) cross country runners recently concluded their season on their home course in perfect conditions for racing.
Coach Justin Lund said the boys ended their great season with almost everyone establishing a career-best time when they crossed the line, with Max Childers leading the charge in their best race of the year and earning a medal for his 9th-place finish in a time of 12:46.
Not far behind was Blake Diermeier in (11th, PR). New entries in the all-time list for breaking 14 minutes were Hector Luna-Perez (23rd, PR, 13:51) and Max Micke (26th, PR, 13:57). Callen Madlung (28th, PR), Kamden Hanse (32nd, PR) and Landyn Schultz (35th, PR) would all race each other to the line and close out our top the scoring pack for the 5th-place team.
Hatchets crossing the finish line also included Chastin Dziura (39th, PR), Oliver Carew (45th, PR), George Van Asten (47th, PR), Finn Childers (60th, PR), Aydin Michael (61st, PR), AJ Blaesar (63rd, PR), Cylus Hilgendorf (64th, PR), Garrett Klesmith (66th, PR), Vallyn Ott (70th, SB), Brody Younker (77th, PR), Jaymason Schram (78th), and Micah Cerkas (79th).
The girls’ race was quite similar to the boys, Lund said, with many improving their seasonal- or career-best times, putting the team in 5th.
Jayda DeVillers had yet another top-five podium, placing 4th overall in a time of 13:23.
The Hatchet scorers also included Anna Eastwood (26th, PR), Lucy Nelson (32nd, PR), Leigha Vassar (36th), Allie Reiff (37th, PR), Ashtyn Vassar (33rd) and Adeline Voermans (43rd).
Rounding out the Hatchet pack were Emma Childers (44th), Fjola Erickson (53rd), Alaina Stogbauer (54th, PR), Vanessa Patterson (57th, PR), Nevaeh Mathis (58th, PR) and Delilah Rounds (63rd).
DeVillers races at State
On Saturday, Oct. 11, Jayda DeVillers made the trip down to Weyauwega to line up against the best middle schoolers in the state, regardless of division, to compete at the annual State meet.
Out of the 289 runners, she crossed the line in her 2nd-best time of the year, just days after the Hatchets’ home meet, which was good enough to earn a place in the top 50 with a 46th place finish in 13:09 over the two-mile course.
Awards ceremony
The cross country team will conclude its season with an awards ceremony and pizza party after school on Friday, Oct. 17.
“A special thanks to all of the coaches, parents and our Activities Director, Ryan Flynn, for the support this year,” Lund stated.
Milestones of the Week
Lund provided the following Milestones of the Week.
Jayda DeVillers – She really challenged herself this week racing twice in three days. She opened up the week with a top-five finish at our home meet, and then made the trip down to middle school State and placed in the top 50 overall in her second-fastest time of the season. She is another one of those hard-working athletes that has a goal and isn’t afraid to work for it. She knows it’s not a glamorous path and not one that’s commonly taken, but if done with intent, it can take her places in the future. She will be one to watch down the road.
Lucy Nelson – Lucy leads a group of girls who are all having breakout seasons this year, in combination with Allie, Leigha, Alaina and our 6th graders. The amount of improvement we’ve seen out of Lucy has been nothing short of amazing, and she helps keep the mood light each day. Once you get her off the start line, though, it’s all business, and she leads this group of young ladies that all just want to do better while supporting each other.
Allie Reiff - Allie had a rough couple of meets recently, but she ended the season so strong with a career best time improvement that helped out the team when we were missing our second runner. She stepped up, and as usual, did so with a smile on her face.
Max Childers – Max had a question during the summer regarding his ability to go sub-13:00, and up to this point, he had a fantastic track season last spring and was looking like he was logging a good deal of mileage last summer. We laid it out there of what he would have to run to accomplish this from split times to getting on podiums and placement within the conference. This was his path, but sure enough, he continued to put in the work and broke that barrier by almost 15 seconds in his very last race as a middle schooler. This is another runner to watch in the future.
Kamden Hanse – Kamden has been such a great consistent addition to the team. If you see him and Callen towards the front of the pack, you know the boys are going to have a great day, and for being so new to the sport, he runs like a tried and true vet. He gets the idea that hard days are hard and easy days we have to slow it down, which can be a hard thing to learn when your race performance is so much dependent on time. His rate of improvement just seems to never stop increasing, and it’s been so fun to watch.
Hector Luna-Perez – Hector had a sore knee the last couple of weeks, but just like he always does, he takes care of the little things, puts in the work even when it’s not cool or what everyone else is doing, and then shows up and puts up results, earning his place onto the all-time list, breaking 14 minutes in his last middle school race.
Max Micke – Max has been extremely consistent all season long, and as a coach, I was just chomping at the bit to see just when Max was going to break through and put in one of those great breakthrough races. He had a couple of incredible efforts, but saved the best for last, putting in his career-best time and becoming the third from the Micke family to be entered on the all-time sub-14 list, along with Hailey and Ellie.
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