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The Whippet CC teams got their feet wet and competed in their first 5000m race of the 2018 season under a mostly sunny sky and temperatures hovering around 80 degrees. The boys race was featured first and many runners did quite well given the difficulty of the UW-Whitewater course they call home. Trenten Zahn was the individual winner over 4-time defending alumni champion Brett Harms. Brett finished a fantastic cross country and track career at UW-Whitewater this spring and has enjoyed some much needed time away from intense training after 8 years of strong commitment to the sport. Trenten looked strong and steady in his first effort and cut significant time from his debut race last year as a freshman crossing the line in 18:56. Freshman Gio Anello was the team’s second runner and finished 3rd in 19:45. Junior Aidan Coburn, Senior Dan Trost, and Sophomore Will Hofmann rounded out the team score for the varsity as they beat the alumni team due to an incomplete score from the alumni. Jon Zimdars, Mark Schroeder, and Jack Downs also competed for the Whippet alumni.

Recent UW-Whitewater grad Liz Mielke took home her second alumni race title in 22:12. Nicole Tomomitsu was the team’s top finisher and second overall in 23:49. Junior Hailey Prager, Freshman Trinity Nickels, Sophomore Crystal Chan and Junior Jenna Lee solidified the team win for the varsity team as the alumni also had an incomplete team score on the women’s side. Alumnus Jen Taylor secured her top 3 finish crossing the line in 24:20.

Both programs had many new runners experience CC for the first time and will be looking to grow from their first experience as they travel to Verona for a large invite on Saturday, September 1st. The Whippets have two other home meets this season. The first is the Rock Valley Conference Championships on Thursday, October 11th followed by the WIAA Division 2 Sectional on Friday, October 19th. The road to the WIAA State Meet will go through Whitewater!