Finishing their regular season on Saturday, the Whippet XC programs took to a new Invitational at Stoughton HS after another invite was canceled the day before. This meet was loaded with huge schools and just one other school the size of Whitewater. It afforded the kids an opportunity to learn how to scout a new course and put out an effort that they will be able to apply in the championship portion of their season in the coming weeks.
Caelyn Caputo put together another solid race and came through as the team’s top runner on the girls’ side. Despite the heavy race load lately, her times have all been similar on varying terrain, and she looks very confident in her pursuit of the finish line. Sophie Walton, Emma Weigel, and Gwen Truesdale aren’t far behind trading different positions on the team in recent weeks, feeding off each other as one may be feeling stronger in a race than someone else. The Varsity team was incomplete and didn’t have a team place. The JV girls were led by Sami Van Daele who ran her third best time of the year in 27:57. She paced the team to a 10th place finish out of 11 teams.
Jack Hefty ran 17:56 for a leading Whippet effort, followed by veteran Cooper Hammond who ran 18:52. The boys’ varsity team placed 12th out of 15 complete teams. In the JV race, Sterling Truesdale led the team by running his third best time of 25:03. Xavier Zei ran a lifetime best in 26:31, and debuting in a Whippet uniform for the first time was senior Colin Dugan. Colin has been with us since day one and was set to race at the Seibold Alumni meet in August, but the night before the meet he was in tremendous pain which meant a rushed trip to the hospital which called for immediate surgery. This ended up putting him on the shelf for several weeks while he got things put together and healed up nicely. After a few weeks of getting back into the swing of things and the go-ahead from his doctor, Colin cruised his way around the property of Stoughton High School to joyfully cross the line in 26:51! With a little more confidence now on his side and more training coming up, he is eager to run at the conference meet on October 14th. The JV squad finished in 12th out of 12 teams scoring.
Full Results: https://my.raceresult.com/182738/
The team will now retool and sharpen their physical abilities and mental edges over the next week and a half as they prepare to host the Rock Valley Conference Meet on Thursday, October 14th, on the campus of UW-Whitewater. The first race is set to begin at 4:10. Be there!
Article and Photo Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
