Both cross country teams rose to an early alarm clock and headed west to compete in Platteville against 34 teams on Saturday, October 1. This invite is broken down into two equal divisions of 17 teams split down the middle and defined as “small school” and “large school” based on school enrollment. All teams compete against one another in the same race, but the results are split based on the divisions.
Whitewater competed in the large school division and did well! The girls’ varsity was first and was once again led by freshman Mady Hefty. She continues to just simply be rock solid, steadily improving or racing near her previous best, setting the pace for the Whippets. Her time of 21:42 was good enough for 35th. Athena Soto ran her lifetime best of 22:40 to take 62nd and commented that this was her favorite course we’ve competed on yet. Jackie Franco put together another really nice race packing it up with her teammates and crossing the line in 24:14 taking 81st. The girls’ team took 13th in the large school division. In the JV race, Silvia Harris and Danielle DePorter paced the Whippets placing 56th and 57th, respectively, with times of 26:06 and 26:08. Paula Wilms wasn’t far behind in 60th with a time of 26:10. Elisa Albertini had a nice race really pushing herself and flourished at the finish to take home a new PR of 27:49 and take 83rd. The girls’ JV squad did well and placed 11th overall out of all 34 teams.
The boys’ varsity has consistently seen Jack Hefty up front for the Whippets. After getting bogged down slightly by a large field and tight turn on the bridge, Jack eventually found himself with the lead pack by 2K. Jack fought hard and ran his second sub-17 effort to stop the clock in 6th overall, but 3rd in the large school division. His time was 16:49. Nate Holden really is pouring it on in the middle to latter portions of his races and moved from the mid 30’s in the race to 17th overall, and 9th in our division. Nate’s time was 17:30. Both boys earned a medal for their terrific races. Miles Nickelsburg is steady in his low 19’s efforts and did so again by running 19:11 to take 64th. Overall, the boys’ team placed 8th. The JV team had some great packing running by a number of guys with Onyx Thompson coming out on top to place 54th in 21:19. Andrew O’Toole was a very motivated man on this day to make the cut for the varsity team at the conference meet in two weeks by dropping nearly a minute and a half from his previous personal best and took the 63rd in 21:35! Ben McCulloch and Yovanni Rojas-Reyes also ran strong races in the JV field to place 67th and 69th overall, just behind their teammates. Quinton O’Toole also had a significant improvement by dropping 59 seconds from his previous personal best to stop the clock in 23:59, good enough for 104th. Gavin LaFlash also improved by running with Quinton and placed 105th with a new PR of 24:00. Keith Cameron PR’d with a time of 24:43 to place 123rd. The boys’ JV team finished 10th overall out of 34 teams.
Next up is the Rock Valley Conference Meet hosted by Whitewater High School, on the campus of UW-Whitewater on Thursday, October 13th. The first race is set to begin at 4:10 with the Varsity Girls followed at 4:50 for Varsity Boys and finally at 5:25 for combined JV Boys and Girls. Come out and watch some intense racing in the championship phase of our season. Both varsity races will have athletes that are of state caliber and there are currently two boys’ teams that are ranked in the top 12 in the state. Don’t miss out!
Boys’ Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2022/plattcc_22b.pdf
Girls’ Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2022/plattcc_22g.pdf
Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
Pictures courtesy of Tiffany Buehler
