Whitewater High School hosted the Rock Valley Conference Cross Country Meet at UW-Whitewater on Thursday, October 12th, and absolutely shined on what was a cloudy rainy afternoon.
The varsity boys got things going first with Jack Hefty claiming his first individual conference championship in cross country. Jack battled with the top runner from Monroe for much of the race before pulling away with 1000 meters to go and was simply all gas at that point. He was the only runner to break 17 on this challenging course to stop the clock at 16:58. Nate Holden took advantage of the top Monroe runner faltering late in the race and passed him with 850 meters to go. Nate never looked back to claim third overall with a time of 17:36. These two earned first team all-conference honors for finishing in the top 8. With two runners in the stable, the team was riding high. Miles Nickelsburg ran lights out and took 9th overall with his best race of the season yet. He stopped the clock in 17:53. Not to be outdone, Xavier Zei took 2nd team all-conference honors as well by placing 15th with a time of 18:25. Onyx Thompson accelerated through the field late taking 44th and completed the team total of 72 points. Quincy Boudreau and Andrew O’Toole ran gutsy races to wrap up the Whippet finishers and placed 51st and 54th overall. These two ran 20:26 and 20:39. The team gave Monroe everything they had and caused them to be nervous. The cheers that the Monroe fan base let out at the awards ceremony indicated as such. Monroe took the title with 65 points, just 7 ahead of Whitewater. The team improved on its third-place finish from a year ago.
The varsity girls competed next with a slightly different look as the usual top runner, Mady Hefty, was unable to race today. This decision was made as a cautionary measure due to an injury with hopes of having her on the starting line at sectionals next Saturday. Nola Coburn assumed the number one position for the team as the top Whippet finisher. Nola ran a strong, smart race and sliced her way through the field and finished just outside first team all-conference, placing 9th overall. This was a very strong race for her! Nola’s time was 21:54. Athena Soto earned an honorable mention all-conference honor and placed 17th in 22:20. Carley Boudreau earned honorable mention all RVC honors by placing 23rd in her first year of cross country. Her time was 22:49. Ema Aranda and Sami Van Daele were the next two Whippets to cross the line in 44th and 45th with times of 25:43 and 25:50. The next two girls to get to the line were Bella Aranda and Silvia Harris in 48th and 49th with times of 26:11 and 26:23. The team raced with courage and toughness and came away with a fifth place finish out of 11 teams with a point total of 122.
The JV boys were led by Isaac Straight who had a great day and stopped the clock at 20:36, good enough for 7th overall. Wyatt Esch wasn’t far behind and placed 9th in 21:06. Isaiah Mendez really poured it on late in the race and placed 12th with a time of 21:12, good enough for a 25 second season best time improvement. Marcus Roselle ran a great race for 29th in 22:12. Quinton O’Toole and Parker Genskow were together much of the race but saw Quinton ahead at the end with a 37th place finish over Parker’s 41st position. Gavin LaFlash finished in 47th. Sam Nickelsburg placed 55th. Luc Pomazak and Angel Kilar ran significant personal bests today with Luc shaving 25 seconds off his season best and Angel cutting four and a half minutes off his previous season’s best on this day. Wow! Alex Clarksen placed 61st and cut 5 seconds off his season best time, Dante Baker was 63rd, and Sterling Truesdale finished 67th. Like the varsity boys, the JV squad placed 2nd overall with a point total of 82 points.
The JV girls were paced by Lucy Troxel who placed 23rd with a time of 27:04. Payton Brautigam easily ran the best race of her season and cut nearly a minute off her previous best and placed 25th in 27:17. Haley Keltesch ran a lifetime best and placed 32nd in 29:37. Danielle DePorter ran her second best time of the season in her final race in a Whippet uniform to place 36th in 31:31. Taiya Kolb completed the JV scoring as the team’s fifth runner in 37th with a new season best of 32:42. The girls team placed third overall with 85 points.
Full Results: https://my.raceresult.com/265906/
The team will now shift their focus to the WIAA Division 2 Sectional meet hosted at UW-Parkside on Saturday, October 21st. The varsity boys will race first at 12:25 and the girls will follow at 1:10. The top 2 teams and the top 5 individuals not on those two teams will earn a trip to the WIAA State Meet the following weekend.
Go, Whippets!
Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Peter and Bob Mischka
