The Whitewater Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country Teams competed well against the state’s best athletes on Saturday, October 28th at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids. The conditions were the coolest they were all season hovering in the mid 30’s with overcast skies and the course in great shape despite all the heavy rainfall leading up to the event.
The boys’ team raced first, and all seven runners were doing their jobs and establishing position early to begin preparing to endure the discomfort that eventually would set in. Jack Hefty ran a really great tactical race and put himself in a medal position for much of the race (top 10) but lost one of his spikes just over halfway into the race. This caused him to lose a few places by the finish; he ran an incredible race overall to place 13th in 16:28. This was his best place and time of all the three years he has competed at the state meet. Miles Nickelsburg moved up nicely in the back half of the course and eventually caught his teammate Nate Holden. He continued to motor to the finish line in 91st with a time of 17:47, the second-best time of his career. Nate was out strong and in the top 40 at the mile mark. Battling through a cold, he mustered everything he could for the team and placed 95th overall with a big improvement over his previous year’s state meet performance. Nate’s time was 17:48. Xavier Zei had a solid day in his first state meet race placing 126th with a time of 18:32. A year ago Xavier wasn’t even running under 20:00 minutes. Onyx Thompson ran a strong race only 14 seconds off his lifetime best and placed 143rd with a time of 19:30. Quincy Boudreau and Andrew O’Toole had nice efforts to place 142nd and 151st overall with times of 20:14 and 20:29. The boys’ team placed 14th overall with 311 points out of 16 in the event.
The girls were up next and did not disappoint. They came to race, and it showed from the get-go. From the early indicators, we were in a battle with Clinton with only a few points separating the two teams at each mile checkpoint. Clinton was the sectional champion in our sectional one week earlier by a fairly large margin. Mady Hefty once again led the team and placed 93rd with an overall time of 21:37. She completed a really nice comeback after an injury that derailed her season for a few weeks as we approached the championship phase of the season. Athena Soto wasn’t far behind and placed 101st in 21:52 in her third-best time of the season. Her improvement overall from last year to this year was huge in the team’s growth. Nola was moving up well in the later stages of the race and at the finish placed 116th in 22:16. Carley Boudreau rebounded well from a tougher sectional race a week earlier. Given the course conditions and terrain, this was far and away her best race of the season. Her previous PR was 22:10 on a flatter and faster course, and today she ran 22:17 and was 126th overall. Ema Aranda ran her lifetime best on the biggest stage and placed 144th in 24:10. Her previous best was last weekend when she helped the team qualify for state. Silvia Harris ran her second-best time of the season to stop the clock in 25:02, good enough for 147th. Isabella Aranda ran her second-best time of the season and placed 150th in 25:27. However, relative to the PR she set earlier in the season, this was the best effort she put together on race day. When the dust settled, Whitewater beat sectional champion Clinton from a week earlier and placed 15th with 393 points.
Coach Carstens added, “Overall both teams performed very well! There is so much to be proud of and incredible memories were made that will stick with these athletes as long as they live. They served the Whitewater community very well and should be proud of all they have accomplished. These two teams were able to rewrite history and qualify for state in the same year, a feat that has not been done in this town since 1996! Great job, Whippets!”
Full Results: https://live.pttiming.com/xc-ptt.html?mid=5912
Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
Photos courtesy of Bob Mischka and Jeff Hefty
