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From Coach Carstens:
On Thursday the Whippets raced their guts out on the cross country course in the Rock Valley Conference Championships at UW-Whitewater. Although the start and finish areas were muddy, the rest of the course was in great shape and the kids did not disappoint.
Varsity boys competed first against three ranked teams in the state. As one of the more youthful teams in the field, they held their own securing fourth place as a team with 124 points and was led by first team all-conference finisher and sophomore Trenten Zahn. He returned to the lineup in spectacular fashion and raced with his goal in mind of earning his second consecutive first team all-conference finisher and he did not disappoint. His 7th place finish time was 17:23. Freshman Gio Anello finished 17th, earning a medal and honorable mention honors by stopping the clock in 18:07 on this brutally challenging course. Junior Aidan Coburn secured the final all-conference position in 24th with a time of 18:49. It was nice to see him repeat as an all-conference finisher. Finishing fourth for the team and placing 37th was Sophomore Manny Rodriguez in 19:52. Sophomore Will Hofmann wasn’t far behind in 39th with a finish time of 19:58. Freshman Cooper Hammond and Senior Nick Kuzoff were the team’s 6th and 7th runner in today races. They bought fought and clawed their way to 46th and 54th in the field with finish times of 20:24 and 21:04. Overall this was a great team effort and securing the fourth position was a team goal over a team from Evansville that the program felt it would be in a good battle with.
Varsity girls were up next and senior Nicole Tomomitsu thrilled Whippet fans once again. Her poise on the course is chilling to watch as she methodically made her way up to 7th place and earned first team all-conference honors for the first time. Her time of 21:07 is really strong given the course difficulty and the level of competition in the field. Freshman Trinity Nickels ran a lifetime best and crushed her race vaulting herself into the second position within the team and finished 39th in 23:29. Her smile was infectious after the race. Sophomore Crystal Chan secured a 42nd finish with a time of 23:49. Junior Hailey Prager gutted her way to a 49th place finish despite some calf troubles. Hailey’s time of 24:10 was not her best but the effort was there and that’s what matters at championship time. Freshman Sophie Walton finished 62nd in 26:37 and she seesawed back and forth with Junior Jenna Lee who finished in 64th with a time of 27:02. Jenny Villarreal gave it her all and finished 66th with a time of 27:19. Overall, the girls’ program finished in 8th place out of 10 teams in the conference.
In the JV races, the boys’ team again placed 4th with a point total of 100. Dan Trost had the mindset of “going for it” and he really did and placed 6th overall with a time of 20:12. Jaden Salmieri really ran well, too, placing 14th overall in a time of 20:47. Peter Zimdars finished 27th, Wesley Salverson 30th, Evan Schepp 37th, Mason West 43rd, Andy Vo 44th, Michael Bigelow 65th, Carson Ellenwood 77th, Aldo Rodriguez 82nd, Justin Mitchell 90th and Andrew Rollette in 94th.
On the girls’ side, the team placed 7th with a point total of 210. Freshman Olive Coburn was the first Whippet across the line in 36th and a time of 27:43. Nikole Pelot was next in 60th, Sophia Wagner in 62nd, Mackenzie LaFlash in 64th and Rosie Aschenbrener in 66th.
This is the end of the road for many runners on the team as just the varsity level moves on to compete at the WIAA Sectional hosted by Whitewater on Friday, October 19th. It is in this event that the top two teams and the top five finishers not on those two qualifying teams will earn a trip to compete the following weekend at the WIAA State Cross Country Meet. We hope to see you there!
Full results can be found here: http://onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=21575
Whitewater Only Results can be found here: https://www.whs.wwusd.org/page/3155/article/13111
