Post Messenger Recorder -

Definition “mudder” [muhd-er]: Race horse who performs well on a wet or muddy track. Doesn’t take much rain to turn a forest trail into a quagmire. We’ll find our mudders this Saturday at the Baertschi Farm in Albany. Coming off the Fast Turf at 1.5 miles, the course narrows. The morning’s sprinkles change the dirt path from Good to Sloopy. A half-mile later the runners plop out of the woods splattered in mud and trying to lift soggy loam covered shoes. One slip while running along the edge of Allen Creek changes Dane Duerst’s colors from royal blue to peasant brown.

Our New Glarus-Monticello Varsity lead runner, Gabby Whistler (23:32), seems unfazed by the deteriorating conditions on the Baertschi farm as she places 17th in the small school cross country race. As is often the case, Molly Molencamp (24:36) appears at the finish line next. Libbie Melvin (29:07) holds the third spot with Emily Streiff (29:29) and Samantha Burgess (31:50) finishing the scoring. Brooke Dreyfus takes the sixth and tie-breaker spot. Somehow our fillies nose past rival Belleville, one more time, with 213 points to their 225.

The NGM Junior Varsity colts run early with the best conditions of the day. Griffin Ness (21:21) finishes first on the team and is one of the few guys to run a Personal Best. Simon Blohowiak (21:32), Desi Delforge (22:18), Lucas Fink (22:55), Ryan Austin (22:58), Eric Zielinski (23:53), Keegan Kemp (24:03) and Tristan Flanagan (24:19) end up 11th of the 29 teams competing on Saturday.

Coming out of the gate, much bumping occurs among the 160 Varsity Boy runners. Older, more experienced runners find ways to get ahead of the herd and gallop around the first turn without a problem, but our youngsters get trapped in the stampede. Eventually, Conor McCoy (18:42) works his way up and Adam Nelson (19:19) finds clear going. Our trifecta, Garrett Grossen (20:20), Joe Quaglia (20:21) and Rudy Wicker (20:22), end together. Ty Ready (20:36) and Dane Duerst (21:04) finish in the tie-breaker and back-up positions. The stallions place third in the small school division with conference rivals, Wisconsin Heights/Barneveld and Marshall, still ahead.

Apparently third place is the popular finish for three of our teams. Both Middle School Girls and MS Boys follow the lead of the Varsity Guys. Our young fillies, Karley Michels (13:32), Whitney Disch (13:46), Dayna Karls (13:50), Tenley Faber (14:06), Annie Fuller (14:08), Annaka Boldebuck (15:17) and Rachel Niceschwander (17:07), seem to enjoy the challenging conditions on the 15 Furlong course (3,000 meters) even though they compete near the end of the schedule.

Evan Guenther (11:24) places second among the middle schoolers but he’s the first colt who is part of a team. Tom Nelson (11:32) nails the third spot and Beckett Malaise (12:14) the tenth. With three across for a total of only 14 points, we hold first place until Stateline Home School and Monroe Middle School sneak a few in before Aiden Runkle (13:17), Braylon Hoesly (13:29), Ian Schwartzlow (14:28), William Carnes (14:49), Raymond Valentine (15:13), Knolan Kemp (15:18), Landon Schneeberg (15:21) and Carter Ness (15:26) finish.

Our Kentucky Derby, The Capitol Conference Cross Country Championship, occurs next Saturday at Lake Mills High School. Looks like ideal weather with the Stewards making Call to the Post at 10:00 a.m.