Russia, October 7th, 1941; it began to snow. The fields and roads turned into mud, a condition called rasputitsa by the Russians. The German advance on Moscow slowed, the Russian army brought up reinforcements and, eventually, Moscow was saved.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana. Tough for New Glarus-Monticello Cross Country teenagers to remember World War II, so they needed to repeat the muddy conditions at the Baertschi Albany CC race on October 6th (close enough). From the first race to the last, they traveled on areas that spectators found difficult to walk on. Boys varsity of Joe Quaglia (19:28), Conor McCoy (19:37), Adam Nelson (19:49). Evan Guenther (20:15), Rudy Wicker (20:22), Ty Ready (20:23) and Garrett Grossen (20:45) blitzkrieged their way to 2nd place among the 12 small school teams.

Junior Varsity boys did not retreat from the challenge as they placed 7th of 17 teams. Logan Blum (21:38) finished first among the NGM'ers with Beckett Malaise (21:59.8), Griffin Ness (22:01), Dane Duerst (22:21), Braylon Hoesly (23:04), Lucas Fink (23:52), Desi Delforge (24:45), Aiden Runkle (24:59.6), Eric Zielinski (25:51), Triston Koch (28:56) and William Carnes (29:03) supporting. Later we realized that our 161 points was bettered by Stateline Home School's 160 points.

Girls Varsity continues to battle injuries. However, Dayna Karls (26:02), Annie Fuller (26:22) and Molly Molencamp (27:07) finish as top three on the team once again. Our next three, Dylan Noll (29:14), Libbie Melvin (30:39) and Brooke Dreyfus (36:17) suffered in the mud but stayed upright for the full distance. Girls finished 9th just behind Belleville and ahead of Saint Ambrose Academy.

Three middle school girls represented the NGM team. Whitney Disch (14:55) placed 13th of the 121 competitors. She was followed by Lily Menard (15:12) and Emma Martinson (15:46).

Middle school boys' placed 6th of 14 teams. Tommy Nelson (12:32) took the lead at mile one to finish first overall. Linden Lounsbury (13:45), Ian Schwartzlow (14:46), Ray Valentine (16:22), Landon Schneeberg (17:15) and Carter Ness (17:21) did well despite running in the worst conditions on the last race of the day.

The Edelweiss Chalet Country Club hosts the Capitol Conference Cross Country Championships this Saturday, the 13th of October. The deep turf holds the soil well so no mud this week. However, the area around the Little Sugar River is wet and spongy. Should make the close competition exciting. Races start at 10:00 a.m. Come see our CC history in the making.