Seven compete on Varsity, so why is Brayden standing alone among boys from 16 schools at the Eagle Invitational?

He represents our seventh runner in the seventh runner race. Sixteen boys representing sixteen teams toe the starting line on the Zimpel Farm, half-way between Fennimore and Boscobel. The carefully groomed cross country course travels between corn fields, through woods and up a big hill at the finish.

What do we say to our lonely runner? We say, "Stay with the lead guy for the first mile then pull away and win. Got it?"

Brayden Ryan (18:59) paces the first mile in 5:30 and already dominates. Showing his relaxed running style, he's soon sprinting up to the hilltop finish. Brayden gives the New Glarus-Monticello Cross Country team a 23-second lead over the next competitor.

The total times of our five fastest runners determine our team score today. Problem facing us: several teams own really fast athletes in the top two positions and we must produce a big enough time deficit that no destroys it during the last races.

Ty Ready (18:35) competes in the sixth runner position. He finishes 1 minute and 1 second ahead of the most dangerous school. Tom Nelson (18:26) give us another 45-second cushion. Conor McCoy (18:21) produces the largest deficit in our favor, with 1 minute and 18 seconds. Next race is an indicator that things are changing as Evan Guenther (17:50) drops his time into the seventeens but only earns a 13-second lead. Joe Quaglia (17:27) runs the fastest of his season and the fastest of the day for us, but West Salem's Charlie McKinney (16:58) runs his fastest of the season and fastest of the day for them. Charlie takes 29 seconds away from us.

Wisconsin Heights' Christian Patzka (16:29) shows everyone how to tame this hilly course but his fast time is inconsequential to our contest. West Salem again betters our athlete in this last race of the day, as their Brady N. (17:09) goes 38 seconds faster than our Adam Nelson (17:47).

The computer goes to work adding and subtracting seconds for each of 16 schools. We relax for a moment to reflect on the first race of the day: boy's junior varsity. This race is scored the old fashioned way: add finishing places for each team's top five athletes. Not hard to figure since Braylon Hoesly (18:30), Linden Lounsbury (18:46), Garrett Grossen (19:12), Simon Blohowiak (19:36), Logan Blum (19:39), Beckett Malaise (20:18), Desi Delforge (20:35), Griffin Ness (21:03), Aiden Runkle (22:21), Collin Blum (22:57), Carter Ness (23:16), Landon Schneeberg (25:15) and Eric Zielinski (25:30) occupy positions 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11 and 12, for a team score of 21 points and a dominating first place JV victory.

Photo courtesy of Karen Guenther

First Place NGM JV at Eagle Invitational (L-R): Garrett Grossen, Logan Blum, Simon Blohowiak, Braylon Hoesly, Beckett Malaise, Ray Valentine, Aiden Runkle, Collin Blum, Linden Lounsbury.

During the day, our girls' team of Annika Ziperski (21:25), Tenley Faber (22:24), Dayna Karls (23:28), Molly Molencamp (23:47), Whitney Disch (25:04), Alexa Thayer (27:19) and Dylan Noll (31:00) surprise West Salem and finished third in the big school division. Their weekly improvement bodes well for the next week's race.

Boy's results announced with New Glarus-Monticello in first place in big school division by 52 seconds over West Salem. Boscobel wins the small school trophy and second place overall, as they finish 26 seconds slower than NGM.

Next week we face the toughest races of the year at the fast UW-Platteville cross country course as the toughest Division 2 and 3 schools appear.