Post Messenger Recorder -

The Little Chute Mustangs trot down to the Driftless Area whenever they wish to run a cross country course with hills. The Baertschi farm near Albany fills that need. They also hope to go home with a trophy or two. We know Little Chute is ranked fifth in State, but we also must focus on Mount Horeb and Monroe and another 27 teams.

After six hills and a sprint to the finish, each of our New Glarus-Monticello boys finish in front of their respective Monroe competitor.

Tom Nelson (17:27) and Evan Guenther (18:12) finish behind their Mount Horeb guys while Braylon Hoesly (18:16), Grayson Rodefeld (19:04) and Ian Schwartzlow (19:04) finish ahead of their Trolls. With 159 guys pounding through the chute, it's difficult to determine team points. Two hours later the truth is revealed with Monroe in 4th (99 points), Mount Horeb in 3rd (77 points) and NGM in 2nd (76). Our buoyant feeling sinks a bit as we find Little Chute totaling 71 points for first place. Five fewer points and we'd have corralled the Mustangs.

The varsity girls race shows the Little Chute ladies each beating their respective NGM gals for clear domination. Last season's state runner-up team, Oregon, places a girl in 1st with Lily Maynard (20:54) and Dayna Karls (21:14) going 6th and 9th before Oregon goes 17, 18, 19 followed by Annika Ziperski (21:59), Melanie Fink (22:28) and Emma Martinson (22:35) placing 20, 25 and 26th for our team. Mount Horeb scores 122, Monroe 110, Oregon 89 and NGM 86. Not surprisingly, Little Chute wins with 55 points. Mustang ladies gallop home with another 1st place.

Photo courtesy of Karen Guenther

Emma Martinson cannot be caught when the sprint begins.

Oregon junior varsity girls extract revenge as Ruthie Zuber (24:14), Anya Brenkman (24:25), Ruth Marty (24:25), Juniper Lounsbury (25:13) and Tenley Faber (25:21) earn 51 points for NGM to Oregon's 24. Oregon keeps the JVs in second place overall.

Our last chance to escape another runner-up finish rests with the JV Boys. Jude Rice (19:57) finishes one place behind an Oregon Panther, Tanner Gardner (20:09) two places ahead, Beckett Malaise (20:46) one place behind, Ben Collins (21:00), three spots back and Owen Runkle (21:31) two places behind. Panthers pounce on our Pony-Knights with their 73 to our 78.

Earning four runner-up trophies feels okay as we reflect on the fact that 30 teams competed on this comfortable fall day.

Next week the cross country team competes at the conference meet in Watertown at Brandt-Quirk Park. Again, we expect close scores among our neighbors and rivals.