Big East cross country teams try to outrun each other at night

Ozaukee High School’s cross country teams held up well against teams from larger schools at the Nightfall Classic in Green Lake last Friday, and the Warriors topped Cedar Grove-Belgium.

Ozaukee’s boys scored 132 points and finished fourth of 23 teams. Big East Conference rival Sheboygan Lutheran edged the Warriors, scoring 125 points for third. Brookwood won with 63 points.

Nick Schubert was fifth on the 5,000-meter course in a season-best 17 minutes, 3 seconds. Wyatt Borchardt was 12th in 17:40. Sterling Schanen was 18th in 17:48. Then came Hugh Steffen, 40th, a personal-record 18:33; and Evan Caswell, 66th, a season-best 19:21.

“The boys came out ready to compete against a very large and competitive field, but it wasn’t their best day collectively,” coach Andrew Pfeuffer said.

Cedar Grove-Belgium scored 176 points and was seventh in Division 3. Cable de Troye was sixth in a personal-record 17:22. Nolan Brill was 13th in 17:40.8. 

“These two really did a good job pushing the pace early, competing during the second mile and then finishing strong,” coach Brandon Langer said.

Then came Carsten Huenink, 41st, 18:34; Noah Hopeman, 56th, 18:59.1; and Ben Duwell, 77th, 19:41.

Warrior girls take sixth

The Warrior girls scored 197 points and finished sixth. Lomira won with 86 points.

Madison Glaeser was 32nd in 21:59. Brooklynn Lauters was 34th in 22:00. Then came Jillian Knehans, 73rd, 22:03; Quinn Zimdars, 91st, personal-record 22:39; and Eva VanMinsel, 65th, 23:04.

“The girls did well at running an efficient race and moving up after the mile marker again,” Pfeuffer said, adding they advanced from 11th to sixth.

The Rockets scored 307 points and finished 12th. Brynlee Schmidt was ninth in 20:08 while fighting a stomach bug. 

“The first mile was quick and she went after it from the gun, which is something I really wanted her to experience, even with her being a bit under the weather,” Langer said. “This will pay dividends later this month.”

Lydia Schmidt was 20th in 21:17. Then came Hannah Langer, 89th, a personal-record 24:00;  Aubrey Nett, 117th, 24:56; and Anja Kaas, 142nd, 25:52.

The Rockets and Warriors run at Tendick Park in the Town of Saukville on Thursday, Oct. 8. Port Washington hosts the meet.

Grafton finishes near the bottom

The Grafton boys scored 134 points and finished sixth of seven teams at the Terry Krall Invite in the Town of Polk last Thursday. Slinger won with 47 points. Hartford had 50.

Asher Kagamba was ninth in 18:22. Alex Bergmann was 20th in 19:17. Then came Brayton McCann, 26th, 19:44; Zach Swenson, 39th, 20:30; and Liam Hoctor, 40th, 20:31.

The girls scored 122 points and finished fourth of five teams. Slinger won with 19 points.

Tess Brulla was 19th in 24:01. Jasmin Gandee was 24th in 25:01. Then came Leah Swartz, 31st, 26:29; Amelia Jacobson, 32nd, 26:36; and Abby Widmann, 35th, 27:13.