Muddy course doesn’t slow runners

Soaked conditions that caused the cross country course at Tendick Nature Park in the Town of Saukville didn’t slow many local runners last Thursday, given several ran their best times of the season or ever.

Slinger High School won the boys Port Invite with 52 points. Port Washington scored 207 for sixth of 18 teams.

Senior Brett Grisar led the Pirates by finishing the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 9 seconds, good for 11th place out of 130 runners.

That represented a determined comeback, given how the race started.

Grisar was tripped up in the first 400 meters, fell to the ground and was trampled by a few runners.

“Brett did a great job of using the adrenaline rush that ensuded to get back up and fight his way towards the front end of the race,” coach Mark Pasten said.

Senior Zach Gephart managed a PR of 17:22 for 19th place. Ben Pasten took 35th with a PR 17:50. Michael Wegner bettered his best-ever time by nearly a minute in taking 73rd in 18:45. Freshman

Mason Raasch finished his first varsity race right behind his teammate in 74th with an 18:46.

Cedar Grove-Belgium took ninth with 241 points.

Senior Quinn Hoopman was 32nd in 17:48, and junior Ben Fleuchaus was 36th in 17:57.

Senior Andrew Reichart was 49th in a PR 18:19. Freshman Nathan Bruhn had a PR to take 60th in 18:28, and senior Bryce Ketterhagen was 64th in 18:32.

“The gap between our No. 1 and  No. 5 runners was 45 seconds (Nos. 1-6 was 49), which is the type of pack running that will be needed as they defend their conference title,” coach Brandon Langer said.

The Ozaukee boys finished 17th with 494 points. Junior Hayden Rice was 74th in 18:48. Sophomore Matt Baldwin was 82nd in 18:55. Freshman Tyler Mueller was 99th in 19:17. Senior Mason Thill was 119th in 23:27, and freshman Brock Berend was 120th in 24:21.

Pack running takes Port girls to seventh

All the Port girl runners ran as a pack for the first mile, covering 50th to 60th place, coach Joe Adamak said.

From there, sophomore Bethany Stacey sped away and ended up taking 15th place in 20:37.

That helped lead the Pirates to seventh place with 200 points. Fond du Lac won the meet with 77 points.

Port senior Katie Erlandson took 26th in 21:22. Sophomore Mira Stimac was 38th in 21:26. Senior Jill Cavanaugh was 47th in 21:39. Sophomore Emma Goodman was 64th in 22:01.

“They did very good. Their times were some of the best of the year. They ran very well together,” Adamak said.

He said he hopes his team is over a flu and cold bug that had been traveling through the school.

Ozaukee’s girls took 11th place with 273 points behind sophomore Kelley Large’s 20:40, good for 17th.

Junior Jenna Schueller was 46th in 21:39. Sophomore Amy Hoffmann was 67th in 22:08. Junior Ashley Mueller was 68th in 22:09. Sophomore Allison Clark was 75th in 22:25.

Cedar Grove-Belgium’s girls took 14th with 282 points.

Senior Karen Ibarra was 16th in 20:37.

Senior Grace Voskuil ran an aggressive race to take 52nd in 21:44, and sophomore Cheyenne Simonet was 61st in 21:59. Both broke the 22-minute mark for the first time this season, Langer said.

“The girls have looked good in practice the last couple of weeks, and the results are starting to reflect that,” Langer said.

The Pirates and Grafton, which was off last week, next run in the North Shore Conference Meet in West Bend on Saturday.

The Rockets and Warriors run in the Big East Conference Meet at Two Rivers High School on Saturday.