Warrior boys’ run comes to a close:

The white-hot streak to start the season hit the finish line for the Ozaukee High School boys’ cross country team.

But just barely as the Warriors lost to a team in a higher division with more than double the number of students.

The Warriors scored 73 points and finished second to the hosts at the 12-team Winneconne Invite on Sept. 22. The Wolves scored 67 points.

The Warriors had three runners finish in the top 10 to the Wolves’ one, but Winneconne had its next four runners place in the top 19. Ozaukee’s last two were 24th and 31st.

“They gave Division 2 powerhouse Winneconne a good shot,” coach Andrew Pfeuffer said.

Winnconne has about 500 students to Ozaukee’s 200. But the Warriors had beaten multiple teams from larger schools to start the season.

Ozaukee’s top-10 runners all had either personal records or season-best times.

State-qualifier Nick Schubert was third in a season-best 17 minutes, 9.9 seconds. The rest of the top-five runners posted personal records. State-qualifier Wyatt Borchardt finished seventh in 17:32.3. Sterling Schanen was ninth in 17:40.3. Fritz Hoffmann was 24th in 18:30.4 and Hugh Steffen was 31st in 18:48.4.

Evan Caswell was 47th in 19:28.2 and Casen Isselman was 50th in 19:30.

“Our boys competed well and were hungry to chase after their season-best or personal-record times. For us to come into a mainly Division 2 meet and be toward the top of the team standings is a good accomplishment,” Pfeuffer said.

“We are moving in the right direction as a team but there is still plenty more to push and strive for as we head down the stretch.”

Warriors hang at Manitowoc

Ozaukee scored 344 points and finished 13th against mostly Division 1 opponents at the 21-team Len Nikolai Invite in Manitowoc on Saturday. Stevens Point won with 24 points.

Schanen was 34th in a personal-record 17:29.1. Borchardt was 40th in 17:35.3. Then came Steffen, 75th, a personal-record 18:35.7; Hoffmann, 86th, 18:53.8; and Caswell, 116th, 19:49.7. Schubert missed the meet due to a wedding.

“Sterling and Wyatt did a great job of setting the tone for the team and running tough and fast with strong competition all around them,” Pfeuffer said.

Ozaukee girls third again

Ozaukee’s girls, after winning their first three meets of the season, finished third for the second straight time.

The Warriors scored 123 points and finished behind two Division 2 teams. Kettle Moraine Lutheran scored 24 points and Winneconne had 46.

Jillian Knehans was 20th in 21:55.2 and Brooklynn Lauters was 21st in 21:59.6. Both posted personal-record times.

Maidson Glaeser was 25th in 22:04.3. Quinn Zimdars was 36th in a personal-record 22:40.9. Eva VanMinsel was 41st in season-best 22:55.3.

Ashlyn Schubert was 43rd in a season-best 23:06.7 and Olivia Schmitz was 49th in personal-record 23:28.9.

“The girls are continuing to push their packs up and learning to switch off who takes the lead throughout the race. So far this season we’ve had three different No. 1 runners through our first five meets and a different top five almost every race,” Pfeuffer said. “It has also been helpful to have our returning athletes be good leaders to our new runners and our new runners have responded really well to the training and competition.”

Warriors execute their strategy

The girls scored 360 points and finished 14th at the Len Nikolai Invite. Green Bay Preble won with 71 points.

Glaeser was 63rd in 21:56.7. Lauters was 69th in 22:08.3 and Knehans was 73rd in 22:12. Then came Zimdars, 91st, 23:05.9; and Schmitz, 92nd, 23:08.5.  Schubert missed the meet due to a wedding.

Ozaukee runs in the Nightfall Classic at Green Lake on Friday, Oct. 2.