MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Oct. 20–27)
CROSS COUNTRY: WIAA Division 3 Boscobel Sectional
By A.J. Gates, Herald Independent
Knuckey, Riechmann lead Southwestern/Benton girls to sectional title
BOSCOBEL – With three runners finishing among the top seven in a field of 114 competitors, and four finishing among the top 12, the Southwestern/Benton girls’ cross country team took top honors at last Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 Boscobel Sectional.
With their first-place finish at Saturday’s sectional, coach Paul Reynolds’ girls also punched their ticket to the WIAA State Meet, which is held this Saturday at Wisconsin Rapids.
“This is the first time since 1997 that we are taking the girls’ team to state,” said coach Reynolds. “That team won state, and we are hoping to follow in their footsteps.”
With an impressive team score of 44, the Southwestern/Benton girls finished 16 points ahead of the second-place team from Fennimore at last Saturday’s sectional meet.
“The girls ran one of their best races of the year at the sectional,” said coach Reynolds. “Winning this meet meant a lot to the team and to the coaches.”
Loaded with an abundance of talented runners, coach Reynolds’ squad has put up impressive finishes all season long, having finished first in a number of meets, and claiming a conference title just a week earlier.
“This whole season has been so unbelievable. Winning conference for the first time since 1991,” said coach Reynolds. “Every time we put something in front of this team, they seem to work harder to complete the task. Sometimes it has been hard since we have three runners doing dual sports. This team just keeps growing together and becoming stronger.”
Leading the charge last Saturday was sophomore Mackenzie Knuckey, who finished first overall with a time of 18:41.7.
Last year she was an individual state qualifier, where she placed fourth as a freshman with a time of 19:15.1.
Junior Maci Riechmann is also no stranger to the WIAA State Meet, and will be making her third appearance after being an individual qualifier as a freshman and sophomore.
Last Saturday, Reichmann finished third overall with a time of 19:04.1, and will be looking to improve on her previous two state appearances, where she finished 11th as a sophomore with a time of 19:43.8, and 49th as a freshman with a time of 20:56.5.
Joining Knuckey and Reichmann at state this season will be teammates Paisley Williams, who finished eighth overall on Saturday with a time of 20:26.4, along with Avery Knuckey who finished 14th (21:07.2), Lilly Kaiser who finished 28th (22:07.7) and Avery Hahn who finished 47th (23:05.6).
“When you have a team like we do that works hard and has fun doing it, it shows in the results,” Reynolds said. “I can not be any more proud of this whole team, being so young and competing at this level just shows how bad they want it.”
Joining the Southwestern/Benton girls, and making his third trip to the state meet will be junior Josh Richardson, who finished fourth in the boys’ race last Saturday.
For the third year in a row, Richardson earned one of five individual qualifying spots, running Saturday’s race in a time of 16:29.8.
“With Josh, he just goes out and runs his race,” said coach Reynolds. “He is one of the hardest working athletes we could ask for. Whatever we ask him to do, he gives his all. For him to qualify for state three years in a row just shows how hard he works.”
As a freshman, Reynolds finished 43rd at state with a time of 17:25.1, and as a sophomore was 21st with a time of 17:01.1.
As a team, the Southwestern/Benton boys finished ninth of 17 teams at Saturday’s sectional with a score of 228. Brookwood took top honors with their score of 43, followed by Fennimore in second at 73.
Making up the top five runners for the SW/B boys were freshman Quinn Williams in 23rd (18:27.8), freshman Caden Kurth in 62nd (19:31.0), freshman Rylan Hahn in 77th (20:12.7) and sophomore Parker Schroeder in 90th (20:54.5).
The Division 3 girls’ state meet will begin at Noon on Saturday at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.
