WESTBY — The Hillsboro cross country team opened the 2017 season with a pair of races last week.
Last Tuesday, senior Annie Haas won the girls’ individual title at the 4,000-meter Westby Ken Trott Invitational.
The three-time state qualifier and three-time Scenic Bluffs Conference champion won the shortened race in a time of 15:57.7 beating 135 other runners in the process.
Haas’ victory helped the Hillsboro girls finished eighth out of 12 compete teams.
“Annie did a phenomenal job this summer with her training,” said Hillsboro head coach Ben Leis. “She has come into the season stronger than ever.”
Sophomore Hannah Munson finished 26th at 18:12.8, while senior Carly Krajco came in 43rd at 18:46.6. Junior Paige Stull (64th, 19:41.6) and sophomore Mia Brown (82nd, 20:50.1) rounded out Hillsboro team score.
Seniors Dakota Wells and Drew Bisarek led the Hillsboro boys to an eighth-place team finish at Westby with a pair of top-20 individual finishes.
Wells placed 17th out of 159 runners in the boys’ in the 4,000-meter race at 14:37, while Bisarek came in 19th at 14:56.4.
Wells was even better on Saturday when he won the boys’ race at the 12-team Cashton Invitational while helping the Tigers finish second as a team with 93 points.
Only Scenic Bluffs Conference rival Brookwood (85) finished higher.
Wells outclassed the field of 99 runners with a winning time and new personal best 5K time of 18:17.
“Dakota ran his best race to date at Cashton,” said Leis. “Very exciting.”
Bisarek (14th, 19:27), junior Dawson Cordner (23rd, 20:21), sophomore Brenden Griffin (24th, 20:25) and senior Nick Kurtz (38th, 21:05) rounded out the Hillsbro boys’ team score.
“It was good to see the guys compete and go up for a trophy at the awards. Hopefully, that gave them a taste and they will dig in and work all the more. They have potential and a lot of room for improvement.”
Haas, who has battled injuries throughout her Hillsboro career, was held out of Saturday’s race as a precaution.
But Munson stepped up to deliver her best race in Haas’ absence.
The sophomore finished third out of 90 runners, with a time of 22:02, finishing ahead of Melrose–Mindoro’s Carrie Pfaff (4th, 22:05) and Sydney Becker (6th, 22:10), who finished first and second at last year’s sectional meet.
Junior Paige Stull placed 27th with a time of 23:59.
The Hillsboro girls finished fifth with 168 points. Viroqua, which had three runners in the top five, won the girls’ team title with 35 points.
“Overall it has been a good start to the season,” added Leis. “Many kids have stepped up from last year. It will be fun to compare how much time is cut from season to season as we get into more meets.”
Hillsboro will travel to Viroqua this afternoon before returning to Westby on Tuesday.
Westby Ken Trott
Invitational
(from Tuesday, Aug. 22 @ Westby)
(Girls, 4,000 meters)
Team scores: 1.Westby 53, 2.La Crosse Aquinas 73, 3.La Crosse Logan 97, 4.Cochrane–Fountain City 117, 5.Marshall 119, 6.Mauston 131, 7.Onalaska Luther 165, 8.Hillsboro 175, 9.Colby 289, 10.Kickapoo/La Farge 295, 11.Black River Falls 299, 12.North Crawford inc., Royall inc., New Lisbon inc., Wauzeka–Steuben inc.
Top finishers: 1.Annie Haas (Hillsboro) 15:57.7, 2.Gianna Dugan (Marshall) 16:10.0, 3.Abbey Wedwick (Westby) 16:16.2, 4.Ryann Schneider (La Crosse Aquinas) 16:26.2, 5.Helen Carstens (North Crawford) 16:29.5.
Hillsboro: 1.Haas 15:57.7, 26.Hannah Munson 18:12.8, 43.Carly Krajco 18:46.6, 64.Paige Stull 19:41.6, 82.Mia Brown 20:50.1, 89.Lydia Benish 21:06.0, 103.Savannah Urban 22:13.2.
(Boys, 4,000 meters)
Team scores: 1.La Crosse Logan 50, 2.La Crosse Aquinas 94, 3.Onalaska Luther 102, 4.Marshall 129, 5.Black River Falls 136, 6.Mauston 145, 7.Wauzeka–Steuben 185, 8.Hillsboro 201, 9.Westby 220, 10.Cochrane–Fountain City 237, 11.New Lisbon 314, 12.Kickapoo/La Farge 319, 13.Colby 324, 14.North Crawford 370, 15.Royall 425.
Top finishers: 1.David Vannucchi (Luther) 12:37.2, 2.Hayden Fredrickson (Westby) 12:57.9, 3.Evan Schultz (La Crosse Logan) 13:21.5, 4.Samuel Larson (13:34.0), 5.Adam Wiesender (Black River Falls) 13:36.0.
Hillsboro: 17.Dakota Wells 14:37.0, 19.Drew Bisarek 14:56.4, 44.Brenden Griffin 15:45.1, 49.Dawson Cordner 15:49.7, 74.Nicholas Kurtz 16:45.7, 97.Dalton Kehoe 17:35.1, 101.Matthew Mondesir 17:47.9.
Cashton Invitational
(from Saturday, Aug. 26 @ Cashton)
(Girls, 5,000 meters)
Team scores: 1.Viroqua 35, 2.Cashton 92, 3.Melrose–Mindoro 96, 4.Fennimore 127, 5.Hillsboro 168, 6.Brookwood 172, 7.Blair–Taylor 183, 8.Independence/Gilmanton 187, 9.Necedah 207, 10.Richland Center/Ithaca 15, 11.Kickapoo/La Farge 235, 12.Iowa–Grant inc.
Top finishers: 1.Jillian Weston (Vir) 19:37, 2.Lauren Brendel (Vir) 21:44, 3.Hannah Munson (Hillsboro) 22:02, 4.Carrie Pfaff (Mel–Min) 22:05, 5.Caitlin Fox (Vir) 22:09.
Hillsboro: 3.Hannah Munson 22:02, 27.Paige Stull 23:59, 49.Mia Brown 26:03, 53.Lydia Benish 26:15, 64.Mackenzie Morris 27:20, 65.McKenzie Bell 27:29, 67.Savanah Urban 27:35.
(Boys, 5,000 meters)
Team scores: 1.Brookwood 85, 2.Hillsboro 93, 3.Bangor 120, 4.Fennimore 121, 5.Iowa–Grant 127, 6.Cashton 136, 7.Viroqua 156, 8.New Lisbon 180, 9.Blair–Taylor 185, 10.Kickapoo/La Farge 227, 11.Necedah 259, 12.Royall 299.
Top finishers: 1.Dakota Wells (Hillsboro) 18:17, 2.Preston Gutenberg (B–T) 18:23, 3.Ian Barry 18:23, 4.Owen Jones (New Lisbon) 18:29, 5.Isaac Bachmann (Bangor) 18:52. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9.0px; line-height: 10.0px; font: 10.0px Times} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 7.2px; font: 6.0px 'Humanist 777 Condensed'; min-height: 6.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 10.0px Helvetica} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 6.0px Helvetica} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 6.0px Helvetica} p.p6 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 7.2px; font: 6.0px Helvetica} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline}
Hillsboro: 1.Dakota Wells 18:17, 14.Drew Bisarek 19:27, 23.Dawson Cordner 20:21, 24.Brenden Griffin 20:25, 38.Nick Kurtz 21:05, 45.Matthew Mondesir 21:32, 57.Gunner Hynek 22:12.
