HOLMEN — The shorthanded Hillsboro girls cross country team continues to run well in the absence of 2014 state qualifier Annie Haas.

     Senior Destiny Shore and freshman Paige Stull both medaled at last Tuesday’s Holmen Viking Invitational to led the Tigers to an eighth-place finish. Shore placed 17th out of 125 runners with a time of 22:26.2. Stull finished 22nd at 22:48.2.

     Hillsboro coach Ben Leis says he hopes to have Haas back this Saturday at the Dick McKichan Platteville Invitational.

     “In her absence, Destiny Shore and Paige Stull have really stepped up,” said Leis. “They both medaled and ran mid-22 minutes at Holmen meet last Tuesday. With a healthy Annie, we could have the best top three tandem in the conference. However, Brookwood girls look very strong and are very deep. They have the potential to put seven in front of any fifth runner in the conference.”

     Brookwood finished fifth at Holmen with 133 points. Division 1 La Crosse Central won the girls’ title with 34 points. Hillsboro finished eighth with 225.

     “We are going to keep working and see if we can get our four and five going and take a stab at the conference title in mid-October. We have an up hill battle but it could be done.”

     The Hillsboro girls, still without Haas, finished fourth in the small schools division at Saturday’s Fennimore Golden Eagles Relays, behind Brookwood, Fennimore and New Glaurus/Monticello.

     Shore finished 22nd out of 75 runners at 18:37.3 on the 4,000-meter course. Stull crossed the finish line at 18:56 to place 28th.

     The Hillsboro boys finished second in the small schools division at Saturday’s Golden Eagles Relays with a combined time of 100:59.9 ahead of Brookwood (102:08), Riverdale (102:53) and Wauzeka/Steuben (113:47). New Glarus/Monticello won the boys’ title with a time of 99:04.2.

     Sophomore Dacoda Wells finished 19th out of 83 runners with a time of 18:48.8.

     Junior Zach O’Hair was 33rd at 19:54.3. Sophomore Drew Bisarek finished 42nd at 20:13.4.

     “The boys’ conference meet will be one of the best conference battles I have seen in a long time,” said Leis. “We have raced Brookwood six times and we are at and even split at three a piece. One of the meets we actually tied but won on the sixth runner tie-breaker.

     “The kicker here is the conference meet is held at Brookwood and they flat out smoked us there. Brookwood runs very well on their course and they guys are going to have to expect them to race like that again come mid-October. The guys can run in any order, but lately Jason Grifiths and Drew Bisarek, both sophomores, have emerged as our third and fourth runners.”

     Last Tuesday at Holmen, the Hillsboro boys finished eighth out of 12 teams.

     Wells finished 13th out 148 runners with a time of 18:44.1. O’Hair was the Tigers second runner, coming in at 19:38.5 for 41st place, followed by Griffiths, who finished 59th at 20:18.

     After Saturday’s Platteville Invitational, the Tigers will have 12 days off before the Scenic Bluffs Conference Championships, that will be held Thursday, Oct. 15 at Brookwood High School.

Holmen Viking Invitational
(from Tuesday, Sept. 22 @ Holmen)
(Girls)
Team scores: 1.La Crosse Central 34, 2.Holmen 76, 3.Sparta 89, 4.Viroqua 115, 5.Brookwood 133, 6.Arcadia 150, 7.Onalaska 204, 8.Hillsboro 225, 9.Gale–Ettrick–Trempeauleau 233, 10.Tomah 245.
Top individuals:1.Dana Feyen (G–E–T) 18:51.2, 2.Mason Kalander (Holmen) 19:01.3, 3.Jillian Weston (Viroqua) 19:46.0.
Hillsboro: 17.Destiny Shore 22:26.2, 22.Paige Stull 22:48.2, 93.Belinda Griffin 29:01.8, 101.Kailey Preuss 30:16.1, 109.Kelly Parish 32:33, 110.Jaline Attignol 32:42.5.
5,000 meters
(Boys)
Team scores: 1.Gale–Ettrick–TrempeauLeau 68, 2.Sparta 77, 3.Holmen 78, 4.Viroqua 83, 5.La Crosse Central 94, 6.Tomah 152, 7.Arcadia 192, 8.Hillsboro 222, 9.Brookwood 222, 10.La Crosse Logan 255, 11.Onalaska 303, 12.Royall 389.
Top individuals: 1.Effi Sutherlan (Viroqua) 17:22.5, 2.Ramon Romero (Arcadia) 17:28.3, 3.Max Engh (Sparta) 17:33.6.
Hillsboro: 13.Dakota Wells 18:44.1, 41.Zach O’Hair 19:39.5, 59.Jason Griffiths 20:18.0, 63.Drew Bisarek 20:26.2, 66.Skler Fisher 20:31.5, 67.Dawson Cordner 20:32.3, 99.Cameron Haas 22:17.7.
5,000 meters

Golden Eagles Relays
(from Saturday, Sept. 26 @ Fennimore)
(Girls)
Small school team scores: 1.Brookwood 95:13.8, 2.Fennimore 101:53, 3.New Glarus/Monticello 102:20.7, 4.Hillsboro 104:19.6.
Top individuals (large and small schools): 1.Jillian Weston (Viroqua) 15:54.3, 2.Laura Snyder (Western Dubuque) 16:29.7, 3.Lydia Murphy (Lancaster) 16:49.3.
Hillsboro: 22.Destiny Shore 18:37.3, 28.Paige Stull 18:56.0, 65.Amy Salisburg 21:24.2, 70.Belinda Griffin 22:29.7, 73.Carly Krajco 22:52.4.
4,000 meters
(Boys)
Small school team scores: 1.New Glarus/Monticello 99:04.2, 2.Hillsboro 100:59.9, 3.Brookwood 102:08.7, 4.Riverdale 102:53.4, 5.Wauzeka–Steuben 113:47.7, .
Top individuals (large and small schools): 1.Isaac Connolly (Western Dubuque) 17:10.6, 2.Brian Mathews (Riverdale) 17:25.5, Effi Sutherland (Viroqua) 17:30.4.
Hillsboro: 19.Dakota Wells 18:48.8, 33.Zach O’Hair 19:54.3, 42.Drew Bisarek 20:13.4, 52.Skyler Fisher 20:58.6, 55.Jason Griffiths 21:04.8, 57.Dawson Cordner 21:08.4, 68.Cameron Haas 21:44.2.
5,000 meters