JANESVILLE — The Bulldog cross country teams traveled to Janesville for the 78th Annual Midwest Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 26. Janesville hosted 42 teams, over 30 of which were Division I teams.

“We came away from another very big meet with a lot of experience,” said coach Skyler Reynolds. “We just finished a stretch of big high caliber meets that have given us a world of experience over the last month. Our teams did what they were asked and got out fast and stayed in contact with each other throughout the race.  It’s easy to get lost in a race with 200-300 runners.”

The varsity girls finished 16th overall. Among Division II and III schools, they ranked fourth behind second ranked Westby and Division II Dodgeville and Mineral Point.

The girls were led by a huge race from Mackenzie Kauffman, who placed ninth overall with a time of 19:31.

The varsity boys placed 19th overall and third among Division II and III schools, behind top-ranked Darlington (11th place overall) and Division II Platteville.

Dakota Kauffman led the boys with a big seventh place finish in 16:03.

“The junior varsity girls and boys ran really well as a pack,” said Reynolds. “I thought it was great to see them stick together so closely in races that included 627 boys and 480 girls. The kids worked so hard in practice this week; I am excited to see how well we race in a couple of weeks. As we take it one meet at a time, the end goal is conference, sectionals and state and that seems to be where each member is focusing their attention.”

This coming week is an off week for the team to rest and recover from the first half of the season. The only focus for the Bulldogs will be on workouts, according to the coach.

“Being Homecoming week, it is a great time to be able to relax and enjoy everything at school before we head into the final month,” Reynolds said. “The coaches and runners would like to thank all of the students, parents, and community for traveling to our meets to support and cheer us on.”

The Bulldogs run next at home when they host Bluff View Intermediate, Fennimore, Highland, Iowa-Grant, Kickapoo, La Farge, Lancaster, Prairie du Chien, Riverdale, Southwestern-Cuba City-Benton, Tri-State Home, Wauzeka-Steuben, Westby Area, and North Crawford for the Boscobel Invitational on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 4:15 p.m. on the Ryan Zimpel Memorial Cross Country Course.