Dakota and Mackenzie Kauffman led the Boscobel cross country teams to strong performances again at the conference meet held at Darlington on Thursday, Oct. 15.

Both the girls’ and boys’ varsity teams finished in second place for the meet. Dakota took first place in the boys’ 5000-meter race with a run time of 16:42.9. Mackenzie took second place in the girls’ race with a time of 20:01.6.

For the varsity girls, Molly Pegram came in eighth with a time of 22:03.5, followed by Abbey Manning in 10th with 22:10.1, Rachel Davis in 12th with 22:19.6, Leah Wacker in 13th with 22:32.4, Faith Glasbrenner in 14th with 22:34.3, and Sydney Haines in 20th with 23:27.3. There were 72 girls racing.

For the varsity boys, Jordan Molzof took fifth place with a running time of 17:36.7. He was followed by Seth Laxton in ninth place with 17:51.8, Noah Toye in 15th with 18:41.9, and Dakota Kull in 20th with 18:58.0. There were 98 boys racing.

“I think our runners stepped up and did the best they could,” said coach Skyler Reynolds. “I was proud of our runners for battling and continuing to understand that the biggest races are yet to come. We have gotten better and better and are ready to make a big jump to finish the year.

“For others, it was their last race of the season and they went out on a high note. All of the kids were so positive and ready to race.  At this point, times no longer matter. It’s about racing hard and beating people. Our team seems to be a big family, and they all support each other so well.  It’s an extremely fun group to be around and crazy how fast the season has went.”

The Darlington boys’ team took first place with an average race time of 17:36, compared to Boscobel’s 17:58.3.

The Albany girls’ team took first place with an average race time of 21:17.9, compared to Boscobel’s 21:49.5.

The Bulldogs run next at the WIAA Division 3 Sectional Cross Country Meet in Darlington on Saturday, Oct. 24. The course opens at 9 a.m. The girls’ race will begin at 11 a.m. and the boys’ race at 11:45.

The awards ceremony will be held at 12:45 p.m. in the Darlington Elementary/Middle School cafeteria.

Twenty schools are participating: Albany, Belleville, Boscobel, Darlington, Fennimore, Iowa-Grant, Kickapoo/La Farge, Lancaster, Madison Country Day/Abundant Life Christian, North Crawford, Parkview, Pecatonica/Argyle, Prairie du Chien, Rio/Fall River, Riverdale, Saint Ambrose, Waterloo, Wauzeka-Steuben, and Wisconsin Heights/Barneveld.