BOSCOBEL - In the first-ever night cross country meet in Wisconsin, the Bulldog boys competed at 7:40 p.m. and the girls 8:20 p.m. on Friday night.
It was a cool misty night in Wisconsin Dells at Spring Brook Golf Course in an invitational hosted by Princeton-Green Lake. There were portable lights, black lights, and Christmas lights everywhere. Twenty-eight schools brought in a huge crowd of spectators to the event. The atmosphere was electric!
“Upon arrival, the team set up the usual "team camp," but right then you could tell it was going to be different than usual,” explained Coach Skyler Reynolds. “Kids were putting on glow sticks, glow-in-the-dark paint, and decorating tents with lanterns and Christmas lights. It was one of the coolest events that we have ever been to.
“The kids knew it was going to be something different, but also knew it was important to focus on the race and put a good one together. We talked about all week that this was going to be the start of the season for us, the point where you remember everything starts coming together. We have been building for a big second half push. We had some phenomenal workouts earlier in the week, and it seems like we are ready to explode. We definitely took a step in the right direction, almost everyone on the team ran a personal record (PR).”
The girls were team champions of the small school division, finishing 17 points a head of St. Mary's Springs and two other ranked teams. The boys finished in second place in the small school division out of 14 teams, ahead of two ranked teams.
The boys top 25 finishers were: Jordan Molzof, 3rd, 15:53.2; Noah Toye, 5th, 16:19.7; and Jack Latham, 16th, 17.02.3. There were 133 runners in the boys’ small school race, with 360 overall.
The girls top 25 finishers were: Mackenzie Kauffman, 3rd, 17:49.6; Grace Glasbrenner, 11th, 19:27.9; Sydney Haines, 15th, 19:58.1; Abbey Manning, 19th, 20:17.4; and Faith Glasbrenner, 23rd, 20:27.9. There were 125 runners in the girls’ small school race, with 340 runners overall.
“I honestly couldn't point to any one person and say they ran great, because the entire team did such a nice job as a whole,” said Coach Reynolds. “I was proud of the way the seniors stepped up their leadership in the huddle (before the races). You could hear their sense of urgency and asking everyone to give it all they have from this point on. We are excited to continue building towards the conference and sectional meets. I also want to thank the parents and fans for traveling to so many different places and supporting the team. We have an amazing bunch of people!”
The other participating teams were Living Word Lutheran, Marathon, Laconia, Brookwood, Princeton-Green Lake (boys only), Hillsboro, St. Mary’s Srings, Home School Eagles, Edgar, Weyauwega-Fremont, Johnson Creek (boys only), Holy Family (boys only), and Rio/Fall River (girls only).
The Bulldogs hosted the Ryan Zimpel Memorial Invitational on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Results for the meet attended by Fennimore, Iowa-Grant/Highland, Kickapoo/La Farge, Prairie du Chien, Riverdale, Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton, Tri-State Home, Wauzeka-Steuben, and North Crawford will be in next week’s issue of the Boscobel Dial, along with results from the Riverdale Invitational that will be held on Saturday.
The Riverdale course opens at 8 a.m., Oct. 8, with the boy’s race beginning at 9 a.m. and the girls race at 9:40, followed by middle school races at 10:20 for boys and 10:45 for girls.
