MONROE — Emma Wilson has come a long way in seven short weeks.
     On Sept. 1 the Platteville senior began her final prep cross country season with a 42nd place finish in a time of 17:29 at the season-opening Verona Invitational.
     This Saturday she will end the season running against the best the state has to offer when she competes in the WIAA State Cross Country Championships in Wisconsin Rapids.
     Last Saturday Wilson turned in a ninth-place, 16:17 performance at the WIAA Division 2 Monroe Sectional to earn one of the five individual state berths.
     “This is a great thrill for Emma to have qualified for the state cross country meet,” said Platteville head coach Rob Serres. “Emma ran a tremendous race.”
     Wilson’s D2 girls’ race at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids will begin at 1:40 p.m.
     “Emma has been running extremely well over the past month, and has taken control over her race,” said Serres. “She has been running very confidently and pacing herself extremely well. Emma is a very, very good cross country runner.”
     The Platteville girls finished sixth out of 15 teams at the Monroe Sectional with 223 points.
     Dodgeville/Mineral Point easily outpointed Madison Edgewood 34–76 to win the team title.
     Sophomore Holly Kasper finished 27th for Platteville in 17:15. Senior Laura Donovan placed 35th in 17:40, followed by Cassidy Roth (59th, 18:19), Taylor Triphan (63rd, 18:26), Danielle Jentz (77th, 19:15) and Mackenzie Scalan (83rd, 19:33).
     “Our girls have really come on throughout the season,” added Serres. “I was very proud of how they ran on Saturday. We were sixth among some very good teams.”
     In the boys’ sectional race junior Ben Bahr was the first Hillman to cross the finish line in a time of 17:50. He finished 15th and missed out on the fifth and final individual state berth by just seven seconds.
     Freshman Vince Momot finished 17th in 17:52, just ahead of Cullen Bryla (18th).
     The Platteville boys finished fourth with 119 points. Monroe edged Dodge–Point 55–84 to win the boys’ team title.
     “This was the best we have raced all season, our boys went after this hard,” added Serres. “Our fourth place finish was a fantastic finish for this team. At the beginning of the season, I would have predicted a seventh or eighth place finish at sectionals. But these guys have worked hard all season, and made a believer out of anyone who has watched them.”

WIAA Division 2 Monroe Sectional
(from Saturday, Oct. 20 @ Monroe)
(Girls)
Team scores: 1.Dodgeville/Mineral Point 34, 2.Madison Edgewood 76, 3.McFarland 93, 4.River Valley 174, 5.New Glarus/Monticello 186, 6.Platteville 223, 7.Mount Horeb 219, 8.Monoroe 223, 9.Lodi 236, 10.Evansville 263, 11.Sauk Prairie 269, 12.Brodhead/Juda 179, 13.Prairie du Chien 322, 14.Richland Center/Ithaca 352, 15.Southwestern/Cuba City 379.
Top Individuals: 1.Anna Eisenzimmer (Dodge–Point) 15:06, 2.Amy Davis (Edgewood) 15:19, 3.Shannon (McFarland) 15:22, 4.Mairin Cahill (Dodge–Point) 15:35, 5.Courtney Link (Edgewood) 15:39.
Individual State Qualifiers: 3.Shannon (McFarland) 15:22, 6.Lianna Mack (Sauk Prairie) 15:56, 9.Emma Wilson (Platteville 16:18, 10.Riese (McFarland) 16:22, 11.Greenlead (Evansville) 16:29.
Platteville: 9.Emma Wilson 16:17, 27.Holly Kasper 17:15, 35.Laura Donovan 17:40, 59.Cassidy Roth 18:19, 63.Taylor Triphan 18:26, 77.Danielle Jentz 19:15, 83.McKenzie Scanlan 19:33.
4,000 meters
(Boys)
Team scores: 1.Monroe 55, 2.Dodgeville/Mineral Point 84, 3.New Glarus/Monticello 90, 4.Platteville 119, 5.McFarland 134, 6.Madison Edgewoos 165, 7.Mount Horeb 180, 8.River Valley 208, 9.Wisconsin Heights/Barneveld 208, 10.Lodi 217, 11.Sauk Prairie 281, 12.Brodhead/Juda 315, 13.Richland Center/Ithaca 332, 14.Evansville 363, 15.Prairie du Chien 423, 16.Southwestern/Cuba City 502
Top Individuals: 1.Ryan McCoy (New Glarus/Monticello) 15:58, 2.Trevor Wunnicke (Dodgeville/Mineral Point) 16:38, 3.Jake Hirsbrunner (Monore) 16:58, 4.Steve Christiansen (Monroe) 17:04, 5.Ethan Moehn (Monroe) 17:23.
Individual State Qualifiers: 1.McCoy (New Glarus/Monticello) 15:58, 7.Dylan Johnson (Brodhead/Juda) 17:26, 8.Kevin Wernet (McFarland) 17:29, 10.Alexander Yeiser (New Glarus/Monticello) 17:36, 11.Adam Phillips (Lodi) 17:43.
Platteville: 15.Ben Bahr 17:50, 17.Vince Momot 17:52, 18.Cullen Bryla 17:52, 30.David Hahn 18:18, 39.Max Frommelt 18:31, 62.John Lambert 19:06, 73.Jake Reuter 19:28.
5,000 meters