The Hatchet cross country teams found Freedom on the trail in Saturday’s Irish Invite.
The Tomahawk boys tied for second in the 21-team field but lost out on a sixth-runner tiebreaker for the runner-up plaque. The girls ranked eighth despite missing several varsity runners, bouyed by Rachel Sudbury’s individual runner-up overall finish.
“The lady hatchets, running without the services of three of their scorers, managed an eight-place finish,” THS coach John Zuelsdorf said. “Rachel paced the field with the third-fastest time ever run by a Hatchet.”
Sudbury was timed in 15:06, and was backed up by Stephanie Welke (28th, 16:48), Kelsey Renn (35th, 16:54), Taylor Laack (74th, 18:17) and Regan Swan (83rd, 18:26).
Chilton tallied 59 to under-score nearest competitor New London by 84 points for the girls title. Freedom was third at 151 and Tomahawk scored 222.
The boys knotted it up with Gillett at 158 points. Host Freedom took the championship with 76 points.
The Hatchet boys looked to freshman Bryan Tomek, who placed 10th overall in 17:15.
“Bryan finished as a medalist and was the top freshman of the meet,” Zuelsdorf said.
Juniors Connor Ahrens (22nd, 17:33) and Dylan Dahl (28th, 17:44) and senior Troy Salewske (52nd, 18:35) set career bests in the meet. Senior Garrett Daigle (48th, 18:33) slipped into the scoring. Ryan Kuehn (76th, 19:12) and Thomas Miller (102th, 20:06) also competed in the 129-runner field.