A little home cooking seemed to help the Bluejay boys in Saturday’s WVC Meet, as they worked their way up to the middle of the pack of the talented Valley.
The Merrill girls finished seventh of seven.
“Finishing in fourth place out of seven teams may not sound spectacular, but when our boys competed with some of the best teams in the state I’ll take the fourth place as a victory,” commented Coach Hoffman. “Our varsity boys ran very well in pack formation, as expected, and we had a new top finisher for our team, junior Jacob Jensen. Jake has worked tirelessly over this past season and he’s peaking right at the right time.
“If we can bring our pack of runners down to a competitive time, then our upcoming sectional meet will be a much better match for us. We know our competition very well, now it’s up to us to perform at a much better pace than what we’ve done so far this year. We have one more race to prove how well we can put a race together from start to finish, and I believe our boys can do it. I need them to believe they can do it.”
Jensen ran 20th in 17:48 to pace the boys, and a group of Reese Beyersdorf (26th, 17:59), Ethan Schneider (28th, 18:12), Andrew Koch (31st, 18:26) and Brady Schmelling (32nd, 18:30) brought it home. Brett Swan (34th, 18:36) completed a sixth-man tiebreaker win over Wausau East, and Treven Oberg (42nd, 18:58) competed.
The state’s top-ranked SPASH posted a nearly-perfect score of 17.
The girls were edged out of sixth by four points by Wis. Rapids. Point (8th) also won the girls event, besting East 35-46.
Christa Schleif ran 37th in 18:04, and a 41-44 pack of Shelby Harris (18:25), Bailey Mogenson (18:44), Morgan Pettit (18:47) and Ashley Berton (18:49) closed it out. Lauren Case (49th, 19:09) and Mickenna Comstock (52nd, 19:44) also ran.
“Our varsity girls ran flat this week,” Hoffman said. “There was no spring in their step on our own home course so we’re hoping for a big drop in their times this coming week at sectionals.
“They’ve worked very hard from the first day of practice, so I’m hoping they can finish their season with a satisfying time for themselves and for the team. I’d like our girls to ‘hitch’ a ride on another runner from our Valley competitors who finished well this past Saturday and hang with them throughout the race, beating them at the end. We need to strategize on how we want to finish our season.”
Merrill’s Marissa Matushak, who attends Wausau West, placed fourth overall in 15:27.
Team standings-Boys-SPASH 17, Wausau West 85, D.C. Everest 87, Merrill 137, Wausau East 137, Wis. Rapids 154, Marshfield 154………Girls-SPASH 35, W.E. 46, W.W. 79, D.C.E. 93, Marshfield 116, W.R. 203, Merrill 207.