Balance was the key behind the Hatchet cross country teams’ excellent performances in Saturday’s GNC Meet at Minoqua.
The girls captured their 12th championship in the past 13 years, while the boys were a super second.
“The athletes came prepared and ready to compete,” THS coach John Zuelsdorf said. “Their ‘no excuses – never give up’ attitude paid dividends for Tomahawk!
“We knew that ski hills of Winter Park would present challenges for all of the competitors and give the home team a definite advantage as they were able to incorporate the site into their weekly practices. However, we told our athletes that those that were able to hold position on the steep climbs and make their move on the down hills and rolling hills would be the most successful. Our athletes made awesome racing decisions all day.
“To have only five All-Conference athletes reflected the importance of our team depth and pack running with our 3-4-5-6-7 runners. Additionally, we achieved three out of our four team goals at Winter Park and have some solid momentum and confidence going into sectionals.”
The girls worked a 23-point margin over Lakeland. Dani Whiting (3rd, 21:08), Emmy Larson (7th, 23:02) and Claire Kuehn (23:16) picked up All-GNC honors, while Talyn Jones (16th, 24:00), Susan Waye (17th, 24:12), Alex Zedler (19th, 24:27) and Maggee Renn (26th, 25:07) backed it up by beating the T-Birds’ fourth runner.
The boys counted on Troy VanStrydonk (10th, 18:31), Alex Johnson (14th, 19:00), Austin Kaiser (16th, 19:06), Jacob McGuire (19th, 19:26) and Tyler Wittmann (20th, 19:32), and Lucas Tjugum (25th, 19:46) and Jared Kiander (26th, 19:52) finished close behind. The third-ranked T-Birds took their sixth straight GNC title.
“Hats off to Dani, Emmy, Claire, Troy, and Alex for achieving All-Conference honors, which was a result of their hard work all season,” Zuelsdorf said. “After rehabbing an injury the majority of the early season, Alex appears to be back to where he left off his freshman season.
“It was interesting in both the girls and boys race to see a little more parity in the conference on the All-Conference squads this year. It’s nice to see other teams improving as well.”
Team standings–Girls–Tomahawk 52, Lakeland 75, Mosinee 79, Medford 81, Rhinelander 88, N. Pines 114, Antigo inc…….Boys–Lakeland 25, Tomahawk 79, Medford 91, N. Pines 91, Rhinelander 132, Mosinee 144, Antigo 159.
The WIAA Tomahawk Sectional will be held at Edgewater Golf Course, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The top two teams and top five individuals from non-qualifying teams will reach state, to be held in Wis. Rapids the following weekend.