MHS Cross Country Team “Runs the Ball” for Homecoming, brings home seven medals from DCE dual

TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

Homecoming Run the Ball
On Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, the Merrill Cross Country team ran the Homecoming ball 24 miles, from Tomahawk to Merrill, to start the Homecoming Assembly.
“Each athlete is required to run the ball for at least one mile,” Head MHS Cross Country Coach Alyssa Swan said. “However, most athletes ran two or more miles each.”
“The weather was perfect for the day, and the athletes had a great time!” she said. “We’ve been doing this tradition for the last four years to get the Cross Country Team more involved with Homecoming activities.”
“It’s a fun experience that the athlete’s enjoy that day!” Swan said. “We end the run as a team with a police escort to the school from Prairie Trails and run a complete lap around our football field before running the ball into the Homecoming Ceremony.”


DCE dual
The Merrill High School (MHS) Cross Country Team ran a two-mile dual meet against DC Everest (DCE) High School at DCE on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.
“We came home with seven medals, which was really exciting for the team!” Swan said.
Ian Schuetze led the Merrill Boys Team in and got a seventh place overall finish with a time of 12:29. Merrill’s Kaden Schwandt was next in for the Merrill Boys and got a ninth place overall finish with a time of 13:09. Following him for the Merrill guys, Jacob Mueller came in at 13:11, followed by Logan Knospe (13:16), Brady Eggerbrecht (13:18), Caleb Norton (14:08), Anton Countryman (14:20), and Treg Knospe (14:22).
For the Merrill Girls, Alanna Rogers came in fourth place overall with a time of 14:51, followed by Breannon Herdt with a fifth place overall finish at 14:51. Merrill’s Madi Crossman finished in 8th place overall (15:52), Danielle Schielke took 9th place (16:12), and Olivia Bares took 10th place (16:25). Next in for the Merrill Girls were Irene Blennert (17:23) and Gracie VanVuren (17:36).