It’s Tendick again for Port, Grafton runners

The Grafton High School cross country teams were scheduled to run at Tendick Park in Saukville last Saturday, and Port Washington joined them after their meet was canceled due to rain.

The teams are plenty familiar with the course. It’s almost the only one they’ve used so far this season, since many others are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Whitefish Bay was the host this time and won both meets in the R. Vanden Avond Invite.

In the girls’ meet, the Blue Dukes scored 17 points to the Pirates’ 50 and Grafton’s 67.

Pirate senior  Mira Stimac took fifth of 22 runners on the 5,000-meter course in 20 minutes, 56.7 seconds.

Coach Joe Adamak said she ran a “really good race with really strong splits and had a really nice end.”

Sophomore Abbey Lotz was eighth in 21:10.7, and sophomore Emma Kasza-James was 10th in 21:22.

Sophomore Braeya Thomas was 14th in 21:59.9 and junior Clare Woods was 19th in 23:55.8.

“I think we did fine. We had nice grouping,” Adamak said.

Freshman Ava McLaughlin led Grafton by taking 11th in 21:38.9. Freshman Evelyn Schmit was 13th in 21:52.6. Junior Rachel Swenson was 16th in 22:37. Junior Maddy Wille was 17th in 23:36.1, and freshman Josie Gehrke was 18th in 23:43.2.

“Our varsity girls continue to pull together and we had some strong finishes,” co-coach Celia Shaughnessy said.

Port boys all run best times of season

The Port boys, despite soggy and humid conditions, all turned in their best times of the season.

They scored 75 points for third place. Whitefish Bay edged Germantown, 36 to 39, to win. Grafton scored 83 points.

Pirate junior Mason Raasch got out fast and finished eighth of 33 runners in 17:54.6. Junior Nate Meeks was 14th in 18:12.2 and junior Austin Rinke was 19th in 18:38.3, one minute faster than the week before at Tendick. The pair, coach Mark Pasten said, worked together well.

Junior Gabe Pasten was 20th in 18:40.8, and senior Angelo Feciskonin was 26th in 19:28.5.

Coach Pasten scrambled to schedule the meet after the team’s Thursday meet at Hon-E-Kor Golf Course in Kewaskum was canceled due to rain.

“The boys did a great job of accepting the change and were happy to get an opportunity to compete,” he said.

Senior Nathan Baker led Grafton by taking second in 16:52.4. Sophomore Gabe Mietkowski was 17th in 18:30.7. Junior Lance Greicar was 21st in 18:46.7. Junior Maddox Durst was 28th in 19:46.9. Senior Andrew Rose was 21st in 20:14.4.

“Baker continues to succeed and he and we were very happy with his time and place,” Shaughnessy said.

Port runs at Racine St. Catherine’s on Saturday. Grafton has a week off and will work on endurance, strength and speed, Shaughnessy said.