Ozaukee girls improve while winning

The Ozaukee High School girls’ cross country team won the Lancer Invite again on Aug. 31, and this time with a lower score.

The Warriors tallied 30 points, five better than last year’s winning total, in the five-team meet. Westosha Central had 48, followed by Sheboygan Lutheran’s 85, Dedicated Athletes Schooled at Home (DASH) 93, and Living Word Lutheran, 100.

Becky Hoffmann took second of 68 runners, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 21 minutes, 12 seconds.

Clara McKee was fourth in 22:00 and Addison Schubert was seventh in 22:39, a personal record. Sophie Uhlenberg was 11th in 23:17, and Meredith Clark was 14th in 23:31.

All those runners earned medals, along with Ozaukee’s sixth runner, Kenna Pierson, who was 15th in 23:44.

“I thought our girls competed well and attacked the course much better this year than last year. They knew what they had to do and they stuck to their race plans and executed them well,” coach Andrew Pfeuffer said.

McKee takes second, boys take third

The Warrior boys took third place with 61 points in the nine-team meet. Westosha Central scored 39 points, edging Sheboygan Lutheran’s 47.

After Ozaukee came DASH, 108; Shoreland Lutheran, 150; Kenosha St. Joseph, 154; The Prairie School, 169; Kenosha Christian Life, 199; and Heritage Christian, 267.

“I was happy with their performances as our boys dropped close to 60 points (120 points in 2020) from last year and we are learning a lot each time we compete,” Pfeuffer said.

Calvin McKee was second of 107 runners in 18:07, and Owen Klaus was fourth in 18:19.

Tyler Mueller was ninth in 18:49, and Aaron Nehls was 10th in 18:54, a personal record. The Warriors’ top four runners earned medals.

Riley Borchardt was 43rd in 21:35.

“I thought we did a great job of running the course correctly. Parkside has a strategy to it and if you run the course correctly it can be fast, but if you run it incorrectly it can be a very difficult course,” Pfeuffer said.

Ozaukee hosts an invite for the second straight season at 4 p.m. Thursday. The Warriors run at Sheboygan Lutheran on Tuesday, Sept. 14.

CG-Belgium boys hope to pack it in

The Cedar Grove-Belgium boys’ cross country team scored 157 points and finished fifth of 18 teams at the Kiel Invitational last Thursday.

Valders won with 65, beating Little Chute’s 76. Two Rivers had 110 and the Big East Conference’s Kohler had 143. Kiel had 188, followed by Kewaskum’s 204, Waupun’s 213, Oostburg’s 238 and Roncalli’s 273 to complete the top 10.

Rocket Mason Hoopman was 15th in 17:48.9.

“His victory the week before has given him confidence that he can go out quicker, which he did. Now it is a matter of moving up the second mile and racing with guts the last mile to fight for position,” coach Brandon Langer said.

Will Huenink was 26th of 140 runners in 18:37, followed by Alex Nett, 20th, 18:54; Michael Kuerschner, 44th, 19:36; and Cole Ketterhagen, 53rd, 20:13.7.

Langer was expecting Huenink, Nett and Kuerschner to run closer together like they have in practice and the meet before.

“I am expecting a much closer grouping this Friday at Neenah,” Langer said.

Kohler, Sheboygan Lutheran and Ozaukee are ahead of the Rockets in the Big East, Langer said.

Girls get stuck and can’t get out

Cedar Grove-Belgium’s girls took seventh of 17 teams with 178 points. Kiel won with 50, followed by Little Chute, 67; Two Rivers, 107; Oostburg, 124; Valders, 137; and North Fond du Lac Horace Mann, 171. Kewaskum had 202, followed by Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah’s 277 and Reedsville’s 291.

“The girls got caught at the beginning, meaning the course bottlenecked after 100 meters, and they didn’t get out fast enough,” Langer said.

Hadley Heimerman was 14th of 124 runners in 16:53.7.

“Hadley ran a smart race,” Langer said, adding her first mile time was 39 seconds faster than the week before.

He wanted her to stay with two Oostburg girls. She lost track early, then closed the gap later, he said.

Faith Konzak was 26th in 17:28.7 despite a mishap.

“Faith lost a shoe around the 1,200-meter mark, and she stopped to put it back on. She looked rather panicked at the mile mark, but also did a good job in terms of recovering and moving up after that,” Langer said.

Lyndsay Sass was 33rd in 18:01.1. Elise Brill was 36th in 18:06.7, and Mallory Arroyo was 74th in 19:43.4.

Oostburg and Ozaukee are the Big East foes the girls will try to catch in the conference race, Langer said.

The Rockets next run Friday night at Neenah.

“I know the athletes are excited about mixing it up and racing at night, and so am I. There are some larger schools at this meet, and it should be a great opportunity to see them use the lessons they have learned from the first two meets and first four weeks of practice,” Langer said.