Ozaukee girls run away with home invite

How dominant were the Ozaukee High School girl runners at their home invite last Thursday?

Senior Sarah Tinder cracked the top 10 and earned a medal, but her place didn’t count toward the team total because five of her teammates finished higher.

Ozaukee scored 32 points to win the five full-team Warrior Invite, beating Big East Conference rival Sheboygan Lutheran’s 57. Random Lake was third with 82 points, followed by Kohler’s 86 and The Prairie School’s 92.

Warrior junior Clara McKee was fourth on the 5,000-meter course in 22 minutes 42.8 seconds, junior Rebecca Hoffmann was fifth in 23:07.5 and junior Meredith Clark was sixth in 23:17.

Junior Kenna Pierson was eighth in 23:54, and sophomore Addison Schubert was ninth in 23:58.6. Tinder was 10th in 24:00.8.

“The girls did a nice job of pack running and pushing each other throughout the race,” coach Andrew Pfeuffer said.

“It was a hot day to race due to the temperature, and there is almost no shade on our course. So for them to work together, push on a hot day, and move up is what we were looking to do.”

The other Warrior runner, freshman Chloe Dybul, was 28th in 29:15.3.

Warrior boys leapfrog league rival

Ozaukee’s boys couldn’t get past Big East foe Kohler but they finished ahead of Sheboygan Lutheran, which beat them at the Lancer Invite a week earlier.

Kohler won with 28 points, followed by Ozaukee’s 47 and Sheboygan Lutheran’s 55. Kenosha Christian Life School had 95.

Warrior junior Owen Klaus was second in 17:01.9. Junior Aaron Nehls was sixth in 18:35, and senior Chase Miller was eighth (seventh in team scoring) in 18:44.5. All earned medals.

Senior Riley Borchardt was 18th (15th) in 19:52.1, and sophomore Brice Schueller was 20th (17th) in 20:12.4.

“Both Kohler and Sheboygan Lutheran are really good teams, and we fought right with them,” Pfeuffer said.

“The difference and how we were able to close the gap on Sheboygan Lutheran was our boys knew who they needed to match up with and get in front of before the race. Chase Miller (our No. 3 runner) had a great race and moved up in front of their No. 2 runner, and Riley Borchardt (our No. 4) and Brice Schueller (our  No. 5) narrowed the gap on Sheboygan’s Nos. 4 and 5 compared to the Lancer Invite.”

The meet had eight teams, double what it had last season, and it had a timing company, adding to the event’s legitimacy, Pfeuffer said.

“It was a true home invite, which is new to Ozaukee for both cross country and track. It got the guys excited and we came out quick, but they settled in, battled and we took a step forward toward our goals.”

Ozaukee freshman Dane Zimdars was 23rd in 20:38.4, and sophomore Otto Utecht was 25th in 21:02.9.

Ozaukee was to run at Sheboygan Lutheran on Tuesday, Sept. 13, and at Mishicot on Thursday, Sept. 22.