Rockets are fast in the dark too

The Cedar Grove-Belgium High School cross country runners are already speedy during the daytime.

It turns out that after the sun goes down they’re just as fast.

Four Rocket boys brought home medals, and that helped the team earn a bigger piece of hardware at the Northern Lights Invite in Neenah on Friday night.

The Rockets won the six-team Division 3 race with 49 points. Coleman had 61, followed by Stratford, 66; St. Mary Catholic, 78; Winnebago Lutheran Academy, 18; and Weyauwega-Fremont, 122.

Three Rocket girls won medals as the team finished fifth of nine teams during a  fun overnight trip.

“The kids had really been looking forward to running at night and under the lights. When we arrived and the sun finally went down, you could really sense the energy levels of all of the teams pick up, so the atmosphere was great,” coach Brandon Langer said.

Rocket junior Mason Hoopman finished second on the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes. 44.1 seconds.

Senior Alex Nett was eighth in 18:16.1, followed by freshman Will Huenink in ninth in 18:19.9.

Sophomore Michael Kuerschner was 14th in 18:51.9. Junior Ian Andersen was 24th in 19:50.2.

The boys, Langer said, ran strong for the first mile and the last 1,000 meters.

“I was really impressed with how Ian Andersen ran, finishing strong, as he was our fifth runner, which was the first time in his career that he moved into a scoring position,” he said.

“He is gradually building his mileage, and the results are starting to show. It helped that he was pushed by freshman Reid Ketterhagen, who is starting to figure out how to race this distance. If these two, along with Logan Depies and Cole

Ketterhagen, can continue to push each other for that fifth spot, that will go a long way toward our team success once we get to the middle of October.”

The Rocket girls scored 108 points. Lourdes Academy won with 34, followed by Weyauwega-Fremont, 66; Stratford, 98; and Winnebago Lutheran Academy, 108. St. Mary Catholic had 131, followed by Coleman, 172; Reedsville, 176; and Laona-Wabeno, 213.

Sophomore Hadley Heimerman was seventh in 21:00. Junior Faith Konzak was 12th in 21:37.4, with senior Lyndsay Sass right behind in 13th in 21:39.5. All three earned medals.

Sophomore Elise Brill was 29th in 22:51.4, and sophomore Mallory Arroyo was 49th in 24:50.6.

The girls ran a similar race, Langer said, with a good beginning and ending.

“Both Hadley and Lyndsay looked strong to the finish, covering the last 1,000 meters in under four minutes, and I am hopeful that this will carry on as the season progresses,” he said.

“The last 1,000 is something we have been stressing in terms of building to the finish and not waiting for the last 200 meters or so to begin their kick.”

With strong starts and finishes, that leaves one area to improve.

“It’s the middle portion of the race where we need to continue to fight and focus on,” Langer said.

The Rockets run in the Angel Invite at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside against more than 25 teams on Saturday in what Langer said should be “a good test.”