Ozaukee teams ready for an encore

The majority of the pieces that sent the Ozaukee High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams to state last fall are back this season.
The Warrior boys last year took sixth at the Division 3 state meet, qualifying for the first time in 35 years, and return Matt Baldwin, Calvin McKee, Tyler Mueller and Riley Borchardt.
Baldwin paced the Warriors at state last year, finishing 64th. Mueller was 72nd. McKee was 76th. Hayden Rice (77th) graduated and Sam Schubert (73rd) isn’t on the team this year.
Beyond the veterans, coach Andrew Pfeuffer said, “we picked up some great athletes to help fill in the gaps who will make our boys competitive.”
Those include Owen Klaus, Chase Miller and Aaron Nehls.
For the girls, Kelley Large, Sophie Uhlenberg, Ally Clark and Grace Tinder are back from a team that made school history.
The Warriors took seventh at state, topping their 15th place in the only other time they qualified.
Large finished 58th and Uhlenberg was 64th. Their other three top runners graduated, Ashlee Mueller (25th), Sarah Nehls (73rd) and Jenna Schueller (84th) graduated.
New team members include Clara McKee, Becky Hoffmann, Meredith Clark, Kenna Pierson and Cami Miller.
“Our goal this season is to build off of last season. Our athletes really work hard and have a great understanding of what we are trying to accomplish this year,” Pfeuffer said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing them compete and grow as a team, especially since seven out of our 16 athletes are brand new to our program this season.”
The girls took second in the Big East last season, scoring 45 points to Oostburg’s 40. All seven Warriors earned all-conference honors, led by Large and Mueller on the first team.
The boys took sixth with McKee making the first team and Schubert making the second.
“We have a very well-coached and well-rounded group of athletes in the Big East Conference. It is definitely a challenge to win our conference but we always look forward to competing against our Big East rivals,” Pfeuffer said.
Meets are being run differently due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Limited spectators, starting races in waves, no tents, an empty starting box in between teams are among some of the changes.
“The new rules so far are not playing too much of a factor. With the wave/staggered starts it does change some strategies but we are happy to be together and competing again as a team,” Pfeuffer said.
The Warriors’ first meet at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha was moved up this week to Wednesday from Thursday because of the civil unrest and President Donald Trump’s visit.
The Warrior girls run Friday and the boys run Saturday, both in the Highlander Invite at Tendick Park in Saukville.