Hoopman delivers in clutch

Cedar Grove-Belgium High School sophomore Mason Hoopman embodied his coach’s philosophy in qualifying for the Division 2 state cross country meet, and he did it in heart-stopping fashion.

Hoopman, at the Kettle Moraine Lutheran Sectional last Friday, finished the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 45.6 seconds and in seventh place of 28 runners. Three seconds slower and his season would have ended.

The top five individual runners not from state-qualifying teams advance to state.

Hoopman, the only Rocket qualifier for the sectional, had an interesting end to the race.

“Mason’s plan was to hang right on the shoulder of Oostburg’s Josh Stagg, as that is who had beaten him the last couple of races, but only by about 10 seconds or less each time,” coach Brandon Langer said.

“He executed his strategy well, which put him in fourth in terms of individuals, as Stagg was the third individual for most of the race.”

The sixth and seventh runners were 12 to 15 seconds back at the two-mile mark, but with 1,000 meters to go, a Luxembourg-Casco runner made a move and closed on the pack that included Hoopman.

“With about 150 meters to go, there were four runners fighting for three individual spots. Mason had a solid kick to finish behind Josh and held off the other two runners,” Langer said.

The Luxembourg-Casco runner, Spencer Thiry, came in ninth and claimed the final state spot in 17:46.9. Oostburg’s Jack Staggs, Josh’s twin brother, missed qualifying, finishing in 17:48.3.

Langer and his fastest runner were thrilled, and the coach was even prouder when Hoopman told him how he maintained the drive to punch his ticket to state.

“After talking to Mason after the race about what was going through his head during the final 150 meters, he said he had worked too hard in this race not to move on and that there was no way he was going to let them beat him,” Langer said.

“That is the attitude of a competitor. I wish I could take that and force feed that to all of my athletes as that is precisely the attitude and mentality that you need to have.”

Hoopman will run Saturday at the Division 2 state meet in Colby.

Another Rocket may join him.

Sophomore Faith Konzak barely missed qualifying, finishing as the sixth-fastest individual runner in 21:47.5, six seconds from the fifth qualifier.

By the second mile, Konzak was battling three other runners for the fifth spot. She moved from the back to the front of that group with 600 meters left, but a Kiel runner came up strong in the final 400 meters and Konzak couldn’t recover.

“She was disappointed in not advancing to the state meet, but she proved that she is able to rise to the challenge placed in front of her,” Langer said.

But Konzak’s season may not be over. If one of the top five runners can’t go due to Covid-19 or contact tracing, Konzak is in.

“Normally, that is not the case, but as we all know, this is not a normal year. So I am having her continue to practice this week just in case,” Langer said.

Boys’ team had a chance to advance

At the Kiel Sub-Sectional on Oct. 20, Langer said the boys’ team would be in the mix for the second spot and a chance to move on as a team, but they knew being bumped up from Division 3 to Division 2 made that a bigger challenge and the Rockets came up short.

It was also difficult for Langer, since the boys’ race started 20 minutes after the girls’ and he had to coach both teams at the same time.

Kiel dominated the eight-team meet with 35 points, and Kewaskum scored 76. Kettle Moraine Lutheran had 87, and the Rockets scored 91.

Hoopman took sixth of 55 runners in 17:22.8. Alex Nett was 16th in 18:15.9. Brett Williams was 17th in 18:23. Nathanael Bruhn was 24th in 19:03, and Cole Ketterhagen was 28th in 19:25.7.

“I believe that our boys have the potential to be a very strong team next season if they put in the work during the off season and embrace the mental aspect required of this sport,” Langer said.

Lady Rockets drop their times in bunches

The Rocket girls peaked at the right time, dropping their times by 20 to 40 seconds from their previous season bests.

“I was extremely proud of the way they competed,” Langer said.

The Rockets scored 80 points for fourth place in the seven-team meet. Kewaskum won with 47 points. Oostburg had 49, and Kiel had 71.

Konzak was 11th of 51 runners in 21:08.8. Cheyenne Simonet was 14th in a personal-record 21:16.2.

“I was extremely proud of how she finished off her senior year,” Langer said.

Freshman Hadley Heimerman, usually the Rockets’ top runner, developed a stitch early in the race and finished 15th in 21:17.2.

“I know she was disappointed not leading the team and moving on to the next level, but she still had a very strong season. We talked about how her experiences this year and the ending to the season will serve as a strong motivator for next year,” Langer said.Lyndsay Sass was 19th in 21:46.4, and Elise Brill was 21st in 22:00.2.

Langer said he looks forward to having six of the Rockets’ top seven runners return next season.