For the Tomahawk Leader

RIB MOUNTAIN– The Tomahawk Hatchet cross country team traveled to Nine-Mile Recreation Area in Rib Mountain for the 12th Annual Marathon Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 2.

For the second-straight week, when the dust settled, the Lady Hatchets sat atop the 13-team field as they took home the championship, while their counterparts, the boys, had their best finish of the season as they placed third.

Photos by Bridgette Reilly.

“The conditions were close to ideal for distance running and our athletes responded with some solid performances,” said head coach John Zuelsdorf. “Several Hatchets had seasonal best efforts and in some cases career best 5K’s.”

The Lady Hatchets were led by the Reilly sisters, Rachael and Kate, as they both earned medalist honors, placing in the top ten. Rachael finished 4th-21:10 and Kate placed 7th-21:27. A nice “pack” of Hatchets followed, as Macey Mann (11th-21:55), Emily Lacina (14th-22:05), Morgan Hansmann (16th- 22:16), Ava Dragosh (22nd-22:56), and Robin Schmidt (23rd-23:12) rounded out the Tomahawk attack.

Tomahawk had all seven runners in before their closest competitors’ fourth scorer to put the meet out of reach of any challengers.

Other Hatchet finishers were Geena Wanta (25th), Sophie Urmann (27th), Marie Gorell (28th), Halle Derleth (41st), Serena Reinke (42nd), Kambyl Mattke (51st), Alli Palmer (58th), Izzy Lee (69th), and Arawen Alberg (75th). Numerous seasonal bests and PRs by the Lady Hatchets were key to their success. There 104 finishers in the girls’ race.

“One of our goals going into the meet was for the girls to stay closer to the leaders with our pack, and we nailed it,” Zuelsdorf stated. “Assumption, fresh off a big win at the Freedom Invite in the small schools division, presented the girls with their first real test to date. However, by the 3200 meter mark, we had things well in-hand, with our top ten girls in front of their last two scoring runners, leaving little doubt as to the outcome.”

Final team rankings: Tomahawk (39), Assumption (59), Colby (72), Marathon (73), Merrill (136), Rib Lake (179), Wittenberg (210), Pittsville (211), Auburndale (Inc.), Three Lakes (Inc.), Athens (Inc.), Pittsville (Inc.), Nekoosa (Inc.).

The lone medalist for the third-place boys’ team was senior Arden Ziert as he placed 10th in a time of 18:47. He was followed closely by Brett Borchardt (11th-18:51). Rounding out the Hatchet scoring pack were Owen Dickrell (19th-19:29), Sam Zastrow (22nd-19:41) and Presley Gutbrod (35th-20:26). Helping inflate opponents’ scores were Jacob Towle (51st), Taje Casey (58th), Ty Anthes (65th), and John Mark Hawley (73rd). Seven of nine boys had seasonal bests or PRs for the 5K distance. 99 athletes finished the race.

Final team scores: Marathon (84), Auburndale (89), Tomahawk (94), Merrill (110), Athens (127), Pittsville (149), Rib Lake (171), Colby/Abby (172), Wittenberg (181), Waupaca (224), Three Lakes (Inc.), Assumption (Inc.), and Nekoosa (Inc.).

“Brett had a break out race with a huge PR, he worked with Arden well for the entire 5K,” Zuelsdorf said. “Both runners ran with confidence. Additionally, it was nice to see our boys successfully keep their pace from 1600m through 3200m, which was one of our team goals. We were right in the thick of things for the team title throughout the event, which was exciting.”

Athletes of the Week

Arden Ziert – “Arden has been doing an awesome job leading the boys’ team in practice. It was nice to see him work with Brett and find himself in a medalist position at the end of the race. He has been a varsity-level competitor since his freshman season, but to see him take that experience to the next level tonight will only help him in future races this year.”

Rachael Reilly – “Rachael has made a huge impact to this team since coming aboard last year as a freshman. It was nice to see her get out and run confidently tonight with the leaders and execute her racing strategy flawlessly again. She looked strong tonight, a nice rebound after a challenging outing at Ashland last week for her by her standards.”