RHINELANDER – On Thursday, Aug. 27, the Tomahawk High School (THS) cross country team officially opened its season at the 11-team Rhinelander Invitational, held at Rhinelander High School.
The meet featured a new course route that took runners through the Rhinelander school forest and soccer field.
Coach Connor Ahrens said the Lady Hatchets turned in a strong performance, finishing 3rd behind GNC rivals Lakeland and Rhinelander, while the Tomahawk boys struggled to find their footing, finishing 6th overall.
“This is always a challenging race for our student-athletes who are coming off of their highest mileage week from Bond Falls cross country camp,” said coach Steph Ahrens. “That being said, there were some standout performances, and many new athletes on the team got their first taste of what a high school cross country race is like.”
Sophomore Charlee Lund took 3rd place overall with a time of 21:28.
Tomahawk girls who made up the rest of the scoring five were Elise Gibeault (9th-22:29), Ellie Micke (16th-24:40), Abbie Rosenmeier (18th-24:52), and Victoria Towle (20th-25:32). Other finishers for the Hatchets were: Aliyah Nelson (25th-25:48), Lucy Nelson (32nd-27:21), Joa Reilly (36th-28:27), Alaina Stogbauer (50th-30:24) and Savannah Reinke (56th-33:43).
Girls’ large school team scores: Lakeland-43, Rhinelander-49, Tomahawk-52, Wausau East-81, Merrill-121, Northland Pines-DNS.
Hatchet sophomore Connor Zorn and junior Jordyn Carew led the boys’ team by taking 33rd (20:11) and 34th (20:12), respectively.
Additional scorers for the Tomahawk boys were Dawson Jones (41st-20:40), Luke Morrison (42nd-20:45), and Drew Voermans (52nd-21:07). Other finishers for Tomahawk were: Will Boneck (61st-21:57), Karson Hanse (64th-22:00), Ryan Montag (66th-22:03), Joe Zastrow (69th-22:22), Max Childers (79th-23:26), Orin Erickson (83rd-23:39), Jonathan Crossman (84th-23:48), Bodie Olsen (96th-24:47), Tripp Tabbert (99th-25:23), Chastin Dziura (100th-25:32), Levi Cerkas (102nd-25:39), Liam Fossum (116th-29:05) and Eli Scott (117th-29:12).
Boys’ large school team scores: DC Everest-33, Lakeland-42, Rhinelander-78, Wausau East-108, Northland Pines-124, Tomahawk-139, Merrill-DNS.
“Despite the third place finish by our girls, they were still right in the race,” said coach Connor Ahrens. “Our team always makes the necessary improvements as the season progresses, so the girls will be competitive at the GNC meet later this year, assuming we stay healthy. Our boys had a rough last-place finish, but this may be exactly the start we need to realize what it will take to earn a higher place at our next meet. This is a young boys’ team that has a very high potential, but it will take resilience and determination to bridge the gap.”
This week’s action
The Hatchet runners are scheduled to travel to Nine-Mile Forest in Wausau for the Marathon Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 3. The meet gets underway at 4:30 p.m.
Athletes of the Week
Victoria Towle – “Sophomore Victoria Towle is one of those student-athletes that every coach wants in their program. She is coachable, has a strong work ethic, and a positive attitude. She will always try and give her best effort and most of the time this is her secret weapon on the race course. Where others fail mentally or physically for various reasons, Victoria finds a way to thrive. She did last year and has shown clear signs of continuing. Just recently she dropped three minutes off of her Alumni Scrimmage 5k time and dropped nearly three minutes off of her Rhinelander Invite time from last year. Victoria was our 5th scoring runner, once again proving she’s a varsity capable athlete.”
Jonathan Crossman – “Another sophomore making large strides of improvement is Jonathan Crossman. Last season Jonathan’s best 5k was a 27:41; mind you, this was his best effort in a reasonably flat course. This year, he started the season by running a new personal record on the very hilly Alumni Scrimmage course in Bradley Park with a 23:33. The trend continued at the Rhinelander Invite. Despite racing with tired and sore legs, Jonathan proceeded to run another sub 24-minute 5k. Jonathan gained some excellent speed during last spring’s track season, and combining it with endurance running is proving to be the right combination. Jonathan is now setting his sights on faster teammates and competitors. Who knows how far this Hatchet will continue to climb.”
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here