WAUSAU – The Tomahawk Middle School cross country teams competed at the Junior Smiley Invitational at Horace Mann Middle School on Thursday, Sept. 17, where the Hatchets clocked 27 personal best performances out of 36 team finishers with nine others finishing with season bests, with most improving more than over a minute over the challenging two-mile course.
The Hatchets joined a large field of powerful central Wisconsin running programs. Both squads showed strong form with tight pack running, several negative splits and 10 runners taking home awards for the efforts.
The boys continue to find themselves in the mix, finishing 7th overall with 179 points.
The Hatchets’ top finishers once again sprinted it out to the line, with Aries Messerschmidt (13:56) and Max Micke (13:57) separated by just one second.
Following closely were Kamden Hanse (15:00) and Evan Zorn (15:01), with Zorn throwing down one of the day’s strongest negative splits (7:36-7:25). Theo Heier (15:07), Ethan Riebe (15:23), and Aydin Michael (15:37) closed out the scoring pack, keeping the group tightly bunched through two miles.
Hatchets crossing the line also included Eli Ierulli (15:51), Finn Childers (16:33), Jesse Wallschlaeger (16:36), Case Montag (16:53), Gabe Nelson (17:22), Gabriel Lobermeier (18:35), Cylus Hilgendorf (18:38), William Wendorf (19:02), Thomas Totch (19:11), Micah Cerkas (20:51) and Leo Fishbeck (21:00).
The girls’ race mirrored the boys in competitiveness and pack strength, producing their best team performance of the season so far. The Hatchets placed 5th overall with 102 points, only a handful away from breaking into the top three.
Jayda Devillers continued her podium‑level consistency, winning the small school division in 12:44, earning a top-10 best two-mile time in school history.
Closing the gap to our leader were Maci Bandura (14:47), Fjola Erickson (15:41) and Stephanie VanAsten (15:48), Allie Reiff (16:11), Allie Lemke (16:29) and Adeline Voermans (16:41) rounded out the scoring pack.
Additional Hatchets finishing strong included Emma Childers (16:42), Emree Quesinberry (17:41), Aspen Pankow (17:58), Iona Oates (18:14), Ahna Arndt (20:01), Dayze Rounds (20:04), Nevaeh Mathis (21:10), Kaylyn Ponsler (21:31), Quinn Cordova (22:38), Finley Bubolz (22:40) and Delilah Rounds (24:27).
Congratulations to runners earning “Milestones of the Meet” honors, which recognize Tomahawk Middle School cross country athletes who made a meaningful step forward through improvement, effort, or positive impact on the team: Jayda DeVillers, Fjola Erickson, Dayze Rounds, William Wendorf, Ethan Riebe, Aries Messerschmidt and Evan Zorn.
This week’s action
The middle school runners were scheduled travel to Nine-Mile Recreation Area for the Great Northern Conference (GNC) meet hosted by Mosinee on Tuesday, Sept. 22.
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