Eagles’ boys defend title

DEFOREST – It was a beautiful day for a run on the Don Batty Cross Country Course at the Windsor Sports Complex last Saturday morning. With temperatures in the mid 50’s and partly sunny skies, the Sauk Prairie boys’ couldn’t have chosen a better day to defend their Badger North Conference title. Seniors Camden Desroches and Hudson Haas finished third and fourth, respectively, as the Eagles cruised to their second consecutive championship, recording 36 points to outdistance runner-up Waunakee, which finished with 64 points. “I couldn’t have imagined that,” Haas said of winning back-to-back conference titles when he joined the program as a freshman. “I’d say that’s even better than me going to state my sophomore year. I’m really happy that me and my boys were able to do that. That’s really cool.” Seven of the eight Sauk Prairie runners earned all-conference honors with only the Eagles’ eighth runner senior Casey Vande Hey missing out by 14 seconds with his 19th-place finish. “It was a perfect day, absolutely,” said an elated Sauk Prairie coach Andy Sherman. “They ran so well. I’m happy for them.” DeForest senior John Roth cruised to the individual title on his home course, covering the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 11 seconds. Beaver Dam junior Gavin Czarnecki was second in 16:20, followed by Desroches (17:06), Haas (17:10) and Waunakee’s Evan Voge (17:16) to round out the top five. The top eight runners earned all-conference first-team honors, while the ninth through 16th-place finishers were accorded second-team honors. “We all knew we wanted to go out and run our race,” said Desroches, who added the seniors shared some thoughts with the rest of the team earlier in the week to set the tone for the race. “We talked about our experiences and shared some advice. We got everybody pretty ramped up and ready to go.” Freshman Jack Boerger continued his breakout season, finishing eighth in a personal-best time of 17:33 to join Desroches and Haas on the all-conference first team. “He’s been getting better and better every meet,” Desroches said of Boerger, who was the second freshman to complete the race. “He reminds me of myself when I was a freshman. We’ve run about the same times, but he has a lot more of the runner gene in him. I didn’t come in as prepared as a freshman. He trained through the summer, he’s going to train through the winter. He’s only going to go up.” Sophomore Dalton Zirbel, who was the Eagles’ eighth runner at conference a year ago, finished as the team’s fourth runner and ninth overall in 17:40 to lead four Sauk Prairie runners, who earned all-conference second-team honors. “It feels cool, last year I did all right but not this well,” Zirbel said about earning his first prep all-league recognition. “It was fun, everyone just getting out there and having a great race. “Having run the course before was definitely an advantage. Last year at Beaver Dam, I didn’t know anything about the course. But this time I knew where everything was. The weather was a lot better, too.” With seven runners finishing in the top-15 and all eight in the top-19, it was clearly the Eagles’ day to soar above the competition. “It’s good to know it was a great team victory,” Desroches said. “You see all the hard work everybody has put in. It’s nice to see it was rewarded. To place seven in the top 15 in any race is good but to do it at conference, you can’t ask for anything better.” Just 40 seconds separated Sauk Prairie’s top five runners, and 60 seconds for its varsity lineup. “Being the head coach, you’re watching it and I thought ‘did they go out too hard?’ ” Sherman said after the Eagles had five of the top nine runners at the 1,000-meters mark. “But, no, I’ve got to learn with this group. I can’t get too nervous or too worried much. But you watch things and get concerned, ‘are they going to hold on?’ “But I have no reason to doubt them, ever. They just stayed there and were able to battle with everybody that was closing on them a little bit, and they held their spots and did the work they needed to do to repeat, which is so hard.” Joining Zirbel on the all-conference second team was senior Noah Wankerl, who was 12th in 17:46 to round out the Eagles’ scoring. Also earning second-team honors were junior Sam Beattie, who placed 13th in 17:47 and sophomore Carson Enge, who was 15th in a personal-best time of 17:50 in just his second varsity race. “That’s amazing,” Sherman said of Enge’s emergence as a member of the starting lineup. “I’m so happy for him and for all these guys and just the work they put in to get where they are.” Vande Hey rounded out the Eagles’ varsity lineup with his 19th-place finish in 18:06. Sherman said he was especially proud of his seniors, who finished their conference career with back-to-back runner-up finishes their first two seasons and back-to-back conference championships as juniors and seniors. “Those guys have been such a program-changing group,” Sherman said of the senior class, which also includes Hunter Kent and Owen Kolnik, who helped lead the Eagles’ JV team to a runner-up conference finish. “It’s great we had them. It’s going to be hard to lose them. They’ve set the tone for the last four years.” In the girls’ race, Waunakee senior Emma Bertz won the individual title in 20:05 to help the Warriors defend their conference championship with 54 points. Mount Horeb and Beaver Dam both finished with 61 points. But Mount Horeb won the sixth runner tiebreaker to earn second place. Sauk Prairie finished seventh with 176 points with senior foreign exchange student Livia Jurt leading the way with a 25th-place finish in 22:01. Sophomore Kassia Marquart was 30th in 22:11. Junior Cassie Radl was 35th in 22:29, sophomore Marissa Howard was 38th in 22:47, and sophomore Trinity Doerre was 48th in 23:34 to round out the Eagles’ scoring. “Cassie had a nice run, and Marissa, too,” Sherman said. “But some injuries we’ve had made it tough to close the gap on the teams in front of us.” Junior Mabel Schneller finished 51st in 23:45, junior Emily Herbrand was 53rd in 23:51 and sophomore Abby Dovin placed 58th in 24:12 to round out the Eagles’ scoring. “We’ve been battling injuries,” Sherman said. “Emily was struggling, she had some injuries. Trinity has had some injury issues this season, and Mabel, too. They battled and gave us what they could today. “But we’re bringing just about everybody back on the varsity girls’ team and will work in the off-season to try to improve our consistency and improve for next year.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie heads to the WIAA Division 1 Madison West Sectional at Lake Farm County Park on Saturday. The girls’ race begins at 11 a.m., with the boys to follow at 11:45 a.m. The top two teams qualify for the state meet on Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids. The five runners not on a state qualifying team also earn individual state berths. “We’ll put it all out there and see what happens,” Sherman said. “It’s been a fantastic season. “One of the neat things about cross country is how close the boys and girls get. They’re always together doing everything. We’re going to go bowling this week and just enjoy some more time together before the season closes out so fast.” Oct. 19 Badger North Conference BOYS Team scores: 1, Sauk Prairie, 36; 2, Waunakee, 64; 3, DeForest, 92; 4, Baraboo, 99; 5, Mount Horeb, 117; 6, Beaver Dam, 181; 7, Reedsburg Area, 213; 8, Portage, 236. Top 16 finishers: 1, John Roth, D, 16:11; 2, Gavin Czarnecki, BD, 16:20; 3, Camden Desroches, SP, 17:06; 4, Hudson Haas, SP, 17:10; 5, Evan Voge, W, 17:16; 6, Elijah Bauer, D, 17:24; 7, Andrew Regnier, W, 17:28; 8, Jack Boerger, SP, 17:33; 9, Dalton Zirbel, SP, 17:40; 10, Garrett Exo, B, 17:44; 11, Coleson Lincoln, W, 17:45; 12, Noah Wankerl, SP, 17:46; 13, Sam Beattie, SP, 17:47; 14, Joseph Stoddard, MH, 17:49; 15, Carson Enge, SP, 17:50; 16, Raymond Woller, MH, 17:52. Sauk Prairie finishers: 3, Desroches, 17:06; 4, Haas, 17:10; 8, Boerger, 17:33; 9, Zirbel, 17:40; 12, Wankerl, 17:46; 13, Beattie, 17:47; 15, Enge, 17:50; 19, Casey Vande Hey, 18:06. GIRLS Team scores: 1, Waunakee, 54; 2, Mount Horeb, 61; 3, Beaver Dam, 61; 4, Baraboo, 97; 5, DeForest, 116; 6, Reedsburg Area, 153; 7, Sauk Prairie, 176; 8, Portage, 214. Top 16 finishers: 1, Emma Bertz, W, 20:05; 2, Logan Peters, D, 20:40; 3, Anna Ollendick, MH, 20:43; 4, Jessica Redman, BD, 20:52; 5, Mariah Alvarez, BD, 20:59; 6, Jenna McBride, R, 21:04; 7, Haylie Weyh, B, 21:06; 8, Kelsey King, W, 21:11; 9, Brinley Everson, W, 21:16; 10, Molly Stewart, B, 21:20; 11, Rhya Brandemuehl, MH, 21:25; 12, Kaylyn Hellenbrand, MH, 21:26; 13, Jada Donaldson, BD, 21:27; 14, Emma Van Orsdel, MH, 21:29; 15, Venna Krayer, B, 21:32; 16, Jordyn Jarvi, W, 21:38. Sauk Prairie finishers: 25, Livia Jurt, 22:01; 30, Kassia Marquardt, 22:11; 35, Cassie Radl, 22:29; 38, Marissa Howard, 22:47; 48, Trinity Doerre, 23:34; 51, Mabel Schneller, 23:46; 53, Emily Herbrand, 23:51; 58, Abby Dovin, 24:12.