Sauk Prairie runners start strong

Years from now, Sauk Prairie cross country coach Andy Sherman probably won’t remember the final results of the Eagles’ dual meet with Waunakee on Sept. 3. What Sherman will remember is after a lengthy hiatus from sports, the Eagles were competing again. And that alone was glorious. Many of Sauk Prairie’s runners also compete in track and field, and that season was canceled last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So for the first time in nearly a year, many of the Eagles were racing competitively. Sauk Prairie’s boys edged host Waunakee, 24-31, while the Warriors won the girls race, 18-43. “First of all, I am very appreciative of Waunakee for being able to host,” Sherman said. “It was such a great sight to see our teams competing again.  “As a coach, I have missed seeing the efforts and performances of our distance runners since last fall, because we were shut down for the spring. I was so proud of how everyone ran on a challenging course against a very good Waunakee team.” Sauk Prairie’s boys had the top three finishers on their way to a team victory. Ritchie Wolff was first overall, completing the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes, 35 seconds. Jack Boerger was second (18:43), Dalton Zirbel was third (19:04), Jay Dregney was eighth (20:31) and Sam Beattie was 10th (21:06). On the girls’ side, Kassia Marquardt was third in 23:07 and CJ Gregg was seventh (23:43). Meadow Liedtke was 11th (24:21), Natalie Curtis was 13th (24:53) and Cassie Radl was 16th (25:23). The race was dramatically different than anything most of the Eagles had ever experienced. Due to Dane County’s COVID restrictions, runners were released every 30 seconds, so in most cases, each runner was basically alone for most of the race.  Only 25 runners were allowed on the course at one time, so runners had to wait until others had finished and exited the park before they could start their run.  “It was a very different experience,” Sherman said. “Again, I am very pleased with how they all handled the opportunity and they ran extremely well.  “As we move forward, we will have restrictions on the races, but they will look more closely to a traditional race with runners going off in waves against the other teams. So we are looking forward to any of those opportunities we will be fortunate enough to get.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie is at Reedsburg on Sept. 10 at 4 p.m.