By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
As a cross country season progresses, a coach looks for a steady improvement in his runners and a drop in the average times.
For Waterford High School cross country coach Nate Schreiber, the times of his girls and boys teams at the Muskego Warrior Invitational Saturday indicates that his squads are making good progress.
The Wolverine girls had an average time of 16 minutes 35 seconds, which was 39 seconds faster than the previous week.
For the boys, their average time of 17:41 was 28 seconds faster than one week earlier.
Junior Valerie Knurr led the Wolverine girls with a time of 16:05.68.
“She had a breakthrough race with that 16:05,” Schreiber said. “She had a terrific week of practice coming into the meet and it transferred to the race.”
Sophomore Makenna Reed was 17 seconds back of Knurr in 16:22.35.
“She stepped up in a big way,” Schreiber said, noting that this race should be a nice boost to her confidence.
Senior Hannah Jost set the pace early for the girls and finished third best for the team in 16:41.05.
Seven seconds back was junior Kayla Kinateder in 16:48.57, followed by junior Jessica Krupinski in 16:51.51.
“She had a lifetime best,” Schreiber said of Krupinski. “Her first time under 17. We’re really excited about her progress.”
For the Wolverine boys, senior Grant Brooks turned in his second-fastest time ever with a 16:54.03. That was 10th overall.
“He’s put himself in position to have a great end to the season,” Schreiber said.
Junior Mychal Grube was about one-half minute behind Brooks, turning in a time of 17:26.95.
“It was good to see him take that jump (30 seconds faster than the previous week),” Schreiber said. “It was good to see him be aggressive.”
Grube’s time was one second faster than his previous lifetime best set last year.
Sophomore Trent Rudebeck was clocked in 17:37.81, which was more than one-half minute faster than a week ago.
“Trent is a kid who is willing to get out of his comfort zone,” Schreiber said. “He’s willing to endure a lot of pain and it not hold him back.”
Senior Clay Zortman (18:08.19) and freshman Eric Albrecht (18:15.95) finished out the top five for the Wolverine boys.
As a team, the Wolverine girls finished seventh out of 17 teams, with 205 points. Muskego won their own event with 60 points to edge Brookfield Central, which had 67 points.
The Wolverine boys were eighth overall with 209 points. Waukesha North won the boys event with 71 points. Muskego was second with 96.
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