By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Three times earlier this season, the Burlington High School girls cross country team trailed Kettle Moraine in various meets. On Saturday, the Demons turned that around when they hosted the Chocolate City Invite at St. Francis Retreat Center.
Divine Savior Holy Angels won the girls side of the invite with 75 points, but Burlington took second overall with 108 points. Kettle Moraine was third with 114.
“Very impressive team performance, edging out a strong Kettle Moraine team for second place,” head coach Rick Koceja said. “To have four in the top 20 in such a big competitive field is encouraging. Our (No.) 5-7 runners continue to close that gap from our fourth runner.”
Burlington had four girls under 16 minutes 15 seconds. Leading the way was junior Kit Kocha in 15:52.3. That was good enough for eighth overall.
Two places back was sophomore Brittany Ehlen in 15:56.1.
Freshman Meta Ehlen and junior Aleigha Barry finished 19th and 20th respectively, with times of 16:14.1 and 16:14.2.
Those four all earned medals.
Junior Marah Zinnen was the fifth-best Demon, turning in a time of 17:18 (51st).
Hannah Peterson and Molly Benavides also ran, coming in immediately behind Zinnen.
The Demon boys were fifth in the 15-team meet, accumulating 175 points. Waukesha South won the boys event with 40 points.
Earning medals for the boys were senior Mickael Pauly and sophomore Nathaniel Sibley. Pauly was 15th overall in 16:58.7, while Sibley was 28th in 17:33.8.
Junior Noah Strohm was 39th in a time of 17:58.4, sophomore Benjamin Lois 41st in 17:59.7, and junior Conor Schultz 52nd in 18:20.
Also competing for the Demon boys was Zach Wawrzyniakowski and Joe Kusik.
“Solid team effort,” Koceja said of the Demon boys. “The majority of runners ran personal bests on a weather-friendly day for cross country among a strong field.”
Neither squad competes again until the Southern Lakes Conference meet on Saturday, Oct. 13, at UW-Parkside.
“We now have two weeks to get some quality workouts in,” Koceja said.
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