By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Turning in your top times as the season draws to a close is always the goal for a cross country team.
That was certainly the case for the Waterford High School cross country squads Sept. 27 at the Mukwonago Invite.
“We had an outstanding day,” head coach Nate Schreiber said, adding that 30 of the 33 runners on the varsity and junior varsity squads ran season-best times. “What an amazing number.”
The Wolverine girls placed second and the boys third in the nine-team invite.
The girls squad tallied 74 points to trail only Oconomowoc with 49.
Throughout the season, Schreiber has been comparing this year’s Wolverine girls team with last year’s state qualifying squad.
“That was a pretty darn good team last year,” Schreiber added.
At this event last year, the top five Wolverine girls averaged 21 minutes and 30 seconds over the 5,000-meter course. This year, the top five averaged 20:44, with none of the top five doing any worse than 21:13.
“We were ecstatic on that,” Schreiber said. “We’ve got some serious momentum going. Hopefully, we can carry it over to the next couple weeks.”
Junior Valerie Knurr led Waterford with a time of 20:29, good enough for ninth overall. Just six seconds back, in 20:35 was senior Hannah Jost (10th overall).
Four seconds behind Jost was sophomore Makenna Reed in 20:39 (14th), with junior Kayla Kinateder just five more seconds back in 20:44 (17th).
That put the top four Wolverine girls within 15 seconds of each other.
Even junior Jessica Krupinski, the fifth-fastest Wolverine, was only another 29 seconds back in 21:13 (24th place).
The junior varsity girls took the top two individual spots in that race, with Shannon Malchine winning in 22:00.
As he has all season, senior Grant Brooks led the Wolverine boys, this time with a time of 16:45. That was seventh overall and a personal best.
“Grant set the tone early,” Schreiber said, noting he went out aggressively.
Brooks’ time means he is now the third fastest Wolverine boy at WHS since Schreiber started keeping records in 1995.
Junior Mychal Grube was not far behind Grant. He was clocked in 17:01 (16th overall). Sophomore Trent Rudebeck was another 15 seconds back in 17:16 (19th).
“Those next two guys are closing that gap (on Brooks),” Schreiber noted.
Seniors Clay Zortman and Gabriel Gasiorowski finished in 17:53 and 17:56, respectively.
“I give Clay Zortman and Gabe Gasiorowski a lot of credit,” Schreiber said. “They keep coming on.”
The junior varsity boys finished 1-2-3 in that race, with freshman Conner Krattiger winning it in 18:09.
“That is a very respectable time for a freshman,” Schreiber said.
Both squads host the Wolverine Invitational today starting at 5:15 p.m.
The Southern Lakes Conference Meet will be held Saturday, Oct. 13, at UW-Parkside.
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