By David Paulsen
Correspondent
Bronco runners faced some stiff competition at the Chocolate City Invite held Saturday at the St. Francis Retreat Center in Burlington, with the boys placing ninth overall and the girls 11th among 14 teams.
Kettle Moraine won the girls’ event, while Waukesha South took top honors in the boys.
That came two days after both squads won The Prairie Invite held at Armstrong Park in Racine on Sept. 27.
Chocolate City Invite
For the Union Grove High School girls, the team was led by sophomore Madelyn Schwartz, who finished 10th overall in 16 minutes 21 seconds.
“Madelyn did a nice job going out aggressively and we have to work on her focusing on maintaining position, which she can do but is difficult to do week after week,” noted head coach Sara Shefchik.
The Bronco girls were minus one runner – Brianna DeBrabander – who was working through an injury.
McKenna Chriske finished 56th overall in 18:03, followed by Alyssa Acker in 18:05 (58th), Anna Peterson in 18:10 (62nd) and Erika Peterson in 18:32 (67th).
“The rest of the varsity girls stepped it up,” Shefchik said. “I am really happy about McKenna Chriske’s ability to be consistent in her races and I feel like I can count on her to produce week after week.”
Acker battled through some knee pain but still performed well, Shefchik noted.
Although the boys finished higher than the girls, Shefchik felt they could have done better.
“The varsity guys needed to go out harder so that they don’t spend so much energy trying to make their way back up the pack,” Shefchik said. “That was the difference between my top four guys earning medalist honors and not.”
Tim Christensen led the Bronco boys with a time of 18:09, good enough for 32nd overall. Logan Kohlhagen was clocked in 18:20 (38th), Josh Patzen in 18:25 (42nd), Sam Schaefer in 18:32 (45th) and Tommy Ruge in 19:01 (57th).
Shefchik would like to see Christensen and Patzen finish their senior years with some times in the 17s.
“I am sure they will make that happen,” she said.
Schaefer had to overcome an obstacle to finish the race.
“He impressed me in that he still was able to produce a quality race with one shoe,” Shefchik noted. “His foot got stepped on at the crowded start and he had to kick off his shoe right away.”
The Prairie Invite
Schwartz won the girls portion of this invite, turning in a time of 16:55.6.
“(She) got to feel what it’s like to be out in front alone, so it was a great learning experience for her,” Shefchik said. “It’s nice to see her get a win under her belt.”
Acker finished fifth, passing a Prairie girl in the chute which helped the Broncos to a one-point win. Acker was clocked in 18:06.8.
Union Grove tallied just 34 points, with The Prairie School having 35 points.
Anna Peterson was seventh (18:13.5), Chriske 10th 18:24.0) and Erika Peterson 11th (18:27.5).
The Bronco boys also edged The Prairie School by one point – 50-51.
The key for the Bronco boys was that all five finished as a pack from eighth to 12th place.
The order of finish was Christensen (18:46.0), Kohlhagen (18:49.4), Schaefer (18:57.7), Patzen (18:59.8) and Ruge (19:15.9).
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