By David Paulsen
Correspondent
Led by Madelyn Schwartz’s seventh-place finish, the Union Grove High School girls’ cross country squad finished sixth out of seven teams at the Waterford Wolverine Invitational Oct. 6.
The Bronco boys’ finished eighth out of nine teams.
The girls’ squad tallied 150 points to finish far behind Waterford, which won the girls’ event with just 36 points.
Schwartz, a sophomore, was clocked in 16 minutes 43.9 seconds over the 4,000-meter course. That was nearly one-half minute behind her fastest times this season, but did earn her a medal.
Nearly two minutes back of Schwartz was a trio of Broncos. Senior Alyssa Acker was 34th overall in 18:40.0, followed by junior McKenna Chriske in 18:45.8 (35th) and freshman Savannah Patzen in 18:50.8 (36th). Senior Helen Melonas was 38th overall in 19:11.2.
Sophomore Ashley Paulick was 41st overall in 19:31.1 and junior Anna Rees 43rd in 19:55.2.
“We were down three varsity competitors as Brianna DeBrabander is still injured and Erika and Anna Peterson had equestrian team commitments,” noted head coach Sara Shefchik.
Shefchik added the Patzen had the race of the day for Union Grove, running a personal best time.
The Bronco boys tallied 185 points, with Germantown winning the boys’ race with 56 points.
Senior Josh Patzen led Union Grove with a time of 18:02.4, which was good enough for 25th place overall.
“I thought Josh had a fantastic race,” Shefchik said. “He went out harder and was able to maintain his pace the entire way.”
Junior Logan Kohlhagen was 36th in 18:22.1, senior Tim Christensen 37th in 18:25.0 and sophomore Sam Schaefer 40th in 18:39.8.
Fifth best for Union Grove was junior Tommy Ruge in 19:23.8 (47th), while sophomore Luke Johnson ran a 19:25.4 (48th).
“Kohlhagen had a confidence booster, running within two seconds of his season best on a more difficult course,” Shefchik said.
Both squads will finish up the regular season at the Southern Lakes Conference Meet held at UW-Parkside on Saturday, Oct. 15, starting at 9 a.m.
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