By David Paulsen
Correspondent
With all five of their runners in the top 12, the Waterford High School girls’ cross country team ran away from its competition at the Wolverine Invitational held Oct. 6.
The Wolverine girls tallied just 36 points, with Nicolet finishing a distant second with 71. Seven schools competed in the girls’ event.
Seniors Rhea Fiorita, Dawn Brintnall and Kayla Butscher finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Fiorita ran the 4,000-meter course in 16 minutes 24.5 seconds, while Brintnall turned in a time of 16:35.3 and Butscher a time of 16:43.5.
Junior Hannah Jost was ninth overall in 16:48.0 and freshman Makenna Reed 12th in 17:07.9.
“It was a great night,” head coach Nate Schreiber said. “It was good to see them dominate.”
Schreiber was pleased to see the top four Wolverines finish under 16:50, and added that he is looking for a fifth girl to do the same. He believes Reed has the capabilities to do so.
Other Wolverine girls who competed in the varsity race were sophomore Valerie Knurr (14th, 17:15.2), freshman Jennifer Murphy (18th, 17:26.6) and sophomore Kayla Kinateder (19th, 17:27.1).
The Wolverine boys finished tied for third with 84 points in the nine-team boys’ race. Germantown won the boys’ event with 56 points, and Racine Horlick was second with 73. Racine Park tied Waterford for third.
Without a dominant runner, the key once again for the boys’ squad was its ability to run as a pack.
While Waterford had no runners finish in the top 10 they had five finish in the top 23 positions.
Junior Grant Brooks led the pack over the 5,000-meter course with a time of 16:59.5 (12th overall). That was a lifetime best for Brooks who had never run a sub-17 minute race previously.
Seniors Kurt Sustachek, Kody Brand and Mitch Singer were close behind Brooks. Sustachek was clocked in 17:05.6 (15th), Brand in 17:08.0 (16th) and Singer in 17:16.5 (18th).
“That group of four is running very well,” Schreiber said. “I was very pleased.”
The No. 5 runner for Waterford was sophomore Mychal Grube who finished in 17:48.1 (23rd).
While noting that Grube had a nice race, Schreiber added that the 32 seconds differential between the No. 4 and No. 5 runners was significant.
Overall, the top five boys turned in an average time of 17:15.1, which is their fastest this season.
“That is outstanding,” Schreiber said. “I was very pleased.”
Both squads will finish the regular season at the Southern Lakes Conference Meet held at UW-Parkside Saturday, Oct. 15, starting at 9 a.m.
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