Promising talent emerges from Rebel invite

By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
In one of the largest and most competitive cross country events in the state, the Waterford High School girls and boys teams finished eighth and 15th, respectively.
The event, the Racine Horlick Rebel Invitational, has 20 or more teams in each the girls and boys sides, includes some very powerful schools from Illinois.
For the Wolverine girls, head coach Nate Schreiber said the goal was to get the top five runners under 17 minutes over the 4,000-meter UW-Parkside course.
“We did that,” Schreiber said. “We accomplished that goal.”
Junior Kayla Kinateder led Waterford with a 23rd-place finish in a time of 16 minutes 10.1 seconds.
“She’s having a great start to the season,” Schreiber said. “She’s established herself as our top runner right now.”
Senior Hannah Jost was 41st in 16:40.5, junior Valerie Knurr 46th in 16:47.0, senior Jenny Gilbreath 50th in 16:52.8, and sophomore Makenna Reed 57th in 16:59.7.
“We definitely took a step in the right direction,” Schreiber said, adding that the next goal is to get the top five under 16:30.
Schreiber added the girls ran much better times this year at this event than they did last year.
“I can’t complain,” Schreiber said. “We are historically a team that runs a real good progression through out the season.”
The Wolverine boys were led by senior Grant Brooks who turned in a time of 17:06.6 over the 5,000-meter boys course.
Schreiber said the goal was for Brooks to break the 17-minute mark.
“He came very close to that,” Schreiber said. “He’s definitely our No. 1.”
Junior Mychal Grube finished 46th in 18:02.7.
The other five varsity runners whose finishes counted toward the team total were senior Clay Zortman (85th, 19:01.7), senior Gabriel Gasiorowski (96th, 19:19.9) and sophomore Storm Modrak (99th, 19:28.1).
Schreiber noted that in the junior varsity race, sophomore Trent Rudebeck turned in a time of 18:20.6, which was the ninth fastest time in the JV race. That was the third fastest time for a Wolverine boy on the day.
In the freshmen race, Eric Albrecht was fifth overall in a 4,000-meter race with a time of 14:29.0.
Schreiber noted that time averages out to a 5:50 mile, which equates to a time of 18:02 over a 5,000-meter course.
“Here’s a young man who established himself.” Schreiber said. “We are very excited about that.”
Schreiber added that what appeared to be a rough day for the Wolverine boys came out with some real promising results.
With Brooks, Grube, Rudebeck and Albrecht looking very promising, Schreiber said he is looking for a fifth Wolverine boys to step up.
“We need some of the upperclassmen to fill that role,” he said.
With nine freshmen on the boys’ squad, Schreiber is excited about the opportunity to develop the youth on the team.
“This is going to be a fun year for me,” he said.
Next up for both squads is the Southern Lakes Conference relays held Saturday, at Lutherdale Camp School near Elkhorn.