Cross country picture keeps evolving with BRC meet next

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The race was a little wetter and at least for the girls a little longer, and the results for the Raider cross country team were varied.

At the Eau Claire Memorial Invitational last Saturday, Rachel Zachar placed fourth in the 4,000 meter race with a time of 15:43, Coach Don Krupa pointed out. Still, the girls were back in the pack a bit, and the boys second.

“Rachel did not go out fast but kept the focus on the leaders and finished very strong in the race,” Krupa said. The rest of the varsity girls ran personal best times, led by Kaila Fouks, who Krupa said has taken her running ability to the next level. The same is true of Cori Vought and Deven DuCharme, he said.

The freshmen girls — Sarah Kehoe, Katie Wetzstein, Katelyn Gross and McKenzie Buck — continue to improve and help make the varsity the quality team that will represent Hudson in the tournaments.

“Starting with the conference meet this Saturday (Oct. 18), the girls will need to work together and step it up a notch or two each week to keep moving forward,” Krupa said, “as the competition will be a lot tougher than last year.”

The girls placed fourth, three points in back of Eau Claire Memorial, but dozens ahead of Menomonie. “The Memorial girls continue to improve and with their large squad do not miss a stride in competition, if they have an individual injury on their varsity,” Krupa said. “The strong finish in the last 200 meters is what I emphasize, because one or two places makes a huge difference in the team placing.”

The boys finished second by two points to Memorial, as the fifth through ninth runners didn’t have a great race, Krupa said. “The team needs Dan Schloesser to return healthy, as he did not finish the race because of a tight quad. Hopefully he will be ready for the conference meet.”

Luke Wusterbarth, Jacob Ball, Matt Rudquist and Jake Pittman ran good races. “They finished strong right to the finish and were determined to keep on improving, even if the weather was not conducive to a great race,” Krupa said. “The next four will have to pick it up in the conference meet, as the competition will get stronger. This was the meet where I wanted to show the other teams who the conference champion team should be — to give us a psychological advantage and confidence in continuing the work hard in practice workouts.

These are Raider girls finishers: 4 Rachel Zachar 15:43; 20 Kaila Fouks 16:09; 21 Sarah Kehoe 16:10; 25 Cori Vought 16:15; 27 Katie Wetzstein 16:17; 42 Deven DuCharme 16:48; 45 Katelyn Gross 16:53; and 51 McKenzie Buck 17:01.

These are Raider boys finishers: 1 Luke Wusterbarth 16:20; 4 Jacob Ball 16:46; 5 Matt Rudquist 16:54; 16 Jacob Pittman 17:43; 31 Jay Skinner 18:05; 38 Martin Zais 18:15; 49 Max Hawksford 18:30; 61 London Walsh 18:44; 43 Nolan Palmer 20:27; 73 Matt Gavin 21:08; 80 Billy Fisher 21:24; 94 Shane Muller 21:54; 97 Eric Johnson 22:03; 104 Charlie Skinner 22:20; 107 Jay Henderson 22:35; 109 Kody Keller 22:44; and 135 Zach Dahl 25:38.

The conference meet is Saturday at Menomonie High School, the site of their home invitational. “It will be another great day for the Hudson teams. The course is spectator friendly, as you can watch most of the race and watch the individuals as they compete for the conference team title, and the individual all-conference first- and second-place team selections,” Krupa said. The start time is 10 a.m. with the varsity boys race, and at 10:40 for the girls varsity, with the junior varsity boys at 11:20 and the jayvee girls at noon.

“The meet will be a close contest, with Hudson the favorite to win the boys title, and Eau Claire Memorial the spoiler,” Krupa said. “In the girls varsity race, the outcome will not be as easy to determine, as Eau Claire Memorial and River Falls have a strong group of female runners. This race will be exciting. The conference schools take the conference meet as their last big meet of the season and really get up for this race,” he said.

“I want my runners to always finish strong past the finish line, because one place can and will make a difference in the outcome of this meet, no matter if you are the team’s first runner or eighth runner,” Krupa said. “The only sure thing is there will be a girl’s team champion and a boys team champion.”

Tags: sports, hudson, raiders, crosscountry