Rotering seventh, Red Hawks ninth on both sides at cross country debut
Above: Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau junior Liam Caya neared the finish line as he finished 95th and (below) Nora Higgins sprinted to a 103rd-place finish at last Saturday’s Gale Johnson Kick-Off cross country invitational at Maple Grove Venues in West Salem. (Times photographs by Benjamin Pierce)
A new course record on the boys’ side and a top 10 finish from Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau junior Adrianna Rotering were the highlights of the area high school cross country season opener last weekend.
The annual Gale Johnson Kick-Off meet at Maple Grove Venues in West Salem saw more than 250 runners between the girls and boys runs, but a few area runners rose to the top in G-E-T coach Paula Gold’s head coaching debut.
Rotering was the top finisher for the lone Trempealeau County team at the event, leading the G-E-T girls with her seventh place finish.
Rotering finished the 5,000-meter run in 21 minutes, 18.9 seconds and finished with a pace of six minutes, 52 seconds per mile.
Ellie and Annie Robinson of Dodgeville/Mineral Point took the top two spots in the girls’ race, helping their team to a top finish in the event.
All seven runners for the team finished inside the top 30 runners as the team edged other top-five teams West Salem (second), Boscobel (third), Aquinas (fourth) and host Onalaska (fifth).
The Red Hawks ran to ninth place as a team and were helped by senior AJ Parker’s 31st place finish in 23:34.6 as well as other counted runs from Anya Wolfe (57th), Ava Roessler (62nd) and Reyna Garcia (63rd).
On the boys’ side, Onalaska’s Manny Putz stole the show on Saturday.
The junior finished first in the field with his time of 15:13.7, smashing the course record he set last year by more than 30 seconds.
Putz and senior teammate Blake Burnstad, who finished second in 15:51.9, helped the Hilltoppers to a first place finish as a team, edging West Salem. Teammates Arlo White (fourth) and Drew Simons (10th) also finished inside the top 10 for Onalaska.
The G-E-T boys ran to the same ninth place finish as their girl counterparts and saw four runners finish inside the top 50 in a field of 136 runners.
Xander Burmeister paced G-E-T with a run of 18:18, good enough to sneak inside the top 20 times (20th) on Saturday.
Sophomore Carter Giemza (47th), Sawyer Smock (48th) and Adrian Bautista (49th) stuck together for most of Saturday’s run to help keep the Red Hawks in contention, and the final run that counted for the Red Hawks came from freshman AJ Earney’s 66th place finish.
The Red Hawks will continue competition this week, joining a number of county teams at an invitational at Cochrane-Fountain City High School on Thursday.
Girls cross country, Gale Johnson Kick-Off, Sep. 26 at Maple Grove Venues
Dodgeville/Mineral Point 37, West Salem 75, Boscobel 116, Aquinas 133, Onalaska 147, Sparta 149, Luther 174, La Crosse Central 177, G-E-T 220, Wisconsin Dells 259, Mauston 268
G-E-T—Rotering, seventh, 21:18.9; Parker, 31st, 23:34.6; Wolfe, 57th, 25:21.1; Roessler, 62nd, 26:08.6; Garcia, 63rd, 26:09.2; Gold, 68th, 26:36.2; Tarjeson, 72nd, 27:25.3.
Boys cross country, Gale Johnson Kick-Off, Sep. 26 at Maple Grove Venues
Onalaska 41, West Salem 55, Aquinas 75, Dodgeville/Mineral Point 81, Boscobel 167, Mauston 176, Wisconsin Dells 203, La Crosse Central 210, G-E-T 230, Sparta 247, Luther 314, River Valley 335
G-E-T—Burmeister, 20th, 18:18; Giemza, 47th, 19:16.5; Smock, 48th, 19:19.2; Bautista, 49th, 19:21.1; Earney, 66th, 20:40.5; Ruiter, 73rd, 21:13.5; O’Neil, 74th, 21:15.6.
