The Waunakee boys' and girls' cross country teams competed in two events last week. The teams began the week by hosting the Badger Challenge at Ripp Park on Sept. 16.
The girls finished in sixth out of 14 teams with a combined total time of 89:06. Unlike the typical meet, the Badger Challenge was divided into a freshman/sophomore race and a junior/senior race and instead of place, time was added up.
Abby Lackey led the girls by finishing sixth in the upperclassmen race in a time of 16:44. The second Warrior in was Sarah Heinemann, who finished second in 16:50 in the underclassman race. Natalie Wilke was the second upperclassmen to finish for Waunakee, as she did so in 17:02 to finish 12th. Livi Knier crossed in 18:58, which got her 31st in the underclassman race, and Carrie Juergens took 52nd in the upperclassmen race in 19:32 to round out the Waunakee scoring five.
The boys took 10th out of the 14 participants, finishing with a combined time of 98:03. Upperclassmen totalled the first three times for Waunakee. Roland Will led the way in 14th place in 18:21. Eric Kulcyk was the second Warrior done in 19:32, which earned him 35th. Jacob Schneider ran the course in 19:51 to take 44th.
For the underclassmen, Paul Insolera was the first to finish. He crossed the line in 20:00. The fifth Warrior in was Zach Meschke, who took 19th place in 20:19. Branden Statz was the sixth Warrior in just on Meschke's heels.
From an administrative side, the meet went great, Slater said, as staff got plenty of help on a hectic day.
"The meet went wonderful," he said. "We had a lot of parents that helped out."
He said the parents and runners were very helpful in picking up afterward.
Glenn Will pulling up with an injury hurt the boys' score a bit, Slater said, but overall, the finishes likely represent where the teams are at within the conference at this point.
The Warriors then headed to Mount Horeb on Saturday for an invite, in which the boys and girls both came away with second place.
Slater said the boys won the event last despite scoring fewer points this year. He said the times were also slower for the returning runners.
Roland Will led the boys in eighth place in 19:22, with his brother Glenn close behind in ninth in 19:29. Schneider came in 10 seconds after that in 13th place. Kulcyk was the fourth Warrior across the finish in 19:58, good for 16th place, while Insolera was the last scoring Waunakee runner in 20:36. He finished 23rd.
Lackey led the girls in with a third-place finish in 17:35. Running close behind her in fifth was Heinemann, who crossed in 17:41. Wilke snuck in the top 10 in 10th place in 18:10. Knier ran the course in 19:29 to take 27th place, while Michelle Murray took 36th place in 19:56.
Slater said it was encouraging to see a couple of freshman, Brian Maksen and Kyle Mayer, run well in the junior varsity race. Maksen finished in 20:34, and Mayer crossed in 20:36.
The teams hosted Monona Grove and Sauk Prairie at Governor Nelson State Park on Tuesday, and now they don't return to action until Oct. 4 when they travel to the Stoughton Invite.
