The Waunakee cross country teams traveled to Middleton last Saturday to participate in the Middleton Invitational.
Unlike the typical race where the varsity and junior varsity may or may not run separately, this race was run by class.
The Warrior boys finished in fifth place of seven teams with 61 points.
Glenn Will was the first finisher, coming in second in the sophomore race in a time of 18:12. His older brother, Roland, was the next Warrior to finish time-wise, as he placed seventh in the senior race in 18:18.
Senior Eric Kulcyk finished in 19:03, with sophomore Paul Insolera coming in with the fourth fastest time in 19:21. Senior Jacob Schneider was the fifth Warrior in in 19:28.
Two freshmen, Brian Maksen and Kyle Mayer, also finished in the top 10 of their class group. Maksen took sixth among freshman in 19:32 and Mayer took seventh in 19:48.
On the girls' side, freshman Sarah Heinemann was a bright spot, winning the freshman race in 15:35 and finishing with the third best time overall.
"It was a nice race for Sarah," Warrior coach Tom Slater said. "She had the experience of leading."
Juniors Natalie Wilke, eighth in 17:29, and Michelle Murray, 11th in 18:08, were the second and third to finish for Waunakee.
Freshman Katie Geishirt took 12th in the freshman race and was the fourth Warrior to finish in 18:47.
Senior Anna Hetzer was the fifth Warrior to finish in 19:00, with classmate Becca Evansen right behind her in 19:01.
Waunakee now heads to the conference meet hosted by Sauk Prairie Saturday at Devil's Head - a new course for Waunakee.
Slater said many runners ran well at Middleton and how they do at conference will help determine who competes with the varsity at sectionals Oct. 25.
The coach said Sauk Prairie on the boys' side and Reedsburg on the girls' side seem like the favorities heading into the conference meet.
He expects the boys to come in somewhere between second and fourth at the meet. Based on what he has seen around the conference, Slater expects the girls to finish between fourth and sixth. Of course, he's hoping for a higher finish and you never know until race day.
"You don't know that's why you go and run the, " Slater said.
