Girls cross country team qualifies for state meet
By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 Cross Country Sectional Championships took place on Saturday, and the Whitewater Whippets did not disappoint. On the girls side, of 15 total teams, the Whippets punched its ticket to the WIAA State Meet thanks to a second-place finish.
Only the top-two teams make the WIAA State Meet, while the top-five individuals not on those two qualifying teams also earn the right to participate at state. The girls team will be the first Whitewater team represented at state since 2000.
Pewaukee finished first, with a team total score of 57 and Whitewater totaled 62. In third place was Deerfield/Cambridge, with 100 points. Whippets head coach Chad Carstens said the sectional was loaded, since five teams in the sectional were ranked in the state coaches’ poll.
“From top to bottom this team earned this finish with all (of them) showing their true grit and wanting it more than anything else at that moment,” Carstens said. “Allisan Barrett and Sarah Ziolkowski looked very poised and under control and pushed their way to seventh and eighth place overall. These two have become quite the tandem as the team’s front runners and feed off one another during the race.”
Aside from Barrett and Ziolkowski’s top-10 finishes, seniors Andrea Sandoval and Abby King finished in 12th and 17th, posting times of 20:41 and 21:07, respectively. Rounding out the top-five for the Whippets was freshman Nicole Tomomitsu, finishing right behind King in 18th-place with her time of 21:18.
“Andrea Sandoval has rebounded nicely after suffering heat stroke at Verona and has learned how to methodically pick people off, working her way through the field,” Carstens said. “She is an experienced racer and today that showed as she pulled into the finish in 12th. Abby King and Nicole Tomomitsu have been working so well as the team’s fourth and fifth runners and that bond has grown tremendously with each mile run at practice and especially on race day.
“These two really put the stamp on this race as they stuffed the chute to complete five Whippet runners in front of Deerfield/Cambridge’s second runner. These kids looked like they were driving Ferrari’s out on the course, they looked so smooth and powerful.”
On the boys side, the Whippets finished ninth out of 14 teams with a total score of 201. The top-two teams, Pewaukee and Deerfield/Cambridge, scored 41 and 76, respectively.
Because of the top-two runners being on Pewaukee’s squad, Whippets runner Brodie Runez earned a trip to the state meet with his sixth-place finish and fourth-place outside of the automatic qualifying teams’ runners. Runez, the first-year runner as a junior, recorded a 17:09.
“I got a bit nervous because at two miles he was starting to fade a bit from the leaders as the race began to break apart,” Carstens said. “But he dug deep and was able to reel in a few guys in front of him and showed some great finishing speed when it mattered most. Every race has been such a learning experience for him and he will look to put it all together for one more effort at the Ridges in a week.”
Behind Runez was fellow junior, Connor Laue, posting an 18:25, good for 29th overall. Sophomore Jacob Korf finished in 43rd with his time of 18:49, while Jimmy King and Elliot McCulloch earned 55th and 68th-place finishes with their times of 19:15 and 19:50, respectively.
Carstens said Laue has time and time impressed him, and that in one year’s time, his body and mind have transformed in a positive manner to himself and his entire team. Carstens also said Korf ran well in the No. 3 spot, racing to one of his best performances of the season.
Runez, as well as the entire Whippets’ girls team will be competing in the WIAA State Meet which takes place on Oct. 31 at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.
