By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Caleb Hembree finished 10th in the boys varsity field and led the Elkhorn Area High School boys cross country team to a seventh-place finish Sept. 29 in the Mukwonago Invitational at Mukwonago High School.
Piper Sleider finished 32nd and led the Elkhorn varsity girls.
The Elks race today in the Falcon Invite at Fox River Park in Burlington. Westosha Central is the host school. Elkhorn competes Oct. 14 in the Southern Lakes Conference Varsity Meet at Fox River Park.
Coach Randi Wulf said the Elks competed in the Mukwonago Invite for the first time.
“Conditions were windy and cool, and the competition at this meet was very strong,” Wulf said. “We continued to improve as a team, with PRs (personal records) from 14 of our 24 runners.”
Hembree finished the five-kilometer race in 16 minutes, 59 seconds and earned the Elks’ only medal of the race.
Derek Davey finished 33rd (17:49) Sam DiVarco 37th (18:04), Arandu Huerta 44th (18:18) and Ben Tuescher 53nd (18:36) to round-out the Elks’ scoring five.
“The boys team has been doing a nice job of working with the pace of their race, leading to much stronger finishes and faster times,” Wulf said. “It feels like we are dialed-in and ready for the last few weeks of the season.
“We will be ready to run our best race at the conference meet.”
Wulf said the Elkhorn girls raced with an incomplete team due to injuries and illness.
“Our main focus for the girls in the next two weeks is to get healthy for the conference meet,” Wulf said. “Piper Sleider has managed to stay healthy, and is continuing to improve.”
Sleider finished the five-kilometer course in 21:34. Gwen Richardson finished 58th (22:51) and Kassie Thompson 71st (23:39).
Waukesha South’s Libby Geisness won the girls race in 18:55. Oconomowoc’s Brian Jacques won the boys race (15:45). Oconomowoc won the boys and girls team titles.
