By Chris Bennett
Sports correspondent
Eighteen of the Elks’ 28 cross country runners turned in personal bests Sept. 7 in the Southern Lakes Conference Relays at Fox River Park in Burlington.
The Elks are off until tomorrow, Sept. 23, when they will compete in the Midwest Cross Country Invitational at Blackhawk Golf Course in Janesville.
Elkhorn Area High School cross country coach Randi Wulf said the SLC Relays were split into two races – one for freshman and sophomores, and another for juniors and seniors.
Scoring for the relays consists of the times of the first five runners being added together, which Wulf said changes strategy.
As teams, the Elkhorn boys finished fourth and the girls finished fifth.
Elkhorn’s Caleb Hembree-Jacques finished fourth overall with a time of 17:29.99 on the 5,000-meter course. Hembree-Jacques finished as the third-place senior, and earned a medal.
Ben Teuscher finished 15th (18:05.01) and medaled as the third-fastest sophomore.
“Ben is still dialing in his race strategy, and will be a force to be reckoned with when he does,” Wulf said. “The boy’s team, as a whole, ran very well, with many impressive (personal bests).”
Derek Davey came in 25th (18:43.90) and Sam Contreras finished 27th (18:48.85). Peyton Sanders finished 35th (19:18.43).
For the girls Gwen Richardson finished 10th overall with a time of 21:34.65 on the 5,000-meter course. Richardson finished fifth in the freshman-sophomore race, and earned a medal as the third-best sophomore.
Piper Sleider finished 28th overall (23:24.64) and Kayla Malsch finished 32nd (23:27.45). Kassie Thompson finished 47th (24:36.84) and Elizabeth Gottschalk finished 50th (24:44.44).
“Captain Elizabeth Gottschalk showed her toughness by running a solid race coming off of illness,” Wulf said. “The two biggest (personal bests) came from freshmen Bailey Plant and Shannon Wulf who both took one and a half minutes off of their best time.”
The girls finished fifth, a finish Wulf said pleased him. The Elkhorn girls scored 125 points.
Badger won the girls meet (43) and Waterford finished second (57). Westosha finished third (82), Union Grove fourth (111), Burlington sixth (139) and Wilmot (153).
For the boys, Wulf said Waterford and Badger will be tough this season, and said he thinks the Elks can improve on their fourth-place finish.
The Elks scored 104 points. Waterford won the meet with 38.
Badger finished second (59), Wilmot third (79) and Burlington fifth (129). Union Grove finished sixth (132) and Westosha seventh (186).
Badger’s Gustavo Gordillo won the boys race (16:53.87) and Delavan-Darien’s Erin Sorg won the girls race (19:30.98).
