By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area High School boys and girls cross country teams finished strong despite trying conditions Saturday at the Rebel Invitational at UW-Parkside in Kenosha.
“Conditions at the Rebel Invite were pretty challenging (Saturday),” Elks coach Randi Wulf said. “Hot and humid.”
Horlick High School in Racine hosted the meet. Twenty-three teams from Wisconsin and Illinois participated.
The Elkhorn girls finished 14th with a team total of 387 points and the boys finished 20th with 647 points. West Bend West won the boys’ meet (65 points) and Libertyville (Ill.) won girls’ meet (76).
Alyssa Reeves paced the Elks’ boys and girls. Reeves finished 14th in the girls’ 4,000-meter race in 16 minutes, 3.4 seconds. Reeves earned a medal for her finish.
“Taylor Mair turned in a gritty performance after rolling her ankle just after the first mile and still managed to run under 17 minutes,” Wulf said. “Monique Briand also ran very well, finishing third on our team.”
Mair finished 42nd (16:59.8) and Briand finished 107th (19:08.9). Elkhorn’s Maddie Barlow finished 109th 19:14.3, Kassie Thompson 115th (19:45.3), Elizabeth Gottschalk 117th (19:49.5) and Diane Lopez 132nd (20:28.6).
One-hundred fifty nine runners competed in the girls’ race and 162 runners competed in the boys’ race.
Arandu Huerta finished the 5,000 meter boys’ race in 19:18.2 and led the Elkhorn boys.
Elkhorn’s Connor LaFavor finished 129th (20:37.5). Colin Passler finished 134th (21:14.5), Peyton Sanders finished 136th (21:32.3) and Jacob Truesdale came in 137th (21:49.3).
“Collin Passler and Peyton Sanders are sophomores who are doing a nice job contributing to our varsity team,” Wulf said. “The most impressive race of the day for us came from Spencer Ingersol.”
Wulf said Ingersol finished 19th in 15:43 in the freshmen boys’ 4,000-meter race, and said the freshman shows great potential for the future.
The Elks compete today in the Southern Lakes Conference varsity relays at Fox River Park, which is located near Silver Lake in Kenosha County.
“I am looking forward to seeing how we stack up against the other conference teams next week at the conference relays,” Wulf said.
