Sarah Ziolkowski brings home a second place fin-ish for Whitewater High School in the 14-school Mar-shall Invitational Meet Sept. 16. (Bob Mischka Photo)
By Adam Knoll
Sports Correspondent
The Whitewater High School cross country team competed Sept. 6 at Marshall High School during a rare weekday meet that saw the Lady Whippets again running strong, placing four runners in the top 20.
Sarah Ziolkowski paced the team with a second place overall finish; Andrea Sandoval was a top-five runner; Allisan Barrett ran 12th fastest and Abby King rounded out the top 20.
With the strong showing near the top, the Lady Whippets took third place overall in the 14 team tournament.
The Whitewater boys team continues to go through growing pangs after losing some impactful seniors at the end of last season. As a result, head coach Chad Carstens expects a lot of movement from junior varsity to the varsity squad.
“It’s exciting because there are multiple guys that want to be varsity material and are competitive enough to have that drive which is always welcome,” Carstens said.
At Marshall, James Ehlen was the lone varsity medal winner for the boys, coming in at 13th. Wentao Gao finished ninth in the JV race, which could result in him being bumped up to varsity in the near future.
Holding their own against big schools
Last week, the Whippets took 26th in a 32-team event at the St. Cat’s Angel invite. Whitewater was pulled from the race rather early due to a leg injury, a kink that surely threw the team off temporarily.
“Jon Zimdars was unexpectedly put into the No. 1 spot for the boys team for the first time this season,” Carstens said. “He seems to be finding out how fit he really is by taking small steps forward. Jon’s going to find out really quickly that there is much more there as his confidence grows with these bigger meets approaching.”
That being said, Zidmars placed 65th overall, with Whitewater runners continuing to finish at 127th, 150th and 165th. Most notably however, is that all of the boys running for Whitewater finished the event.
The Lady Whippets continued their strong showing with a ninth place finish overall. Sarah Ziolkowski was the top girl for Whitewater coming in fourth.
“Sarah Ziolkowski led the girls with a stunning fourth place run in this largely Division 1 field,” Carstens said.
Andrea Sandoval came in 23rd place and Allison Barrett made the top 50 for Whitewater at number 48.
With competition from many Division 1 schools, as Carstens mentioned, including Kenosha Bradford, Brookfield Central and Oak Creek, a ninth place finish for the Lady Whippets looks mighty good, and should propel them as they continue to compete this season.
