By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
Whitewater High School’s cross country had a very successful day running in the team’s race at the WIAA Sectional on Oct. 22 and a chance at qualifying for the WIAA State Meet was at stake.
Two of the Whippets’ girls – junior Allisan Barrett and sophomore Nicole Tomomitsu – made the most of the opportunity and will be moved on to the state meet this past weekend. Of the 90 total runners and 13 teams competing at the sectional, Whitewater took sixth-place as a team and Barrett finished in sixth individually, while Tomomitsu finished right behind in seventh.
In order to qualify for the WIAA State Meet, the top-two finishing teams automatically make it while the top-five runners outside of those top-two qualifying teams also earn a shot to compete with the best in the state. Because some of the top-five runners were on the top-two automatic qualifying teams, Barrett and Tomomitsu will be representing the Whippets.
“Allisan Barrett was the 4th fastest of the individual qualifiers racing to a 6th place finish in 19:13,” Whippets head coach Chad Carstens said. “Nicole Tomomitsu was poised early and stayed committed to the goal of also qualifying for state by running a ferocious last half of her race to dust the runners around her and take 7th overall and the 5th and final individual qualifying spot in a huge PR of 19:17. These two earned state meet experience last year as members of the 7th place team but this is the first time they both made it as individual qualifiers.”
Outside of Barrett and Tomomitsu for the girls team were freshmen Abby Grosinske and Hailey Prager. Both ran personal record times. Prager finished in 22:27, while Grosinske ran a 23:08.
Seniors Rebekah Schumacher and Sophie Elworthy finished their careers in 62nd and 89th-place respectively, while Maribel Alvarez rounded out the top-seven for Whitewater. For the Whippets’ boys team, Jacob Korf was once again the frontrunner.
Korf took 12th-place overall with his time of 16:55.
“Jacob had aspirations to earn a trip to state for the first time but fell about 15 seconds short of the final qualifier,” Carstens said. “Jacob raced a very strong and stayed committed to the program mantra of ‘if someone is going to beat you, make them earn it,’ he did just that contending well until the very last parts of the race. I am proud of his efforts.”
Freshman Aiden Coburn battled an illness leading up the event, according to Carstens, and he still finished in 58th-place overall. Sophomore Jon Zheng was the final Whippet finisher in 65th, leading the team to a seventh-place finish.
Carstens also talked about his four seniors who finished between 21st and 57th.
“Senior Matt Mattingly completed his final race with a season best of 17:21 showing off his eye-popping leg speed in the final stretch to take 21st,” he said. “Senior Jimmy King also capped his career with a season PR of 17:27 to finish 24th. Senior Connor Laue returned to the lineup after cross training for five weeks with a lower leg injury. His legs weren’t what they used to be, but it was nice to see him wear the Whippet jersey one final time. He finished in 56th followed closely by fellow senior Justin Brantmeier in 57th.”
For Barrett and Tomomitsu, the Whippets’ two girls that moved on to state, they ran their final race of the season Oct. 29 in Wisconsin Rapids at the Ridges Golf Course. Pick up a copy of the Nov. 3 Whitewater Register for results.
