9/18/2008 8:46:00 AM Cross Country: Harriers keeping with the pack in Big Eight
Verona cross country got in a pair of races last week.
Boys CC
Sophomores Trent Bartholf and Rob Warren placed within a second of one another to lead the Wildcats' pack at last Thursday's Madison West Invitational at the Yahara cross country course.
Bartholf once again led the way, becoming the fourth Verona sophomore to ever crack 17 minutes, with his time of 15:59 - good enough for eighth place.
Warren finished 10th overall at 17 minutes even.
"Trent and Rob are warriors for sophomores and then other guys are working hard to improve as well," head coach Randy Marks said. "Each guy has his weaknesses and everyone is trying to improve on those areas."
Fellow sophomore Dan LaCroix was 29 seconds back, medaling in 26th place.
All five varsity runners finished within a minute, somewhat of a regression from the start of the season in which the gap was only 38 seconds.
"However, that is somewhat misleading as everyone is dropping times," Marks said. "Trent and Rob opened up an extra 20 second gap with their monster PRs."
Dan Thoresen (17:39) and J.L. Haberle (17:59) each recorded about 10 second PRs, while Kyle Bennwitz ran a "very strong" first varsity race.
"Our top five guys all had personal bests and you can't ask for much more than that," Marks said.
Jake Hegge also found his way back to varsity after his fifth-place finish in the JV race.
Verona finished third overall as a team, behind Madison West (40) and Janesville Craig (65) with 116 points.
The Wildcats looked to continue building upon their early-season success when they traveled to the Janesville Craig "Grade Challenge" on Tuesday.
A bit of a different format, the top seven places from each team were added up for the final team score, giving Verona sixth place overall - one point behind Madison Memorial (60-59).
A sophomore laden squad, Warren (17:28.02), LaCroix (17:38.08) and Bartholf (17:52) finishing third, fourth and seventh overall in the fresh/soph race.
"I wanted to see the guys go out and run good, smart races tonight, because your not running in your normal team format," Marks said.
Thoresen placed 21st in the upperclassmen race, while Dan Schuchardt placed 29th and Eric Biggers finished 36th, respectively.
Girls CC
Nicole Kollman posted a personal best time of 15 minutes, 19 seconds in the girls race Thursday, but it wasn't quite enough to unseat local standout Kiah Ehrke of Stoughton.
Kollman's runner-up finish did move the sophomore closer to the 15-minute mark, which head coach Dave Nelson expects her to break at some point this season.
"Nicole really had an excellent race, topped off by a great kick," Nelson said.
While Kollman lead the way, teammate Jessica Frank finished 25th overall in 16:37, three seconds and three spots ahead of Janna Wise.
Running her first varsity race this season, senior Kelsey Sweeney placed 41st overall in 17:02.
"Jessica, Janna and Kelsey really demonstrated their senior leadership by turning in some fine performances," Nelson said. "It can be tough to compete on a school night compared to the weekend. They really showed a lot of character by stepping up to lead the pack."
Becky Burton finished as Verona's fourth runner in 31st place with a time of 16:44.
Verona (127 points) finished fourth, one spot ahead of Oregon (148).
The Wildcats traveled to the Grade Challenge in Janesville on Tuesday where Kollman won the fresh/soph race in 15:01, while Janna Wise finished third in the junior/senior race with a personal best 16:20 to help Verona to third place with 48 points - 19 behind the host Cougars and 11 behind Madison West.
Jackie Saley, Sweeney, Burton, Sarah Krestchman and Jessica Alexander rounded out Verona's top seven.
"Today was a chance for us to run on the same course we will compete on in 11 days (Midwest Invitational) and take some risks," Nelson said. "Hopefully, we'll come back and be better."
