Verona cross country hosted a five-team Big 8 meet Tueday night which included Janesville Parker, Beloit, Madison Memorial and Madison East.
Boys
Sophomore Rob Warren went out strong and held his pace Tuesday, finishing runner-up to Madison East's Gabe Heck with a time of 17 minutes, 5 seconds, five seconds off his season best and good enough to help the Wildcats hold off Madison Memorial 36-44.
"I just tried to stay up with that upper pack," Warren said. "I didn't want to lose sight of them."
Junior Dan Thoresen finished fifth overall in 17:19, while sophomores Trent Bartholf and Dan LaCroix placed sixth and 11th overall in 17:30 and 17:50, respectively.
"It's so exciting that three of our top runners are sophomores - you better watch out for us in the years to come," Warren said.
Senior Dan Schuchardt finished one spot back in 12th place with a time of 17:59.
"We had 54 seconds between our first and fifth runners, we're shooting to get better than that," head coach Randy Marks said.
Girls
Tuesday was the final home meet for 10 girls on the team.
"Especially for the seniors, I think we just want to go out tonight and give it a good shot one last time on our own course," said Kelsey Sweeney, who led the Wildcats pack with a season-best 16:49 - good for fifth place.
"Kelsey had a great race, she's really come on over the last three meets, so it was great to see her leading our pack," head coach Dave Nelson said.
Fellow senior Janna Wise followed five seconds off the pace, finishing sixth in 16:54, while Jessica Frank was the Wildcats' fifth runner with a time of 17:57.
Giving Nicole Kollman the night off, Becky Burton finished as the team's third runner in 17:03 (seventh place).
By far the biggest surprise of the meet was freshman Kayla Anderson, who ran a lifetime best 17:10 to finish ninth overall.
"For Kayla to have a PR on the toughest course we run on all year - it was really a great run for her," Nelson said. "I think she probably surprised herself a little bit and once that confidence gets built, there's no stopping 'em."
The performance probably earned her a varsity spot at Saturday's Midwest Invitational in Janesville - a huge race with more than 220 varsity runners.
