With a week to go until the postseason officially begins with the Big Eight Conference cross country race, Verona traveled to Middleton on Saturday to run the same Pleasant View Golf Course where the conference meet will be held.
Girls CC
Nicole Kollman once again looked strong Saturday, finishing second overall (and second in the sophomore race) behind Sun Prairie sophomore Liz Berkholtz.
"The race at Pleasant View was a chance for us to preview the conference meet course a week early," head coach Dave Nelson said. "We found it to be a little hilly compared to some of the more recent courses we have run. I think that our experience can help us prepare for this weekend."
Kollman and Berkholtz, along with Middleton senior Maggie Bollig, look like the front runners for the Big Eight individual title this weekend.
A week after pushing herself at the Stoughton Invitational, Kayla Anderson finished fourth in the freshman race.
This weekend's conference race gets under way with the boys race at 9:10 a.m.
"The field this Saturday in the Big Eight meet will be very strong," Nelson said. "Nicole is certainly a top-five runner in the conference race.
"The rest of our varsity needs to run together and push each other up further into the field."
Kelsey Sweeney and Sarah Kretschmann did not compete on Saturday, but will be back this weekend.
Getting a chance to run together again will help each of the girls in different ways, Nelson said.
"Kayla's aggressiveness will help push girls like Janna (Wise) and Kelsey to push the pace early, but those two will help Kayla temper her exuberance in the first mile."
Boys CC
A very hilly course, with the last two races being run under very hot temperatures, were two of the obstacles the Verona boys cross country team was faced with at Saturday's Middleton Invitational.
Competing without their top three runners Trent Bartholf, Rob Warren and Dan LaCroix was another challenge for the Wildcats.
"They have been carrying a pretty heavy load emotionally and physically for us all season long and they, especially Rob, are in need of a weekend off to train and recharge," head coach Randy Marks said.
Everyone else who was healthy ran and ran well.
"We still fielded a strong crew with Dan Thoresen, Dan Schuchardt, Eric Biggers, Jake Hegge and Kyle Bennwitz leading the way," Marks said. "Eric Pynonnen, Tim Kise, Corky Carpenter and Nick Runde all carried some of the weight as well."
Thoresen led the way, finishing fourth overall (first in the junior race).
"Dan's easy win with nobody pushing him was very impressive," Marks said.
Hegge and Carpenter also had strong races. Hegge placed fourth in the junior race, while Carpenter took third in the freshman race, nine seconds off his all-time best.
Luke Brooks returned after recovering from an injury and looked like his old self from last year, despite missing valuable training time this last month.
Kaz Click turned in a near PR in a very strong effort as well.
"Having run the course will certainly be helpful knowing what to expect," Marks said of Saturday's Big Eight Conference race. "The last mile is brutal and may surprise some of the teams next week."
Despite not racing, Warren, LaCroix and Bartholf all ran the course to get a feel for it. J.L. Haberle was sick and didn't run either.
"With them running, we would have been near the two lead teams in the low- to mid-20s, but our goal was not to win the meet," Marks said. "We are really not a very deep team right now, as we fall off far too fast after our fourth man.
"Next year it will be our goal to develop a really strong JV that can run mid-17s to low 18s for our eighth through 14th men."
As far as the team's health heading into Saturday, that remains to be seen.
"Rob is still a question mark, but we can't worry about that now," Marks said. "We are certainly not in the hunt to win, but would like the top five.
"There are eight tough teams so I would say we could finish anywhere from third to eighth."
