Ellsworth boys cross country is headed back to State for the first time since 1992, showing out at Rice Lake to the tune of a second-place finish.

“It’s pretty significant historically since it’s been such a long time,” Head Coach Marcie Jahnke said. “It’s been a season of just trying to get it all together at the right time.

Jahnke said the top seven runners have battled injuries all year long, and Sectionals was the first race of the entire season where they could send out the full-strength squad.

“We were hoping to surprise some people on Friday and we did,” Jahnke said. “All seven [boys] ran the best races of their entire season by a lot.”

The seven Sectionals runners finished as follows: junior Adolfo Mendez in sixth, junior Jacob Michels in 11th, senior Ben Baker in 16th, junior Parker Lampman in 46th, junior Milan Johnson in 57th, junior Brock Fairchild in 96th and junior Trae Christiansen in 104th. The boys were hopeful for a conference title, but untimely injuries took the opportunity off the table.

“The way the season has went has prepared us uniquely already,” Jahnke said. “It really just made the boys that much thirstier.”

What Jahnke saw was a team that even surprised themselves, and now that they know they can do it, they need to bring that drive to the final race. Baker is the boys’ lone senior, and part of the motivation was to get one last race with Baker.

A year ago, Noah Matzek made State individually for the Panthers, and the motivation it brought was evident.

“It was actually kind of fun listening to them on the bus and when we stopped for dinner on the way on Friday night, because some of the kids that were there were talking excitedly about how they can’t wait to go there again and for everyone to experience it,” Jahnke said. “It’s infectious.”

Jahnke wants the middle school team, the boys team and the girls team to all soak in the special moment because it can impact the future of the program.

Jahnke and assistant coach Spencer Schultz are extremely proud of the boys as well as the girls who saw straight season best times as well.

Prescott

Junior Kyra Dix is headed back to State for the Cardinals, this time individually after Sectionals where the girls placed fourth and the boys ninth.

Dix is in just her second year as a cross country runner, as she has made State for the second time. She was the fastest runner for the girls team a year ago that made history by qualifying for State.

Dix finished third in the Middle Border Conference and third again at Sectionals.

“We came into this season with high expectations for her, and even those high expectations, I mean she just keeps getting better,” Head Coach Tim Philips said. “That’s a credit to her. She works really hard. She just does everything right in terms of taking care of herself, and doing the workouts and being kind of a student of the sport.”

Philips said knowing Dix, the State finish a year ago, although strong, will never be enough because she wants to keep fighting to be the best she can be.

“I almost come to tears when I think about some of the kids we’re losing this year,” Philips said about the senior class.

It is the whole class that Philips will always remember, not just a handful of them. Amber Van Loon finished 14th at Sectionals and will go down as the third fastest racer in school history, Addy Allsop and Nora Boles have also been major pieces to the program Prescott has been building.

“We came up a little bit short this year in our bid to go back to State as a team. It’s unfortunate, because as I look at it, I think we have an even better team this year on the girls side than we had last year,” Philips said. “It’s just that this year our competition is tougher.”

At Sectionals, the top five girls teams were from the Middle Border Conference. The eight teams from outside the conference at Sectionals could make it to the top five.

Philips said the boys team exceeded expectations this year, and Nolan Leask’s leadership was a big part of that.

“[Nolan Leask] waited until the last race of his career to run the fastest time he’s ever run,” Philips said. “Nolan’s always been that way. Nolan really steps up under pressure.”

The other senior competing at Sectionals was Lliam Haeg. He was another key leader and stepped up to the plate to put up his best times at the biggest races.

Junior Quinn Justen had a big day for the boys, taking 32 seconds off his personal best time to join Leask and freshman Dawson Langer in the top 30.

He said the seniors on both sides were great leaders, great teammates and cemented their legacies in the Prescott cross country record books.

River Falls

River Falls had two runners qualify individually for state in junior Owen Koepke, taking sixth place for the boys with a 16:25 time, and senior Olive Halvorson for the girls taking seventh place with an 18:53.

The teams could not qualify after finishing in sixth of 12 in the boys race and seventh of 12 in the girls race, but it was a solid race given the steep competition in the Menomonie Sectional.

“We knew this year that it was going to be about individuals qualifying,” Head Coach Kari DeLuca said. “That kind of changes the race for people where they’re just trying to get that final PR.”

A year ago, Koepke was the first runner outside of qualification for State individually at Sectionals, and the boys team missed team qualification in as narrow of a fashion as it gets.

“This year it was like, okay, we’re going to do this,” DeLuca said. “He just showed up and knew what he needed to do.”

DeLuca said taking the course too fast can bring trouble late as there is a large hill near the finish. Koepke planned perfectly to qualify. It will be Koepke’s first time racing at the State meet.

Halvorson made it to State a year ago, so it was all about getting back to the meet one last time.
“You’ve been there before, and now you want to go back and place as high as we can,” DeLuca said.

This year’s senior class is one that DeLuca cherished, as they have set an example for all the returning runners.

“It’s a very, very kind group of kids, which has been great. Good leaders, they’ve really set the bar high,” DeLuca said. “We’ll definitely miss our seniors.”

The State meet is Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids.