By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
BROWN COUNTY – Both Bay Port and De Pere high schools recently hosted their own cross country invites.
Pirates sweep
Bay Port hosted Sheboygan North and Green Bay Southwest at the Meadowbrook Trails in Howard.
The Pirates (17 points) easily outdistanced North (51) and Southwest (93) in the boys’ race, while the girls (19) beat runner-up Southwest (51).
The North girls didn’t have enough runners compete for a team score.
For the boys, the Pirates placed eight runners in the top 10, led by Tony Adriansen’s winning time of 17:25.
He beat teammate Connor Behrend (18:36) by more than a minute.
Jacob Schertz (18:51 – third), Landon Heim (19:12 – fifth), Collin Stellmacher (19:17 – sixth), Grant Rocheleau (19:21 – seventh), Tyler Guetschow (19:41 – ninth), Dax Ruplinger (19:54 – 10th), Dylan Shulstad (20:24 – 13th), Chris Vannieuwenhoven (20:50 – 14th), Dominic Azzolina (20:59 – 15th) and Jacob Petoniak (21:44 – 19th) also competed.
Southwest’s Vince VanMieghem (18:52) finished fourth to lead the Trojans.
“Tony led the boys’ race from start to finish and looked strong,” said Bay Port head coach Mike Jameson. “Overall, the boys have been working hard, having fun and getting better each week. It’s fun to see the confidence build.”
The Bay Port girls placed eight runners in the top 10.
Lindsay Herber was victorious in 21:38.
She beat Southwest’s Greta Hansen (21:45) for the win.
Alaina Sheedy (22:16 – third), Reese Gustafson (22:29 – fourth), Keera Wheeler (22:42 – fifth), Aubree Kubicki (23:30 – sixth), Eloise Massee (24:18 – seventh), Paige Draak (24:33 – ninth) and Elizabeth Schomaker (24:51 – 10th) also competed.
“Lindsay’s kick allowed her to regain the lead and take the win,” Jameson said. “There were nice performances by all the girls. It’s exciting to see the team work hard and come together. We hope the improvement continues.”
De Pere girls dominate
The De Pere girls garnered a perfect score of 15 points in their victory over Manitowoc (55) and Sheboygan South (73).
Hope Dragseth won overall in 20:03, while teammates Jordan Meulemans (21:15 – second), Emma Coon (21:43 – third), Alexis Trousil (22:20 – fourth) and Kyle Trousil (22:25 – fifth) completed the perfect score.
Other De Pere runners were Jessica Rolain (22:34 – seventh), Brylee Birkholz (22:48 – eighth), Kemily Kneeland (22:48 – ninth), Karley Baumgart (23:05 – 12th), Madison DeCleene (23:13 – 13th), Elisabeth Ngo (23:37 – 14th) and Sophia Fabry (24:37 – 17th).
“We returned five of our seven girls who ran in the WIAA state meet in 2019,” said Chris Hendricks, who along with Jackie Joseph are co-head coaches of the teams. “We have a strong group of freshmen and sophomores as well. Hope is a new student to our district as of this past summer. She’s been a wonderful surprise and has led all season as our No. 1 runner. She’s won both races we’ve had by large margins and looks to be one of the top runners in the area this year in both cross country and track.”
In the boys’ race, Manitowoc (16) beat De Pere (46) and South (70).
Max Streichert led the Redbirds with a fifth-place finish in 18:18.
Enoch Thielhelm (19:05 – eighth), Garrett Foth (19:53 – 10th), Casey Trousil (20:02 – 11th), Ethan Hoops (20:05 – 12th), Malachi Oslund (21:11 – 15th), Peter Hurst (21:11 – 16th), Ethan Barnard (21:12 – 17th), Finnegan Blake (21:13 – 18th), Caleb Krueger (21:56 – 20th) and Jack Meeusen (22:28 – 23rd) also competed.
“We graduated nearly all of our boys from last year,” Hendricks said. “Our team will benefit from learning how to race cross country, especially heading into a nearby track season and a fast turnaround for summer training for the fall cross country season. Unfortunately, we lost one of our top runners and senior captain, Kale Borseth, early in the season to an injury.”