By Josh Staloch
Correspondent
HOWARD – The Meadowbrook Trails in Howard hosted the Fox River Classic Conference Thursday, April 22.
Local teams Ashwaubenon, De Pere, Green Bay Preble, Green Bay Southwest and Pulaski also competed.
“This was a great one,” said Bay Port head coach Mike Jameson. “What a way to end conference for varsity. What a beautiful day. People had fun, and it was nice to see lots of spectators out there – it was quite an experience. The course ran dry – just a couple of wet spots, but, of course, there are lots of hills. This is a challenging course, and it was fun to see the competitors give it their all.”
Boys’ race
Preble won the boys’ team title with its low score of 32, followed by Manitowoc (59), Bay Port (74), Pulaski (121), De Pere (129), Sheboygan North (166), Ashwaubenon (168), Sheboygan South (244) and Southwest (244).
Manitowoc’s Mason Gates placed first in 17 minutes, followed 20 seconds later by Bay Port’s Tony Adriansen (17:20).
Preble then took the next three spots, with Brett Litkey (17:35), Michael Kreuser (17:40) and Frank Haanen (17:41) finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Connor Behrend (BP – 17:47), Max Streichert (DP – 17:51), Sam Jacobson (MAN – 18:00), Ethan Raye (PRE – 18:03) and TJ Shaw (PUL – 18:08) rounded out the top 10.
Girls’ race
Preble’s Hailey Novitski won the girls’ race in 20:18 despite losing her lead to De Pere’s Hope Dragseth (21:31) for a short time midway through the event.
“The course was good – nice and dry – but the hill (Big Bertha) was hard, and there were a couple of wet spots throughout,” said Novitski. “I knew I had to catch back up to (Hope) and that it would be in my head if I didn’t. Long strides got me back in the lead.”
Dragseth managed to hang on to second place ahead of Bay Port’s Lindsay Herber (20:57).
Elise Smith (PRE – 20:59), Mischa Fischer (PUL – 21:00), Jordan Meulemans (DP – 21:07), Emma Coon (DP – 21:09), Alaina Sheedy (BP – 21:10), Greta Hansen (GBSW – 21:12) and Katia Geyer (ASH – 21:39) were the next seven runners to cross the finish line, respectively.
In a tight team competition, De Pere (51) beat Bay Port (52) Preble (55), Ashwaubenon (83), Pulaski (95), South (109), North (110), Manitowoc (151) and Southwest (182).
“I love how our girls ran today,” Jameson said. “Our five ran well as a pack, and Lindsay finished strong, coming in third and leading us overall.”
Editor’s note: Sports Editor Rich Palzewic also contributed to this story.