By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
DE PERE – Several area cross-country teams competed at the De Pere Invite Sept. 2.
Bay Port won the boys’ title with a low score of 48 points, while the Bay Port and De Pere girls each scored 47 points to share team honors.
For the area boys, West De Pere (97) and De Pere (145) also scored.
In the girls’ team competition, West De Pere (86) also had a team total.
“The course ran well,” Chris Hendricks, De Pere head coach, said. “It’s a deceiving course. With so many straight-aways, you can see everything in front of you running, and it makes the times a bit slower. It’s the nature of a campus course. The one hill on the course is tough.”
So far this season, Hendricks said his team is doing well.
“We’re injury-free so far,” he said. “Last winter and this summer, the kids had great training sessions. The most difficult thing was going from a cross-country season to a track season and now another cross-country season in a short period.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the cross-country season, normally a fall sport, was pushed to spring 2021.
Then the track season, normally ending in early June, didn’t finish until late June.
“In a normal year, after track ends, you give them a couple of weeks off to veg out,” Hendricks said. “But this year, with track ending so late, we gave them less time off but focused on easier miles. We’re starting to work toward more tempo work. We’re proud of the shape the kids came into the season with.”
Boys
West De Pere’s Noah Jahnke, a junior, won the meet overall with a time of 16:10.
Bay Port’s Anthony Adriansen, a senior, was second (16:28).
Other top-20 area results included Connor Behrend (Bay Port, sixth – 17:39), Jason Skinkis (Seymour, seventh – 17:53), Jacob Schertz (Bay Port, ninth – 17:56), Matthew Schmoll (West De Pere, 12th – 17:58), Landen Heim (Bay Port, 14th – 18:17), Jacob Woldt (Seymour, 15th – 18:19) and Landon Nuthals (West De Pere, 16th – 18:19).
“Our boys’ team is still building,” Hendricks said.
Girls
West De Pere freshman Kate Schmoll blazed to a winning time of 18:34.
Schmoll beat her nearest competitor, Hope Dragseth (De Pere – 20:15) by a huge margin.
“(Schmoll) is phenomenal,” Hendricks said. “She could be one of the best in the state.”
Other top-20 area results included Emma Coon (De Pere, fourth – 20:39), Reese Gustafson (Bay Port, sixth – 21:20), Alaina Sheedy (Bay Port, ninth – 21:26), Aubree Kubicki (Bay Port, 11th – 21:35), Jordan Meulemans (De Pere, 14th – 21:50), Keera Wheeler (Bay Port, 16th – 22:13), Addison Cornwell (West De Pere, 17th – 22:24), Elisabeth Ngo (De Pere, 19th – 22:28) and Eloise Massee (Bay Port, 20th – 22:28).
“My girls focused on running as a pack,” Hendricks said. “We didn’t show all our cards today.”
For full results, CLICK HERE.
Sports editor’s note: Correspondent Josh Staloch contributed to this story.