By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
PULASKI – Two West De Pere cross-country runners – Kate Schmoll and Noah Jahnke – each won their respective races at the 41st annual Red Raiders Invite Sept. 30 at the Pulaski Polka Grounds.
Schmoll won her race in 18:23, more than a minute ahead of second-place finisher Macy Reybrock from New London.
Jahnke (15:46) beat Bay Port’s Tony Adriansen (15:49) by a mere three seconds in a hotly contested race.
Girls
Notre Dame Academy (50 points) took the girls’ title while placing three runners in the top 10.
Camille Broullire (fourth – 19:44), Anna Gruesen (fifth – 19:52) and Lauren Conway (ninth – 20:03) all had strong runs to read the Tritons.
Mia Miller (13th – 20:31) and Zita Lulloff (19th – 20:48) also placed in the top 20 for Notre Dame.
Other local teams who had enough runners participate for a team score included Green Bay Preble (second – 104), Ashwaubenon (third – 114), Pulaski (fourth – 134), Bay Port (sixth – 143) and West De Pere (10th – 245).
Reese Gustafson (Bay Port, third – 19:44), Elise Smith (Preble, sixth – 19:53), Aliana Clancy (Ashwaubenon, 12th – 20:30), Olivia Stedl (Pulaski, 14th – 20:32), Lauren Carlton (Ashwaubenon, 15th – 20:38), Angela Opolka (Pulaski, 16th – 20:38), Hailey Novitski (Preble, 17th – 20:42) and Mackenzie Dix (Ashwaubenon, 18th – 20:45) completed the area top 20.
The freshman Schmoll competed with 88 other girls in the 3.1-mile race.
“As the day went on, we got more shade, so that was nice,” Schmoll, a freshman, said. “For the junior varsity races, it was sunnier.”
Schmoll said she focused on her third mile.
“In the past few races, I’ve faded in the last mile,” she said. “I wanted to keep my third mile consistent, which I did today.”
Boys
Notre Dame (61) also won the boys’ competition by placing a trio of runners in the top 10.
Isaac Nowak (third – 16:23), Joseph Stumpf (seventh – 16:40) and Conner Hawley (10th – 16:46) led the Tritons.
Jackson Fogarty (19th – 17:15) also placed in the top 20 for Notre Dame.
Other local teams who had enough runners participate for a team score included Bay Port (second – 66), Preble (third – 106), West De Pere (sixth – 135), Pulaski (seventh – 224), Ashwaubenon (11th – 291), Green Bay Southwest (12th – 311), Green Bay East (13th – 368) and Green Bay West (14th – 411).
Other top-20 are runners included Tj Shaw (Pulaski, sixth – 16:33), Jacob Schertz (Bay Port, ninth – 16:45), Connor Behrend (Bay Port, 11th – 16:46), Garrison Willems (Preble, 15th – 17:01), Ethan Raye (Preble, 16th – 17:02), Aaron Paris (Preble, 17th – 17:07), Matthew Schmoll (West De Pere, 18th – 17:12) and Landen Heim (Bay Port, 20th – 17:20).
The junior Jahnke, who beat 111 other runners, said he didn’t feel the greatest during his race.
“Even though I won, I was dealing with some digestive issues,” he said. “It’s fun racing against Tony (Adriansen) – we push each other the whole race.”
Jahnke said the course was fast, but he prefers the wooded trails around the area.
“It was tough running with all the dust (being kicked up by the lead ATV),” Jahnke joked.