Conference meet s last week: AHS's Pettis wins Dairyland Conference race, Augusta girls finish second

Maybe it was pre-ordained all along.

For when Augusta High School cross country runner Zale Pettis is determined to accomplish a goal, it's hard to dislodge him.

"For as long as I have coached him, I know Zale sets big goals for himself," AHS cross country coach Jack Smith said. "And when he does it's hard to stop him. He is a very determined runner."

One of those goals was winning the boys race at the Dairyland Conference Cross Country meet and the junior harrier did so last week Thursday, Oct. 15 at Cochrane-Fountain City High School in a time of 17:12 on the 5000-meter course despite cloudy, dark conditions and a steady light rain for much of the day. The wet weather made for a muddy track as the meet went on.

because of school construction, C-FC altered their usual course, much of it up in the woods of a next door hill.

But Pettis still accomplished his goal and now he has his sights set on another, making the state meet which is Oct. 31 in Wisconsin Rapids. To do so he'll have to be a top five runner not on one of the two a qualifying teams at this Saturday, Oct. 24th's WIAA Division 3 Sectional Meet in Colby, which begins at 11 a.m.

Finishing second in the boys race was Melrose-Mindoro senior Caleb Arneson in 17:43 and Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran junior Simeon Schaller third in 18:00 even.

Besides Pettis, also making All-Dairyland Conference first team were Eleva-Strum sophomore John Kempf as he finished sixth in a time of 18:17. Augusta had another boys runner in the top 10 in sophomore Jeremy Christoph, 10th in 18:52; Making second team all-conference was E-S sophomore Nolan McConnell, 20th in 19:52.

Osseo-Fairchild had two runners who nearly made it: sophomore George Clark in 22nd in 20:10 and freshman Alfons Jesunas, 23rd in 20:17.

Eau Claire Immanuel won its fifth conference title in the boys race in a row scoring 32 points followed by Melrose-Mindoro 87, Augusta 112, Independence/Gilmanton 118, Lincoln 126, Eleva-Strum 128, Blair-Taylor 140 and Whitehall 170 with Osseo-Fairchild INC. This was one of AHS's best finish in the team standings in a meet this season thanks the Pettis and Christoph's runs.

Other AHS runners were senior Riley Charlo, 26th at 20:45.4; freshman Kasen Balts, 35th in 21:37.7; senior Thomas Truog, 40th in 22:14.6 and junior Ethan Zacharias-Dietzmann 43rd in 22:44.9.

Running for Eleva-Strum were sophomore Michael Lahn, 22nd in 20:22.2; junior Samuel Gehrke, 38th in 21:44.6 and sophomore Brayden Nelson, 42nd in 22:42.5.

Osseo-Fairchild's other runners were sophomore Kole Bratina 49th in 23:27 and senior Emerick Korger, 54th in 25:38.

What the Dairyland Conference lacks in quantity of girls runners it more than makes up for it in quality.

It was a close three-way split between the top three teams with No. 7 ranked Cochrane-Fountain City winning its fifth straight conference title with 36 points followed by two previously ranked teams in Division 3: Augusta at 44 and Independence/Gilmanton at 50. Whitehall scored 100 points and the remaining teams were incomplete.

C-FC junior Paxstyn Duellman was the girls race winner in 18:34 followed by Melrose-Mindoro freshman Taylor Laufenberg 19:00 and C-FC sophomore Kinley Arneson third in 19:33.

Making All-Dairyland from the Tri-County Area were Eleva-Strum freshman Elsie Christ. fourth in 20:05; Augusta junior Laney O'Brien, sixth in 20:45; AHS freshmen Aubree O'Brien and Mya Grandgaard, 10th and 11th respectively with times of 21:35 and 21:52; junior Sophie Bergmann and freshman Tessa Schroeder, 15th and 16th respectively in 22:51 and 22:56; AHS senior Viola MacDonald, 18th in 23:37 and E-S senior Avery Glenz, 19th in 23:39.

Other Tri-County runners in the girls race were Augusta freshman Hadley Bergman, 24th in 24:37; Osseo-Fairchild sophomore Layne Armstrong-Baglien, 39th in 31:07 and seniors Lily Ross and Grace Hulett, 42nd and 43rd in times of 32:57 and 35:24.

Fall Creek hosted the annual Cloverbelt Conference Cross Coutnry meet held last week Saturday, Oct. 17.

FC's girls placed fifth out of 14 teams competing with 133 points. Bloomer won the league title again edging out Stanley-Boyd 42-69 led by meet winner senior Ciara Hartman winning in a time of 18:22 on the 5000-meter course while senior sister Briella Hartman was second in 19:19 and Bloomer senior Hope Conrad finished third in 20:41.

Running for FC were senior Rylee Winsand , who made second team all-conference in 17th place in a time of 23:05.4; senior Audrey Koehler, 23rd in 23:18; sophomore Paige Anderson, 25th in 23:32; junior Emily Volbrecht, 38th in 25:03; senior Kamryn Dahlber, 39th in 25:11; senior Iris VanWormer, 41st in 25:20 and freshman Lily Mae Anderson, 58th in 27:33.

Top-ranked Cadott won the boys race with 46 points edging out Elk Mound's 68 and Eau Claire Regis's 84. Cadott senior Beau Steinke won the race individually in 16:43 and his teammate junior Jacob Pilgrim was second in 16:57 while Bloomer's Ashton Rogge was third in 17:04.

Fall Creek finished 10th out of 13 teams competing with 265 points. Senior Alex Anderson had FC's best time and finish in 49th in 21:14. Junior Hudson Abts was 53rd in 21:41; sophomore Aiden Christensen was 55th in 21:52; freshman Vincent Wilkom was 59th in 22:19; junior Weston Mielke was 61st vin 22:20 and Hunter Munz placed 67th in 23:31.

Fall Creek, Eleva-Strum and Osseo-Fairchild will all compete in the WIAA Division 3 Unity Sectional in Balsam Lake on Saturday, Oct. 24 beginning at 10 a.m.