Speed demons

The Badger Conference cross country championships looked a little bit different this year. The number of teams were down. There were fewer runners than normal. But that didn’t stop Sauk Prairie’s runners from enjoying what was a magnificent day. The Eagles won the boys race handily, finishing with just 33 points. Portage was a distant second with 62 points, followed by Baraboo (64), Reedsburg (98) and Beaver Dam (105). Sauk Prairie also finished second on the girls’ side. Beaver Dam was first with 29 points, followed by the Eagles (68), Baraboo (79), Portage (87) and Reedsburg (117). “I am so very proud of how our teams competed,” Sauk Prairie coach Andy Sherman said. “We knew the boys had the team to win it. They have been very consistent all season long and ran that way again last night.  “I was very happy with the girls and how they performed. I believe Beaver Dam is a team that will qualify for the state meet, so to come in second to them and get past the others was a great accomplishment for our girls’ team. It was great to see our teams and runners leading the way.” On the boys’ side, Sauk Prairie sophomore Jack Boerger was second overall, finishing the race in 17 minutes, 4.84 seconds. Boerger led the race most of the way before Beaver Dam’s Gavin Czarnecki (17:01.93) passed him late. “I know that Jack is a bit disappointed,” Sherman said. “He led the race for 4,900 of the 5,000 meters. Gavin, who will be a four-time state qualifier, was sitting on his shoulder the whole way and only sprinted past him at the end.  “But I am so pleased with how Jack didn’t hold back and he went for it. That is what he is going to need to do over these next two races in order to qualify for the state meet himself.” Sauk Prairie junior Ritchie Wolff was fourth (17:46.21), junior Dalton Ziebel was sixth (18:15.10), senior Sam Beattie was 10th (18:58.37) and sophomore Jay Dregney was 11th (19:04.59). On the girls’ side, Sauk Prairie freshman Catherine Gregg was third (21:15.70), freshman Lexi Been was 17th (22:45.40), junior Kassia Marquardt was 18th (23:00.60), junior Marissa Howard was 19th (23:16.80) and sophomore Natalie Curtis was 21st (23:21.30). “Catherine ran a solid race,” Sherman said. “She is still learning how to even out her paces a bit and how to go with runners that make a surge. She has tremendous talent and with a bit more experience is going to become a very good runner. If she can continue to learn from each race and use that in the next ones, she will put herself in position to possibly qualify for the state meet as well.”