Eagles’ XC teams fare well at Mount Horeb

Sauk Prairie’s girls cross country team has enjoyed a terrific first half of the season. And the Eagles continued to shine last Saturday. Sauk Prairie won the eight-team Mount Horeb Invitational held at Norsk Golf Club. The Eagles finished with 42 points to outdistance runner-up McFarland (55). Mount Horeb (77), Baraboo (91) and DeForest (92) rounded out the top five. “Our girls’ team has demonstrated great dedication during practice this past week, successfully recalibrating after a demanding performance at River Valley last week,” Sauk Prairie coach Andy Sherman said. “Our focus has been on running cohesively as a pack and striving for consistent split times throughout the three-mile race. The results of their hard work were evident.” They sure were as the Eagles landed five runners in the top-11 and eight in the top-18. Eagles sophomore Aaliyah Bermudo was sixth overall, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 21 minutes, 27.10 seconds. Junior Charlotte Gregg was seventh (21:29.10), sophomore Savannah Liegel was ninth (21:37.40), junior Clarissa Brickl was 10th (21:49.90) and senior Ziah Been was 11th (21:58.50). Although only the top five runners count in the overall team scoring, Sauk Prairie also received a 13th place finish from senior Lainey Dillon (22:11.10), a 14th from freshman Maya Dischler (22:15.30) and an 18th place showing from junior Kylie Hutchins (22:34.40) displaying the Eagles’ remarkable depth. “Our top eight runners were separated by only 1:07, illustrating the depth of our girls’ team and the cohesion we are developing as the season progresses,” Sherman said. The Eagles’ boys finished 10th out of 11 teams. DeForest won the team title with 26 points, while the Eagles finished with 224 points. Junior Jacob Wiegmann led Sauk Prairie with a 24th place finish, completing the 5,000-meter race in 18:33.0. “His commitment during the summer and understanding of race strategy have made him a reliable asset for our team,” Sherman said of Wiegmann.  Senior Charlie Endres was 42nd (19:27.80), junior Austin Smith was 47th (19:39.90), senior John Fabian was 53rd (19:58.20) and junior Hunter Brensike was 58th (20:19.40). “Overall, I am pleased with the progress of both our teams at this stage in the season,” Sherman said. “Our emphasis on pack running and strategic racing is yielding positive results, and we will continue to prioritize these elements in our training over the next few weeks as we prepare for the upcoming postseason.”