Cottonwood Chronicle

Several earn medals at Spartan Invite
The Prairie Cross Country team competed at two meets on back to back days last week.
On Wednesday, Sept. 29, Prairie traveled to Deyo Reservoir for the Spartan Invite where they had several top 10 finishers. On Thursday, Sept. 30, they traveled to Troy for the Troy Invitational where there were more teams and stiffer competition.
Spartan Invite
At the Spartan Invite, the Prairie High School boys had a pair of top 10 finishers while all three high school girls finished in the top 10. In the Junior High races, the boys had 1 top 10 finisher and all 3 girls finished in the top 10.
Matthew Wemhoff of the high school boys team was the top overall finisher for Prairie with a 4th place finish in 20:53. Right behind him was Kyle Schwartz with a 5th place finish in 21:05. Cole Duclos placed 15th in 24:08 and Morgan Poxleitner was 17th in 26:30.
Elizabeth Severns was the top finisher for the girls team in 8th place at 28:26. Natalie Goeckner, battling shin splints, managed to finish 9th in 28:40 and Katteri Duman was 10th in 28:43.
For the Junior High boys Ben Secrest was the top finisher with a 6th place finish in 12:12. Jackson Enneking was 13th in 12:57. Chase VonBargen was 14th in 13:00. Max Rehder was 18th in 14:31. Landon Riener was 21st in 15:15. Nate Forsmann was 22nd in 15:32 and Gabe Dicaria was 23rd in 16:55. As a team they placed 3rd.
For the Junior High girls Evelyn Gehring finished 5th in 13:11. Olivia Uhlenkott was 6th in 13:26 and Alaina Lustig was 10th in 14:41.
All top 10 finishers received medals.
Troy Invitational
At the Troy Invitational Wemhoff of the high school boys and Gehring of the junior high girls were Prairie’s top finishers as each placed 14th.
Wemhoff’s time was 21:51. Just behind Wemhoff in 16th was Schwartz with a time of 22:01. Duclos was 25th in 25:09 and Poxleitner was 26 in 25:10.4.
For the high school girls Goeckner placed 20th in 30:42.7 and Duman was 22nd in 31:36.4.
For the junior high boys Secrest was 28th in 11:02.0. VonBargen was 31st in 11:08.5. Enneking was 41st in 11:33.2. Riener was 53rd in 12:24.7. Rehder was 55th in 12:43.4. Forsmann was 62nd in 13:17.6 and Decaria was 73rd in 14:53.1. As a team they placed 5th.
Gehring finished 14th in the junior high girls race in 11:16.1. Lustig was 26th in 13:04.8 and Uhlenkott was 30th in 13:49.7.

Matthew Wemhoff, left, finished in 4th place, while Kyle Schwartz finished fifth, each earning a medal at the Spartan Invite.

All 3 Prairie girls runners earned medals at the Spartan Invite for finishing in the top 10. From left are Elizabeth Severns, 8th; Natalie Goeckner, 9th, and Katteri Duman, 10th.

The start of the high school boys race with, from left, Cole Duclos, Matthew Wemhoff, Morgan Poxleitner and Kyle Schwartz.

Elizabeth Severns, Katteri Duman and Natalie Goeckner run across the dike at the west end of Deyo Reservoir. Goeckner was able to pass Duman before the finish.

Katteri Duman and Kyle Schwartz shiver on the dock after continuing a Prairie Cross Country tradition of jumping into a body of water near the course if one is available. Photo by Glenn Poxleitner.

The start of the junior high boys race. Pictured from left are Gabe Dicaria (in background at left with glasses), Nate Forsmann, Max Rehder, Landon Riener, Chase VonBargen and Ben Secrest.

The start of the Junior High girls race at Deyo Reservoir. From left are Alaina Lustig, Evelyn Gehring and Olivia Uhlenkott. Behind them is assistant coach David Young.