By GENE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
The Rosholt High School girls cross country team captured the Division III sectionals Saturday, Oct. 20, at Rosholt, while the Rosholt boys team surprised with a second-place showing.
Both teams will now compete Saturday, Oct. 27, in the state Division III meet at Wisconsin Rapids.
As usual, Tami Scott led the Hornet girls, taking first place in 14 minutes, 37 seconds as the team collected 66 points to defeat runner-up Lena, bettering the course record by one second even though she had been sick during the week.
She was followed across the finish line by Lindsey Peplinski, 10; Jacki Yenter, 16; Jackie Zdroik, 18; and Kati Kluck, 21. Also running for the Hornets were Sara Omernik who was 22nd and Nicky Bembenek who was 11th.
Amherst finished fifth in the meet, with 154 points. The Falcons were led by sophomore Brittany Dick who came in second in 15 minutes 14 seconds, 20 seconds faster than her best previous time.
Finishing behind Dick for the Falcons were Lindsey Groshek, 32nd; Jessie Starr, 36th; Jackie Hucke, 40th; and Christy Cloninger, 44th. Also running for Amherst were Melanie Ott, 52nd; and Megan Bronk, 59th.
Pacelli finished 10th with 210 points. The Cardinals were led by Angela Peters who finished 12th. Following her were Katie Hansel, 38th, Chrissy Nowak, 43rd; Beth Boden, 60th; and Nikki Theisen, 61st. Holly Ligman also competed for Pacelli and finished 77th.
In the boys' race the top county finisher was Brady Staszak, who finished third for the Hornets. He was followed by Tyler Staszak, 16th; Paul Zdroik, 17th; Matt Rice, 29th; and Casey Giese, 34th. Also running were Andy Osowski, 55th; and Gavin LaFave, 63rd.
Their finishes gave the team 99 points, good enough for second place behind Peshtigo, which had 75.
The Hornets scored six points less than Amherst, which had finished in second place in the Central Wisconsin Conference meet a week earlier on the same course.
Amherst was led by Tim Olson, who finished in fifth place and qualified for the state meet on Saturday. He was followed by Jordan Selbo, 14th; Brandon Wolding, 21st; Jeremy Leck, 32nd; and Spencer Selbo, 33rd. Also running for Amherst were Scott Hintz who was 42nd and Jeremiah Osborn who was 47th.
Pacelli had two runners, Jamie Klein who was 28th and Nathan Werra who was 82nd, and did not qualify for team competition.
Rosholt coach Mike Trzebiatowski called the meet "a pleasant surprise. It's a little bit, definitely a good surprise.
"The girls, I figured they'd make it," he said. "Last year we lost by one point and got third, so this year we trained hard on Monday and Tuesday and it seemed to help."
Seeing the boys qualify was a definite surprise, particularly after their third-place finish in the conference, Trzebiatowski said. "It's a pleasure to have both teams there. When the boys and girls get together it's more fun. It's a big plus to have both teams heading for the state meet."
He said he knew the race was close and felt the boys gained during the race when it went into the fairgrounds. "For a while I thought we were out of it," he said.
With the state meet coming on Saturday, Trzebiatowski said he'd follow the same routine, with harder practices on Monday and Tuesday and then tapering off.
Amherst coach Rob Sparhawk was disappointed that only Dick and Olson qualified for the state meet, but he was pleased with both runners.
"Brittany ran really well," he said. "She's looking to be in the top 10 in the meet."
He was also pleased with Olson. "I'm looking forward to having Tim run at the state meet," he said. "I just wish Jordan (Selbo) had run his best so he could go too."
In the boys event, Sparhawk was hoping his team could at least finish second and advance to the state meet. "We just didn't run our best," he said. "We just couldn't pick up our pace."
Pacelli coach Chris Parker said he was pleased with his squads' performances.
"All the girls ran their best times today," he said. "I was really proud of them, it's a tough course."
The team is young, with four sophomores, a junior and a senior, Hansel, who missed most of the season due to injury. "It was tough for Katie because she's been injured. She ran a good race for only running the last few weeks," he said.
He's looking to next season because Peters will be a senior and the other four will be juniors, running with more experience.
He also hopes to increase the number of boys out for the sport and restore the tradition the school used to have when it won several state titles in the private schools meet.