Union Grove Girls Win Westosha Falcon Invite, Boys Finish Third

Union Grove, Wis. - It’s probably a good thing the Union Grove Fire Department hasn’t relocated from across the street from the high school yet, because Union Grove’s Cross Country team is on fire as of late. Hot off the success and PRs of the Dick McKichan Platteville Invitational, Union Grove came in hot at the Westosha Falcon Invite on October 8th at Fox River Park in Salem Lakes. The team as a whole made its mark, with the girls’ team taking first place overall and the boys’ team placing third overall while taking the top spot in their conference for the meet.

A great showing is only part of the story, though. This is the second time Union Grove has run this location this season, which is viewed as a tough course: Hilly, with soft ground noted at this meet, and an especially challenging final mile. Taking place under near-ideal weather conditions, this outing showed an encouraging improvement in times for both girls’ and boys’ teams, another round of PRs, and a smattering of season best times. 

The freshman girls continue to shine, with Aila Johnson taking second place in the girls’ race and slicing 1:17.7 off her last time on this course, Emma Schafer scoring a new PR of 20:24.3 and taking fourth overall, and Mila Johnson taking 13th while also grabbing a PR of 20:58.8 and a 35 second improvement on this visit. Also scoring a PR is sophomore Nataljia Milicevic, turning in a time of 21.20.7 for 17th, shaving a whopping 1:48.3 off her last time at this course. Senior Sam Antonneau turned in her best time of the season at 21:22.4, good for 18th and an impressive 1:28.4 improvement this time around. Aubree Krueger, junior, added to the PRs scored at this meet with a time of 22:02.8 and managed to cut 32.7 seconds off her last time around this course. Rounding out the girls’ varsity team was senior Karlie Peterson at 22:38.9 and 39th out of 134 girls running, marking a season best for her so far and a 12-second improvement over her last run at this course.

A quartet of juniors continued to top the times for the boys’ team, with Parker Newland leading the way with a 6th place finish and time of 17:23.6, a 41.1 second improvement from his last outing on this course. Xander Stulo continues his sub-eighteen-minute campaign, turning in a time of 17.58.9, good for 15th overall and 57.2 seconds under the last time he ran this course. Ethan Ross and Abe Ackley were hot on Stulo’s heels, placing 19th and 21st respectively, with Ross turning in a time of 18:02 and Ackley 18:06.9, a 54.9-second improvement for Ethan and 17.3 seconds for Abe over their last go at Fox River. A freshman duo of Jaxxon Silvasi and Jameson Kaufman contributed 40th and 43rd places out of 188 runners, with Silvasi posting a colossal 1:55.4 improvement on this course with a time of 18:58.6 and Kaufman nabbing a PR of 19:02.9. Sophomore Benjamin Thomason scored 52nd overall with a time of 19:13.7, representing a wicked 1:54.7 chunk of time ripped off from his last visit to this course.

Impressive performances continue outside of the varsity teams, with more PRs courtesy of Lily Agallar, Coddia Hofmeister, Farrah Hempel, and Lilly Perala for the girls and Issac Kravig and Austen Houtsinger nabbing their PRs on the boys’ team. Lillian McMahon and Mason Barlar turned in their season’s best times as well.

The team now sets its sights to conference in Beloit on October 15th, with state qualifying also starting to come into focus at sectionals, which will see the team back for a third visit to Fox River Park on October 24th.