B-T boys second at conference championship meet

With a third-place individual, the Blair-Taylor boys cross country team finished second in the team standings at the Dairyland Conference Championship meet in Augusta last Thursday.

The Wildcats had three runners finish in the top-10, but didn’t have the depth to compete with team champion Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran. ECIL’s Mica Fossom won the meet with a time of 16:48, more than a minute better than second-place Jack Laufenberg’s time of 18:01. B-T’s Jacob Olson was third, about 10 seconds behind the runner from Melrose-Mindoro. 

Thomas Brandt finished seventh for the Wildcats and Ryan Flynn was eighth. B-T was the only team to have three runners finish inside the top eight, but it didn’t have another runner cross the finish line until Riley Gunderson did so in 28th place. Anthony Oldendorf finished 29th; Wyatt Schrock, 31st and Amoni Samples took 33rd. 

Like the B-T boys team, the Independence/Gilmanton girls had three runners finish in the top eight, but with a defending state champion and another perennial conference contender in the field, the Indees had to settle for third place. 

Taylor Sylla finished third overall for the Indees, Gracie Rombalski took sixth and Sophia Kampa was seventh. The other four runners inside the top seven were all from Cochrane-Fountain City or Mel-Min. Defending state champion Addy Duellman from C-FC won the meet with a time of 18:31, Mel-Min’s Claire Becker was second, crossing in 19:34. 

Leah Sylla finished 19th for the Indees while Angie Martinez was 32nd and Hannah Gierok took 37th. 

The only other area school that had enough runners to compete for a team title was Whitehall, which had a fourth-place finish from its boys team, but did not have any girls competing. 

Ashton Hanson was 12th overall for Whitehall followed by Titus Buhl, 15th; Oriah Anderson, 20th; Cayden Faldet-Platteter, 34th and Sawyer Herrick 38th.

The only I/G boy competing was Charlie Baize, who finished 23rd. 

Jadrean Borreson led the B-T girls by finishing 14th overall; Kelsey Lien was 18th; Emmalee Johnson, 26th and Ella Halverson, 29th. 

Boys cross country, Dairyland Conference Championship, Oct. 12 at Augusta High School

Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 29 B-T 46 Augusta 75 Whitehall 82

B-T — Olson, third, 18:11; Brandt, seventh, 18:57; Flynn, eighth, 19:02; Gunderson, 28th, 21:38; Oldendorft, 29th, 22:54; Schrock, 31st, 23:39; Samples, 33rd, 23:51

I/G — Baize, 23rd, 20:55

Whitehall — Hanson, 12th, 19:36; Buhl, 15th, 19:40; Anderson, 20th, 20:30; Faldet-Platteter, 34th, 23:52; Herrick, 38th, 28:22

Girls cross country, Dairyland Conference Championship, Oct. 12 at Augusta High School

C-FC 32 Mel-Min 47 I/G 52 Augusta 97

B-T — Borreson, 14th, 22:34; Lien, 18th, 23:21; Johnson, 26th, 24:46; Halverson, 29th, 25:12

I/G — T. Sylla, third, 20:18; Rombalski, sixth, 21:39; Kampa, seventh, 21:59; L. Sylla, 19th, 23:27; Martinez, 32nd, 25:24; Gierok, 37th, 28:44