Badillo starts fast, Rotering finishes strong at state cross country meet

Two area runners competing in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Cross Country Championship meet ran opposite races.

Arcadia Nestor Badillo started fast as finished 92nd in the Division Two boys race at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids on Saturday. G-E-T’s Adrianna Rotering paced herself more throughout the race then made up ground at the finish as she took 71st. 

It was the last high school cross country race for both runners as they’re in their senior years. It was the first trip to the state meet for Badillo, while Rotering made a repeat performance. 

‘I’m proud of my finish’

Learning from a year ago, Rotering paced herself and improved her finish by 14 places.

The G-E-T senior came out strong last year as she was in 61st place at the one-mile marker, but she slowed as the race went on and finished 85th with a time of 21:27.5. That experience helped her as she started slower as a senior, but finished better.

Rotering was in 82nd place after the first mile and 83rd after the second, but she made up ground, surging to the finish line to finish 71st with a time of 20:49.9. She said the experience of running the grueling course last year helped as a senior.

“I definitely had prior knowledge of all the hills and where everything would be, so that definitely helped a lot,” Rotering said. 

She said her main goal prior to starting on Saturday wasn’t about where she would finish, but to enjoy the experience.

“It’s my last one as a senior, so all I really wanted was to have a good time and remember it well,” Rotering said. 

The G-E-T student said it was a tough race, but she came away proud of her performance. 

“I’m proud of my finish and ending my season like this,” Rotering said. “I think it was a good run.”

‘I went out too fast’

Badillo was ready to go at the start, but trailed off in the final mile.

The Arcadia senior was in 62nd place at the one-mile marker, but began to fall back from there. His second mile was a little slower as he dropped to 69th and his last mile took 6:38 as he finished 92nd with a time of 17:47.7.

“I felt really fast,” Badillo said.” I think I went out too fast.”

He said his goal was to crack the top half of the 152-runner race.

For his season, Badillo said having good teammates was “the best part.”

Noah Kuhn of Madison Edgewood won the race with a time of 15:50.5.

C-FC runner short of repeat

Cochrane-Fountain City sophomore Addy Duellman started the meet looking to repeat as state champion, but fell back as the race progressed.

Autumn Michalski of Chequamegon was the wire-to-wire winner this year as she had a four-second lead at the mile marker and won by 52 seconds, finishing in 18:02. Duellman won last year’s competition with a time of 18:58.1 — a 10-second advantage over second-place Nora Jillson of Boscobel. Michalski was third in 2022 with a time of 19:12. 

Duellman fell back early, but was still in line for a good finish. She was sixth at the one-mile marker and eight at the second mile, but then she trailed off and finished 43rd with a time of 20:43.6. She finished well behind runners she was ahead of at the sectional, including Mondovi’s Courtney Stadter, who was fourth in the state meet.