G-E-T senior second at Dick Mitchell Invite

Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau senior Adrian Bautista started the final month of his Red Hawk cross country career on an encouraging note, posting a second-place finish at La Crosse Central’s Dick Mitchell Invitational.

Bautista crossed the finish line in 17:06.3 to take second overall in the boys’ 5K run, held last Saturday at the Maple Grove Venues in West Salem. Bautista’s time trailed only La Crosse Logan senior Gabe Passe (16:54.4) in first and was 18.5 seconds ahead of Logan sophomore Dylan Belby (17:25.8) in third.

The Red Hawks also had sophomore Logan Tibbitts (18:42.5) in 13th, senior Ayden Aschenbrener (18:52.0) in 19th, senor Carson Mayer (18:56.1) in 21st and freshman Brennan Rotering (19:03.9) in 23rd.

As a group, the G-E-T boys compiled 76 points to finish in third in the team standings, behind only La Crosse Logan (24) in first and host La Crosse Central (60) in second.

Freshman Harper McCutchen ran a 23:18.6 in place 32nd overall in the girls’ 5K race to lead the way for the Red Hawks, who also had senior Bella Tibbitts (24:31.8) in 46th, junior Charlee McCutchen (25:29.8) in 53rd, sophomore Kinley Giemza (26:00.8) in 54th and senior Claire Breidenbach (26:16.4) in 56th.

G-E-T also took part in last Tuesday’s Portage Invitational at Wyona Park in Wyocena, where Bautista again was leading the way with a time of 18:06.55 to place 25th in the boys’ 5,000-meter run. Junior Connor McDonnell (18:19.56) wasn’t too far behind in 30th.

In the girls’ race Tibbitts (24:15.49) and McCutchen finished in 69th and 72nd, respectively, to set the pace for the Red Hawks.

G-E-T returns to action at Saturday’s Gerald Holte Invite in Arcadia, then comes the Coulee Conference Championships next Thursday starting at 4 p.m. at Ettrick Golf Course.