Chris Caporale sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader photo by Chris Caporale Shawano’s Austin Lhotka, Andrew Cardish and Chase Lhotka jump out to a fast start during Thursday’s Bay Conference Meet at Shawano Community High School. The boys cross-country team finished in fourth.
Senior Austin Lhotka led the Shawano Community High School cross-country team once again, finishing the Bay Conference Meet at SCHS on Thursday in 16:56 and earning himself first-team all-conference honors.
Only two runners, both from Xavier, crossed the finish line in from of him. Not too far behind though were Andrew Cardish and Chase Lhotka, finishing in ninth and 10th place, respectively. With the finish, Cardish and Chase Lhotka each took home second-team all conference medals.
Seymour won the boys meet with a team score of 63, with Green Bay East following with a 70 and Xavier in third with 71.
Teagon Monfils took fifth place (20:39) in the girls race, giving SCHS another first-team all-conference member.
With three top-ten finishers for the boys, the Hawks took home fourth place as a team at the seven-team meet, with the girls side taking fifth.
Green Bay East dominated the meet, tallying a team score of 25, with West De Pere and Xavier rounding out the top three.
“It’s getting so competitive, and the kids that are out there running and conditioning themselves metally and physically for this, it’s fun to watch,” Hawks head coach Steve Stomberg said. “I’ve been doing this for 18 years, and watching the competition come out here for cross-country is incredible.”
Now, the focus turns to the WIAA sectional meet on Oct. 24 at Edgewater Country Club in Tomahawk. The elder Lhotka advanced to the WIAA state meet last season, running the sectional in 17:25.
With the Hawks now competing in Division 2, Stomberg believes he has multiple runners competing for the chance to advance to the state meet.
“I think they are going to be right up there. I think they are right up there with some of the elite runners in our sectional. Again, our sectional has some pretty tough competition that’s going on,” Stomberg said. “How you want to get out and run (the course) that day is going to be up to you. I think they have the capabilities of being right up there.”
Seymour, who won the conference meet, will be in the sectional, as will area teams Clintonville and Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
“It’s going to be tough competition up there,” Stomberg said. “We can’t take any time off. We have to be ready to go if we want to advance on and have one more meet this year.”
Bay Conference Meet
Oct. 15
Boys team scores: Seymour, 63; Green Bay East, 70; Xavier, 71; Shawano, 88; West De Pere, 108; New London, 133; Menasha, 202.
S: Austin Lhotka, third place (16:56); Andrew Cardish, ninth place (17:20); Chase Lhotka, 10th place (17:24); Steven Hoffman, 32nd place (18:56); Grifin Bohm, 34th place (19:10).
Girls team scores: Green Bay East, 25; West De Pere, 56; Xavier, 92; Menasha, 108; Shawano, 133; New London, 138; Seymour, 143.
S: Teagan Monfils, fifth place (20:39); Kristy Kurtz, 28th place (22:15); Madeline Hanson, 31st place (22:30); Alice Hoffman, 33rd place (22:45); Sophia Holstrum, 36th place (22:59).