When two track athletes grow up together, it should be no surprise they are evenly matched on the track.
Oconto Falls High School cross-country runners Bailey Wolf and Mike Friedman are no exception. Wolf placed second Friedman third in their respective age groups July 12 at the Dances with Dirt Extreme Half Marathon in Baraboo.
Wolf was 16th of 269 women overall and just 57 seconds off leader Sara Viner of Mount Horeb in the 15-19 age group. Friedman notched a 10th-place overall finish among 299 men. Last year, Wolf placed seventh overall and Friedman finished 12th.
“It is not a normal road race so you are always looking down, since it is mostly uphill,” said Wolf, who will be a junior at OFHS in the fall.
Friedman, who will be a senior, said the event helps him prepare for the long cross-country season.
“The hills really built up my legs, so I can push harder,” Friedman said. “The run up the mountain was really strenuous.”
Wolf and Friedman have known each other since grade school, and it is not the first time they have finished in or near the same spot.
At the start of the 2013 cross-country season, both earned third-place finishes at the Bonduel Invitational. They were fourth at the Freedom Invitational.
“We always joke about how we beat each other and that helps a lot in our placements,” Wolf said. “It has always been a running joke in our families.”
They have different plans, however, for running outside of high school competition.
Friedman, 18, wants to try more 5K races. Wolf, 16, will limit her competitions a bit more.
“Hopefully I will start doing more when I get into college, because I don’t want to put too much on my body since I am so young,” Wolf said.
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