Bailey Wolf wanted a good start to her senior season.
A second-place finish is just what she had her sights set on.
The Oconto Falls High School runner paced the girls squad to third place out of four schools Thursday at the Phantom Enduro cross-country meet at Southwest Park in West De Pere.
“When I started today, I was so nervous,” Wolf said. “I was like, ‘Why am I so nervous? I’ve been doing this forever.’ I think it’s just reality check again that this is my last season in high school.”
Wolf had a time of 21:00, and was beaten out by West De Pere’s Sophie DeCleene by seven seconds. The pair started to break away from the pack just 1 mile in, and by the second mile, they were in a race on their own.
“(Bailey’s) goal was to hang with whoever was in the lead,” Oconto Falls coach Lon Ludemann said. “She didn’t necessarily care if she won it, she just wanted to get out in that pace. She got second. I’m happy with it.”
Wolf was also happy with a runner-up finish in the season’s first meet.
“I knew we were going to have some kids from West De Pere and I knew the Bay Port girls were going to have a big pack up there,” Wolf said. “With the course there were a lot of places to turn your ankle and I didn’t want to take the lead and do something that would affect us the rest of the season.”
Ashley Keuken ran a solid race and placed 11th (23:48). The junior has impressed Ludemann early in the season.
“She’s been working hard this summer,” Ludemann said. “She’s been working hard at practice.”
Freshman Grace Williams, competing in her first high school race, came in 31st (25:34). Diane Moore was 32nd (25:51) and Jaclyn Erickson was 34th (26:14) to round out the team’s top five finishers.
Every season, Ludemann looks for a strong supporting cast to go along with Wolf.
“We have three or four girls that are capable of running with Ashley Keuken,” Ludemann said. “They didn’t do it today, but that’s where we’ve got to be.”
The Panthers runners are young and still learning.
“We come here for one reason, to get to know what a real meet is like before they get to a big one,” Ludemann said. “It’s just a chance for them to get a taste of it.”
Bay Port and West De Pere finished first and second, followed by Oconto Falls and Seymour.
Last year, Wolf would start out strong in races but sometimes tail off toward the end.
She’s worked on her kick, and that was evident in the season-opening meet.
“I think I definitely know better what my pace is,” Wolf said. “I’ve been running with the guys a lot and I’ve been doing speed workouts all summer.”
Wolf, who has been to state all three years of her high school career, has high expectations this season.
“Well, I’m not going to say the word, but I think everyone knows what I expect to be back at hopefully in November,” Wolf said.
Wolf would like another trip to Wisconsin Rapids at the state meet and also to get her teammates to have a strong showing.
“I’ve always said, this is going to be the season that we’re going to improve,” Wolf said. “Last year, we got eighth place at sectionals and usually we’re last or very near the end. If we can even get fourth this season or just improve … I can tell the girls want it.”
Boys
After graduating four of his top runners from the state-qualifying team last season, Ludemann knew the first meet of the year would be a real eye-opener for the Panthers boys squad.
The majority of the Panthers’ runners were either on the junior varsity squad a year ago or are brand new to the sport.
“This is a mystery to me,” Ludemann said. “I’ll be honest. I didn’t know what I was going to get. We have a good idea where everybody is today, and now I need to get them to realize where they need to be tomorrow.”
Ludemann got a solid race from two of his best runners, Evan Konitzer and Noah Kokko-Ludemann. The duo finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with Konitzer, a junior, coming in at 18:35 and Kokko-Ludemann, a sophomore, just three seconds behind.
“Evan was in second for a while and Noah was about 10th, and when they got to the 2-mile, they were right together,” Ludemann said.
Seniors Ben Stoinski (20:31, 26th) and Doug Mittelstaedt (21:01, 32nd) placed third and fourth for the Panthers. Freshmen Brent Wolf (21:08) and Brody Schindel ran strong first high school races.
Bay Port finished on top in the team competition, followed by Seymour, West De Pere and Oconto Falls. It was a smaller race, but one that can really help out the young Panthers runners.
“It’s just a race where they can kind of relax and not worry about 150 other kids,” Ludemann said. “You get into the big meets, it’s hard to find people. This is easy to find people, as far as who your competition is.”
Oconto Falls will next compete at the large Freedom Invite on Friday, Sept. 4 at the Irish Waters Golf Club.
Ludemann is hoping to take a step forward during the next meet.
“We’ve always been a slow starting team,” Ludemann said. “We won’t be the same team in October, hopefully.”
Ludemann stressed that his boys need all of September to get experience and be ready for the tail end of the season.
“I’m shooting for Mishicot, which is the 24th of September, we’ll hopefully be gelling and packing,” Ludemann said.
Categories
