For the third time in five years, the Oconto Falls High School boys cross-country team will race at the WIAA state meet.
The Panthers placed second at a Division 2 sectional in Waupaca on Saturday with strong performances from their top five runners.
“This is huge. We’ve worked hard,” Oconto Falls coach Lon Ludemann said. “There’s a lot of kids that have gone through (the program) and set up these other kids. They want to do the same thing somebody else did. … I’m happy for them.”
Sophomore Bailey Wolf will represent the OFHS girls at state for a second time. She finished fifth at the sectional.
The state meet will be held Saturday at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.
Boys
The last time the Panthers’ boys team qualified for state was 2011. Four of this year’s top seven runners — seniors James Malcheski and Alex Young, and juniors Mike Friedman and Liam Spillane — were valuable parts of that team, which finished eighth.
Ludemann is hoping that experience will pay huge dividends.
“We’ve had boys go there in their first year and they don’t do so hot, but their second year they do awesome,” Ludemann said. “I’m hoping that holds true. When those guys ran in 2011 they were just, I think, blown away by the atmosphere, and nerves killed them.”
Ludemann had a good feeling heading into Saturday’s sectional. He thought if his team could hold off Lakeland and Colby/Abbotsford, it would be in prime position to claim one of the two state qualifying berths.
Freedom (33) ran past everyone for first, followed by Oconto Falls, Lakeland and Colby/Abbotsford.
Friedman, who wasn’t running at 100 percent with what Ludemann thinks is inflammation in one of his feet, placed fourth (17:04.88) to pace the Panthers.
Oconto Falls’ No. 2-5 runners — Malcheski, Spillane, Young and Michael Fifield — all finished between 15th and 28th place, with just 29 seconds separating them.
“They’re a good group,” Ludemann said. “They’re probably the best I’ve had at just sticking to a plan. They run well together. They get along. They work out together. They hang together. And it shows when they race.”
Ludemann said the Panthers can place in the top half of the 16 teams qualifying for the Division 2 state meet, just like two years ago.
“How do they handle the atmosphere? I think they’ll do fine. I really do,” Ludemann said. “I think they’ll treat it as another meet.”
Girls
Wolf showed Saturday how much she wanted one of the five individual qualifying spots for the state meet.
With 1,000 meters remaining in the race, Wolf wasn’t where she wanted to be.
“I yelled at her and told her she was in eighth,” Ludemann said. “The plan was to get her into fifth and keep her in fifth.”
With 400 meters remaining, Wolf crept up to seventh.
“I had a lot of people shouting places, and I knew to make it individually I had to be top five,” Wolf said. “It all really just comes down to how bad do you want it. … I really wanted to continue my season a little bit longer, so I gave it everything I had.”
Wolf was able to pass two girls in the final 100 meters to place fifth overall and fourth among the girls whose teams did not qualify for state.
“I trained all season for one race, and it came down to the last 100 meters,” Wolf said. “I could have been 10 seconds away from not making it.”
Ludemann said Wolf, who recently had the flu, probably was not at 100 percent Saturday.
“She’s a determined girl. That’s what probably got her there,” Ludemann said. “She wanted to be in the state cross-country meet and it shows. She’s a hard worker.”
Suffering from various injuries and illness, Oconto Falls placed last out of the 16 schools at the sectional. The next finisher after Wolf was sophomore Jaclyn Erickson, who came in 82nd.
“We didn’t have a very big team to begin with and when four of them are out, that doesn’t leave many people,” Ludemann said. “I thought they did pretty good for who was there.”
Wolf now turns her attention to the state meet. As a freshman, Wolf got out to a blazing-fast start, finishing her first mile in 5:59. In order to do better this season, Wolf knows she has to pace herself.
“I know it sounds crazy, but if she can slow down just a little bit and back in like 6:10, 6:15, she’ll have some more for the last two miles,” Ludemann said.
Wolf’s said her goal is to improve on her 38th-place finish.
“I think I just need a pack run and run with a group of girls that I know I can stick with and stick with it,” Wolf said. “Hopefully I’ll have a good kick at the end.”
Results
Boys
Team: 1. Freedom (33), 2. Oconto Falls (90), 3. Lakeland Union (114), 4. Colby/Abbotsford (131), 5. Tomahawk (163), 6. Medford Area (164), 7. Waupaca (186), 8. Seymour (209), 9. Fox Valley Lutheran (215), 10. Peshtigo (217), 11. New London (248), 12. Northland Pines (336), 13. Mosinee (362), 14. Wittenberg-Birnamwood (366), 15. Clintonville (398)
Oconto Falls: 4. Mike Friedman, 17:05; 15. James Malcheski, 17:55; 17. Liam Spillane, 17:59; 26. Alex Young, 18:18; 28. Michael Fifield, 18:24
Girls
Team: 1. Clintonville (94), 2. Freedom (110), 3. Tomahawk (111), 4. Lakeland Union (120), 5. Fox Valley Lutheran (131), 6. Waupaca (182), 7. Colby/Abbotsford (206), 8. Peshtigo (223), 9. Marinette (230), 10. Seymour (243), 11. New London (253), 12. Wittenberg-Birnamwood (325), 13. Northland Pines (327), 14. Medford Area (335), 15. Mosinee (336), 16. Oconto Falls (373)
Oconto Falls: 5. Bailey Wolf, 16:34; 82. Jaclyn Erickson, 19:21; 89. Kali Erickson, 19:36; 97. Hannah Fontaine, 20:07; 100. Grace Witt, 20:25
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