The Gillett Secondary School doesn’t have enough cross-country runners to compete as boys and girls teams this season. However, the individuals are running well and impressing coach Bill DeJung.
The runners were at the seventh annual Irish Invitational on Friday at the Irish Waters Golf Course in Freedom, and two Tigers placed in the top 10 in their divisions.
“Very pleased with all six kids,” DeJung said. “They were more confident the first mile and second mile, and they maintained that through the third mile, so their confidence should be growing.”
It was a wet course, so times weren’t as fast as past years, but the competition was great with 21 boys teams and 25 girls teams.
“It gives these kids the opportunity to run against some of the best people in certainly in northeast Wisconsin if not the state,” DeJung said.
Senior Max Zeitler ran a 17:55.9 to place 24th overall and eighth amongst Division 2 runners. Zeitler is returning from a foot injury he suffered during the spring track season.
“He didn’t get the opportunity to train very much this summer,” DeJung said. “Training really started when cross-country started. We’re purposefully holding back on his mileage until we’re sure that foot’s going to hold up.”
Sam Davis, a freshman, finished in 65th (22:53.12) in Division 2.
The top girls finisher for Gillett was freshman Lauren Herzog. She placed sixth in Division 2 and 12th overall, clocking in at 20:34.07.
“Last week in her first varsity race, she did well, but she was a little cautious the first mile, not quite sure about covering the three miles,” DeJung said. “We emphasized being more aggressive the first mile.”
Herzog was 20 seconds faster at one mile than she was in the team’s first meet and 44 seconds faster at the two-mile mark.
Gillett’s Elizabeth Kahler came in 31st in Division 2. The freshman had a time of 23:23.87. Senior Rebecca Wolfe was 41st (24:02.63).
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