Mike Friedman was halfway through his race and he was locked in. The Oconto Falls High School runner was virtually in a four-way tie with Little Chute’s Joe Van Grinsven and Freedom’s Matt Vosters and Sam Hinz. It wasn’t long after that the three other runners started to pull away, leaving Friedman in fourth.
That’s where the junior finished out of 142 athletes racing Friday in the Freedom Invitational at the Irish Waters Golf Club.
“I thought I ran good the first two miles, and the third mile I kind of fell off a little bit, but it’s early in the year and I think I’ll improve a lot throughout the year,” Friedman said. “I was hoping to come in and win it, but I just didn’t get it this time.”
After placing seventh in the same meet last season, Friedman was pleased to crack the top five.
“We had a long talk (Thursday) about what we wanted to do here, and it worked out for him,” Oconto Falls coach Lon Ludemann said.
Friedman, who finished with a time of 16:35.16, came in 20 seconds behind Van Grinsven and trailed Hinz by 12 seconds for third place.
“I’ve really got to work on my kick because I don’t have a very good kick,” Friedman said. “I usually go out hard from start to finish because I don’t have a good kick, so I try to burn the guys throughout the other part of the race.”
Friedman — along with junior Liam Spillane, 25th, and senior Alex Young, 41st — helped the Panthers (154) finish fourth as a team out of 19 schools. Freedom (48 points) was first and Little Chute (49) placed runner-up.
Since it’s early in the season, every meet is about improving, Friedman said.
“It’s a good meet to learn from and work off of toward the goal that is state,” Friedman said.
Girls
Sophomore Bailey Wolf placed fourth out of 148 runners. Wolf, who clocked in at 15:53.49, jockeyed for third place with Lauren Peters before the Freedom runner outsprinted Wolf in the final 100 yards. Peters’ time was 15:52.26.
“I had her at third for a while and when it got done to the final kick she just had longer strides than me and she outdid me on her sprint,” Wolf said. “She had a really good sprint.”
Wolf placed seventh at the invite last season and wanted to improve on her place and log an under 16-minute race. She accomplished both.
“She did a lot better job than last year,” Ludemann said. “She ran a smarter race. She did awesome.”
As a team, the Panthers placed 16th out of 22, which is an improvement from last season.
Ludemann wanted his younger girls to gain some valuable experience and take away some confidence. A pair of freshmen, Diane Moore (91th) and Virginia Misco (97th), came in second and third, respectively, for the Panthers.
Results
Boys Team: 1. Freedom (48), 2. Little Chute (49), 3. Appleton North (79), 4. Oconto Falls (154), 5. Seymour (170), 6. Appleton Xavier (192), 7. Luxemburg-Casco (197), 8. Brillion (205), 9. Appleton West (238), 10. Chilton (259), 11. New London (288), 12. Ripon (324), 13. Fox Valley Lutheran (344), 14. West De Pere (382), 15. Gibraltar/Washington (460), 16. Sevastopol (461), 17. Reedsville (498), 18. Clintonville (504), 19. Iola-Scandinavia (535)
Oconto Falls: 4. Mike Friedman, 16:36; 22. Liam Spillane, 18:18; 38. Alex Young, 18:37; 43. Michael Fifield, 18:51; 47. James Malcheski, 19:04; 56. Evan Konitzer, 19:30; 59. Dylan Kasper, 19:38
Girls
Team: 1. Appleton North (74), 2. Appleton West (111), 3. Luxemburg-Casco (134), 4. Fox Valley Lutheran (171), 5. Little Chute (175), 6. Freedom (204), 7. Peshtigo (215), 8. Brillion (238), 9. Appleton Xavier (247), 10. Clintonville (247), 11. West De Pere (297), 12. New London (299), 13. Seymour (306), 14. Iola-Scandinavia (316), 15. Chilton (317), 16. Oconto Falls (400), 17. Reedsville (403), 18. Ripon (468)
Oconto Falls: 4. Bailey Wolf, 15:54; 90. Diane Moore, 19:01; 96. Virginia Misco, 19:10; 98. Megan Vandenack, 19:20; 112. Chloe Hetzel, 20:01; 117. Kali Erickson, 20:15; 120. Hallie Kopczynski, 20:20
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