Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
The lead pack runs through the woods at Mt. Ashwabay in Bayfield, Wis., Thursday at the Indianhead Conference Copperud Open cross country meet. At left is eventual winner Jared Joki of Ironwood; middle is runner-up Sam Dean of Wakefield-Marenisco and behind Dean to the right is Zack Mazurek of Bessemer, who took third.
BAYFIELD, Wis. - Ironwood's Jared Joki broke free from the pack late to win Thursday's Indianhead Conference Copperud Open cross country meet at Mt. Ashwabay.
Wakefield-Marenisco's Sam Dean finished 11.3 seconds behind in second with Bessemer's Zack Mazurek third. Hurley's Dakota Rice took fifth.
The Hurley girls finished second behind Washburn by two points, 40-42. South Shore was third with 45.
"Definitely improvement where there needs to be improvement," Hurley coach Hope Bretting said. "We're creeping up there and we'll be ready for the conference championships, that's for sure."
Joki said it is more fun to run in a big pack than by himself. It even made the big hill seem easier, he said, but it didn't help the annoyance of the glasses he wears during races fogging up.
"It was definitely a big pack the first mile or so," Joki said. "That big downhill really carried me through. It hurts the worst going downhill with your legs - they feel like they're going to fall off - I definitely created a nice gap at that section."
Joki finished in 17:29.2. He wasn't running for time Thursday after winning and just missing getting under 16 minutes at Westwood Tuesday.
Drummond easily won the boys race. Ironwood was third with W-M fourth, Hurley fifth and Mercer seventh.
Tim Lorenson had Ironwood's next best finish Thursday in 15th in a time of 19:55.3. Isaiah Sturkol led Wakefield-Marenisco in 13th in 19:32.1. James Reichard led Mercer in 41st.
Gabby Pecotte led the Hurley girls with a sixth-place finish. Kirkie Pecotte was eighth.
Hurley had six girls in the top 20 to just three for Washburn. But the Castle Guards countered with three top 10 finishes compared to two for Hurley. Also Washburn's Ketzel Levens was the class of the field again, finishing in 21:23.1.
Bretting said all Hurley needs to do is have its three through seven runners finish a place higher together.
"The girls know where they need to be and they're working well as a team," Bretting said. "I'm excited to see what conference championships have to hold."
The conference race is at Boulder Creek in Ironwood Tonwship on Oct. 16.
Results
Girls
Team: 1. Washburn 40, 2. Hurley 42, 3. South Shore 45.
Top 5: 1. Ketzel Levens, Washburn, 21:23.1; 2. Alyssa Kavajecz, South Shore, 22:24.8; 3. Lily Wieringa, Bessemer, 22:45.7; 4. Emma Ostrenga, South Shore, 22:55.2; 5. Alexis Griggs, Washburn, 23:12.6.
Hurley: 6. Gabby Pecotte, 23:24.2; 8. Kirkie Pecotte, 23:42.7; 17. Morgan Pinardi, 25:25.6; 18. Tori Colassaco, 25:44.1; 19. Tori Anderson, 25:48.1.
Bessemer: 14. Molly Wieringa, 24:55.3; 28. Kim Wendinger, 28:31.0.
W-M: 15. Melissa Wanink, 25:12.9; 30. Leonie Metzner, 35:00.3.
Ironwood: 9. Corissa Mattson, 23:44.5.
Boys
Team: 1. Drummond 40, 2. Washburn 71, 3. Ironwood 88, 4. Wakefield-Marenisco 92, 5. Hurley 105, 6. South Shore 107, 7. Mercer 186.
Top 5: 1. Jared Joki, Ironwood, 17:29.2; 2. Sam Dean, W-M, 17:40.5; 3. Zack Mazurek, Bessemer, 17:46.2; 4. Eli Hancock, Drummond, 18:08.7; 5. Dakota Rice, Hurley, 18:29.1.
Ironwood: 15. Tim Lorenson, 19:55.3; 19. Andrew Niemi, 20:15.9; 36. Dan Freeman, 22:38.4; 44. Ryan Sobolewski, 23:59.2.
Hurley: 25. Tate Guenard, 20:52.9; 28. Luke Marczak, 21:11.4; 38. Dante Bender, 22:44.7; 40. Joey Messer, 22:56.5.
W-M: 13. Isaiah Sturkol, 19:32.1; 31. Austin Libertoski, 21:30.6; 35. Austin Vizina, 22:05.8; 39. Jacob Lane, 22:47.5.
Mercer: 41. James Reichard, 23:05.5; 51. John Klopatek, 25:38.8; 52. John Cassiani, 25:57.9; 53. Kyle Lukes, 26:41.9; 54. Lucas Huybrecht, 26:57.9.
Bessemer: 12. Tim Rowe, 19:15.8.
