Miners' cross country program debuts at Ashland

ASHLAND, Wis. - The Gogebic Miners cross country program debuted with a fifth-place finish out of 12 teams in the boys race at the Ashland Invitational Thursday.

The Miners, a co-op of Bessemer and Wakefield-Marenisco, finished behind some traditional cross country powers, including meet champion Tomahawk, runner-up Chequamegon, third-place Drummond and fourth-place Ashland.

Gogebic's Sam Dean finished third overall.

The Miners will have to get used to the large-school competition as they will compete in the West-PAC this year.

"I'm really happy with our boys team," Gogebic coach Lauren Korpi said. "We have some depth going on and Sam is really doing well."

The Gogebic girls didn't have enough runners for a team score. They were led by Rachel Mazurek's 23rd-place finish.

The Ironwood boys were seventh and were led by freshman Nick Niemi in fifth place. Tim Lorenson was 22nd. He ran 2:30 faster than last year in Ashland.

"Nick Niemi, first varsity race, he finished in the top five against upperclassmen," Ironwood coach Ben Schmandt said. "Three of the top four were seniors and Nick is a freshman. That's impressive, that's a very good start to his season. Definitely looking for big things from him."

Ironwood didn't have enough girls for a team score. Corissa Mattson's 43rd-place finish was a team best.

Hurley coach Jason Maki called the rolling hills of the Chequamegon Bay Golf Club the toughest course his team will see this season.

"Definitely a challenging course for day one, which is beneficial for the kids," Schmandt said. "Give them a true test of where they're at and the kids did well."

Aiyana Nickel paced the Midgettes with a 19th-place finish.

"Aiyana really surprised us," Maki said. "There were a lot of cross country schools there. She was impressive. She looked strong, finished strong. She's really got a promising season ahead of her."

New Hurley freshman Carson Thewis finished 31st to lead the Midgets.

The top three freshmen in the race were all local with Niemi's fifth-place finish, Gogebic's Cade Mazzon in 30th and Thewis in 31st.

The Hurley girls ended up eighth and the boys were 11th.

Hurley got off to a late start running this summer with a new coach in place. Maki was proud of his team Thursday.

"I had no expectations today," Maki said. "I didn't care if they finished in third place or 103rd place. I wanted to see effort. When I speak about proud, I don't care about the finish. The effort was there, the heart, the grit. That's what you need to succeed."

Hurley doesn't have a meet until Sept. 8 in Phillips and Maki is OK with the long break because of Hurley's late start - it gives the team time to work on things.

Washburn's Ketzel Levens passed Ashland's Amy Wallis on the home stretch for the girls win. Tomahawk's Dani Whiting led a good portion of the race but finished third. All three went to state last year, Wallis went with the entire Ashland team.

Chequamegon's Kevin Koski dominated from start to finish, beating Ashland's Maury Miller by over a minute. Koski won the WIAA Division 3 state meet last year.

Gogebic's Adam Mazurek won the middle school race despite getting stepped on accidently by a cleat at the starting line. He needed 13 stitches on the inside of his leg after the race.

"It was bleeding like crazy the whole race; that was pretty impressive," Korpi said of his finish.

Boys

Team: 1. Tomahawk 58, 2 Chequamegon 67, 3. Drummond 90, 4. Ashland 141, 5. Gogebic Miners 153, 6. Superior 170, 7. Ironwood 170, 8. Hayward 186, 9. Washburn 198, 10. Solon Springs 263, 11. Hurley 278, 12. Barron 280.

Winner: Kevin Koski, Chequamegon, 16:14.8.

Gogebic: 3. Sam Dean, 17:39.4; 30. Cade Mazzon, 20:04.4; 38. Devon Byers, 20:26.4; 42. Austin Vizina, 20:40; 43. Tim Rowe, 20:40.7.

Hurley: 31. Carson Thewis, Hurley, 20:09.7; 40. Tate Guenard, 20:33.4; 56. Luke Marczak, 21:31.2; 100. Dante Bender, 24:24.1; 111. Dayne Stuhr, 26:10.3.

Ironwood: 5. Nick Niemi, Ironwood, 18:04.4; 22. Tim Lorenson, 19:26; 39. Desmond Sackmann, 20:29.1; 47. Andrew Niemi, 20:48.4; 68. Jacob Joki, 21:58.0.

Girls

Team: 1. Ashland 35, 2. Superior 49, 3. Tomahawk 86, 4. Chequamegon 108, 5. Washburn 148, 6. Hayward 150, 7. Barron 172, 8. Hurley 195, 9. Mellen 275.

Winner: Ketzel Levens, Washburn, 20:40.2.

Gogebic: 23. Rachel Mazurek, 24:31.0; 39. Madeline Gabka, 26:16.6; 103. Abie Sordahl, 42:25.0.

Hurley: 19. Aiyana Nickel, 23:58.2; 37. Tori Anderson, 26:04.4; 56. Tori Colassaco, 28:25.6; 63. Maria Swartz, 28:57; 67. Kaylyn King, 29:27.

Ironwood: 43. Corissa Mattson, 26:40.1; 96. Sydnee Lorenson, 35:58.9.