WISCONSIN RAPIDS — The Aquinas High School girls cross country team had three of the top 42 finishers and put together a third place Division 3 finish at the WIAA state cross country meet on Saturday.
Junior Caitlin Wengel, who was also a scoring runner when the Blugolds placed second last season, was the team’s first runner across the finish line at The Ridges Golf Course on Saturday in 20 minutes, 3.3 seconds.
That was good for 22nd place overall and 11 team points that helped Aquinas to a team score of 122.
Darlington was the Division 3 with a team score of 92, and Kohler was second at 96. The Blugolds held off fourth-place Cochrane-Fountain City (133) for third place.
Sophomore Sanjana Musafir, junior Emily Bagniefski, senior Alex Myre and and junior Helen Onyeabor were also scoring runners for Aquinas.
Kohler junior Maggie Behler won the Division 3 race in 18:22.5, and C-FC senior Addy Duellman was second in 18:36.3.
Musafir was 41st overall in a time of 20:31.9, and Bagniefski followed her in 42nd at 20:32.6. Musafir’s run gave Aquinas 17 points and Bagniefski’s 18.
Myre was 62nd in 21:06.9 and Onyeabor 84th in 21:46.4. Myre gave the Blugolds 30 points and Onyeabor 46 to complete the third-place finish.
Bagniefski, Musafir and Myre were also scoring runners for the Blugolds in last year’s runner-up finish, and Myre, Bagniefski and Onyeabor helped Aquinas place eighth in 2023.
DIVISION 3 BOYS
Aquinas senior Kaleb Azene finished 34th overall by running a time of 17:24 to lead local runners.
Melrose-Mindoro junior Caleb Arneson was also 64th in 17:55.1 in a race won by St. Ambrose Academy sophomore Jonathan Simon in 16:06.9.
St. Andrew Academy also won the team championship with a score of 113. Prentice/Rib Lake was second (137) and Phillips third (138).
DIVISION 1 BOYS
West Salem had a couple of qualifiers here, and they both finished among the top 65 runners.
Sophomore Evan Berra crossed the line 45th in 16:38.8 and four-time qualifier Carson Gronemus was 65th in 16:51.2.
The Division 1 individual champion was De Pere senior Grady Lenn and his time of 15:03.2, which was 21 seconds better than the rest of the field. Lenn is a University of Wisconsin commit and placed second to Onalaska’s Manny Putz last season. He was third as a sophomore and seventh as a freshman.
Stevens Point is the Division 1 team champion with its score of 69. Mequon Homestead was second (113) and Milwaukee’s Marquette University third (115). Lenn’s De Pere team was fourth (165).
The last three state runs for Gronemus finished with times within 6 seconds of each other.
DIVISION 1 GIRLS
Holmen senior Sabrina Lechnir ran her fourth state meet and came home with a time of 19:40.5 and place of 69th in a race won by Menomonie senior Lauren McCalla in 17:26.4.
McCalla’s winning margin was 15 seconds, and she helped the Mustangs to a fourth-place team finish (197).
Neenah was the team champion with its score of 71, and it was followed by Slinger (84)and Bloomer (179).
Lechnir’s time was the second-fastest of her state career.
DIVISION 2 GIRLS
West Salem freshman Nora Johnson was a first-time qualifier and came home with a 60th-place finish and time of 20:38.
Deerfield/Cambridge senior Emmerson Drobac was the individual champion with her time of 18:01.4, which was 25 seconds ahead of the second-place runner.
Mount Horeb won the team title with a score of 90 and was followed by second-place McFarland (112) and third-place Monroe (128).
DIVISION 2 BOYS
Logan junior Gabe Passe ran a time of 17:31.2 that was good for 66th place.
The individual champion was Rice Lake senior Carter Kucko, who was timed at 15:46.6.
Shorewood won the team championship with a score of 66. Kohler was second (72) and Osceola third (138).
