By NATE BEIER | For the County Line
The Brookwood cross-country teams are preparing to enter the second half of the regular season, and that preparation includes running against some stronger competition.
Last week the teams took part in the River Valley invite, a meet that featured runners from 18 different schools, and finished sixth in both the girls and boys team standings.
Leading the way for the Falcons, Allyson Nelson finished eighth overall with a time of 20:54.97. Alexis Gnewikow crossed the finish line a minute later, taking 14th place. Keelie Suhr then surged to finish third for the Falcons (38th overall) with a time of 23:20.6, and was followed by Taylor Schmitz (42nd) and Lailie Gagner (56th). Brookwood, which was without Briana Nelson due to illness, finished with 158 points, just ahead of Albany (181st).
Coach Mindy Waddell praised Suhr for her effort in helping set up the team for success: “(She) has been running tremendously well over the last few weeks and stepped up big time on Saturday to help the girls to a sixth-place finish.”
Boscobel’s Keely Foley won the race with a time of 19:36.29, and the Bulldogs’ 76 team points helped them to the meet title. Brookwood’s conference rivals, Hillsboro and Necedah, came in eighth (205) and 14th (351), respectively.
Dylan Smith was the top finisher for the boys, finishing in 11th place with a time of 17:37.59. Jared Johnson landed in 16th place, followed by Devan Summerfield in 38th place. Then Heriberto Santiago helped fill the void left by an absent Billy Nusse, leading the next wave of finishers by taking 53rd with a time of 19:45. Chase Ferries rounded out the scoring runners with a 59th place finish and a time of 19:55. However, the final two runners, Jacob Stedman and Malachi Schmitz, both finished in the first 21 minutes of the race. Brookwood scored 175 team points.
The top-three boys runners finished the race in less than 17 minutes. Boscobel’s Dakota Kauffman ran a 16:10.63 and was followed by Jaden Komprod (Darlington), who ran a 16:22.33. Riverdale’s Brian Mathews com-pleted the course in 16:55.32. Darling-ton captured the team title (46), with all five scoring runners finishing in the top 20.
Hillsboro finished 12th of 14 teams with 333 points, and Necedah came in last with 384 points.
Westby Invite Results
The Brookwood boys finished second with 68 points, just 18 behind the top finisher, Boscobel, at the Westby invite Sept. 9.
Johnson cracked the top five after running a 17:19, good enough for fourth. Smith ended ninth overall; Billy Nusse, 11th (17:55); and Summerfield, 15th (18:28). Santiago shored up the score with a 29th-place finish (19:13).
The girls ended the race with three runners in the top 20. Ally Nelson ended in eighth place; Gnewikow, 19th; and Briana Nelson, 20th, overall. Suhr took 34th (23:43); and Schmitz, 35th (23:45).
Top-ranked Westby won the meet with a score of 42. Boscobel was the runner-up (78). Brookwood took fourth with 116 points, just ahead of Hillsboro, which finished fifth (164).