RECAP: 2022 MIDWEST INVITATIONAL


Bosley nearly breaks 15:00, Oconomowoc Boys and Waunakee Girls bring home team titles


On a cloudy, perfect day for cross country, a handful of strong competitors from throughout the state gathered in Janesville to take on the Midwest XC Invite. Some teams from Illinois also made the journey up north, including the ladies from Hinsdale Central and both teams from Warren in Gurnee.

In the girls' varsity race, Sarah Fischer of Hinsdale Central (IL) and Mackenzie Babcock of Monona Grove got out to a hot start, passing through the first mile in 5:25. It was then where Fischer made a hard surge, pulling away from Babcock by a large margin.

The race was ultimately Fischer's, who dominated the field over the final two miles, finishing in 17:42. Abigail Sadler of Mount Horeb and Ellie Robinson of Dodgeville-Mineral Point were slowly hunting throughout the latter half of the race, with Sadler finishing runner-up in 17:50 and Robinson placing 3rd, running 17:55. Babcock would fade to 4th, running 18:31.

On the team side of things, the first two miles were dictated by Hinsdale Central, showing hefty margins to the rest of the field. However, in the final mile, Waunakee made a surging comeback, winning the meet with 102 points, to Hinsdale Central's 149.

In the boys' varsity race, the race was all Owen Bosley's for the taking. Coming through the first mile in 4:38 (with a grin on his face, too), he had established a big gap on the pack, who came through in 4:46.

That second pack was filled with a bunch of good names too, including Oconomowoc's Zachariah Vance and Hayden Triebold, Joseph Stoddard from Mount Horeb, and Logan Salzmann from Kimberly.

Bosley ran away with the final two miles, passing through two miles in 9:32 and finishing out in 15:05, nearly eclipsing the 15:00 barrier for 5K.

Vance and Triebold had been leading the chase pack for most of the race and capitalized on their efforts, maintaining 2nd and 3rd for nearly the whole race, and finishing in those positions as well. Vance ran 15:24 and Triebold ran 15:25.

It was the efforts of those two that propelled Oconomowoc to their team title, scoring 78 points. Putting their 3-4-5 scorers in 16:22, 16:25, and 16:32 makes them looking very strong for the rest of the season.

Warren (IL) finished as runner-up in the team race, scoring 150 points. They utilized a tight-knit 34 second-split on their 1-5 runners, all running in between 16:10-16:45 for a solid performance over 5K.

In the girls' Blue Race, Dee Vassar of Kimberly earned a nice win, running 20:10 over Mattie Sloan, whom she shared a good battle with, who ran 20:20.

In the boys' Blue race, it came down to a nasty kick between Wyatt Armock of Neenah and Jacob Fink of Arrowhead to determine the winner, with the win ultimately going to Armock. Armock finished in 17:06.9 and Fink was just a nose behind him in 17:07.0.