October 16, 2023 – Washington Co, WI – Buckets of rain didn’t hinder Living Word Lutheran High School, 2230 Living Word Lane, Jackson, WI, from placing at the MCC Championship on Saturday, October 14, 2023.
Lake Country Lutheran hosted runners from 8 schools for the girl’s race and 9 for the boy’s race on a cool rainy, overcast day Saturday at the MCC Championship. Sloppy conditions led to the course being altered the morning of the race. Despite less-than-ideal conditions, Lucy Upton finished in 6th place for the T-Wolves. Her effort secured her a spot on the 2023 MCC All-Conference Cross Country Team.
The top 10 runners make up the All-Conference Team.
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Upton ran the course in 21:08, her second-best time of the year. University School- Milwaukee won the girl’s division and conference newcomer Watertown Luther Prep was the boys’ division winner.
Upton’s teammates also had encouraging results. The number two runner of the day was senior Bella Rasmussen. She ran the course in 22:42, good for 13th place overall. Rasmussen’s time dropped for the fourth race in a row. Senior Elise Raymond ran a very inspired race, finishing third for the T-Wolves in 24:02. She was 19th overall. Her time was 1 minute, 18 seconds faster than her time at Campbellsport just a week ago. Two freshmen ran in the fourth and fifth spots for the T-Wolves. With a time of 24:44, Isabella Blume finished in 21st place. Ana Samayoa was 23rd with a time of 25:00. Senior Grace Fischer was next for the T-Wolves with a time of 25:47. Gabby Serano also ran for the T-Wolves.
In the boys’ race, the T-Wolves had a different lead runner for the fourth consecutive meet. It was junior captain Noah Hommel leading the way this time. His time of 19:44 was good for 27th place. Hommel was just ahead of teammate Dominick Wilder, who was 28th with a time of 19:47. Next up for the T-Wolves was Jakob Toerpe in 30th with a time of 20:04. Fourth runner Zeke Smedal was 37th in 20:45. First-year runner Jack Vavrick anchored the five spot this time for the T-Wolves with a time of 21:15, good for 40th place. Kian Vogl and Jacob Webster also ran for the T-Wolves, with Webster running his best race of the year.
Living Word Coach Emily Deschaine used the meet for an impromptu “Senior Day” for the three senior girls on the team – Rasmussen, Fischer, and Raymond. Deschaine is looking forward to next week’s WIAA Division 3 Sectional in Kenosha. “We ran some solid races, especially the girl’s side. Both teams are looking forward to racing the Kenosha course by UW-Parkside. It will be our third race at the course this season and the team is excited to run some fast races,” said Deschaine.
