October 23, 2023 – Coach Emily Deschaine got a strong run by all the girls on the Living Word Lutheran (LWL) Cross Country team at the WIAA Division 3 sectional held at UW-Parkside Saturday afternoon. Junior Lucy Upton placed just high enough to qualify as an individual for the WIAA Division 3 Cross Country State Championship for the second time in her career.
After finishing in the middle of the pack in most of their meets this year, the team finished a strong 4th place in the 19-school Sectional competition. Upton, who also qualified for State as a freshman, finished in 8th place overall with a time of 21 minutes 4.74 seconds.
That time was her second-best of the year; she ran 21:00 two weeks ago at Campbellsport. More important than finishing 8th overall was her placement among runners who were not on the top 2 teams in the competition.
The top two teams – Dodgeland and Lomira – both advance all runners to the State Championship. For those runners whose teams do not land in the top 2, the top 5 advance to State. Upton took the 5th and final spot for individual qualifiers.
Senior Bella Rasmussen ran second and was 13th overall and 7th among those trying to qualify as individuals. She ran her best time of the year, 22:35, which was seven seconds lower than her time last weekend at the Midwest Classic Conference meet. Senior Elise Raymond was third to the finish for the T-wolves. She was 35th with a time of 24:33. Freshman Ana Samayoa and senior Grace Fischer were 46th and 47th overall. Samayoa’s time was 25:20 and Fischer, in the final race of her career, ran a 25:25. Gabriela Sereno (27:51) also ran for the Timberwolves but did not score team points.
Upton will run at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday in the Division 3 Girls race. The meet is held in the heart of Wisconsin’s cranberry-growing region – Wisconsin Rapids. The race is held at the Ridges Country Club.
Living Word Lutheran Boys Cross Country
LWL Runners Dash to 7th in 20 School WIAA Division 3 Sectional to End Season
The last four weeks of the Living Word Lutheran cross county have seen race times fall about as consistently as box elder bugs have been falling around outside lights in the same time period. The trend continued at the WIAA Sectional as the Timberwolves ran a respective 7th-place finish with 215 points. The top two teams that advanced as a team to the State Championships were Lake Country Lutheran and Dodgeland.
Runners Dominick Wilder-32nd, Noah Hommel- 34th, and Jacob Toerpe- 41st, were in the first wave of Living Word runners. Wilder’s time was 19:42 and marked his third time under 20 minutes in the last four races. Hommel’s time of 19:43 was 5 seconds behind his best time of the season, which is not bad considering the muddy track on Saturday. Toerpe ran a time of 20:11.
Zeke Smedal led the second wave of T-wolves with a 20:50 (54th place). Runners 5 and 6 for the T-wolves, Jack Vavrick and Jacob Webster, both registered their best times of the year.
Vavrick ran 63rd with a time of 21:11 and Webster ran 73rd with a time of 21:30. Kian Vogl also ran for the T-wolves. The team finishes the season with the Sectional race but the future is potentially bright as there are no seniors on this year’s team.
“I was impressed with the effort today. Mostly, our times were good and to have 3 kids run their personal bests was exciting, ” said Descaine, “Both the boys and girls improved their place over last year. I am super-excited for Lucy. She was one place away from advancing to state last year so for her to bounce back this year was great. She handled a lot of pressure very well. We are all excited for her.”
