Slinger, WI – The Slinger girls cross country team won the WIAA Division 1 state title today.
The girls participated in a challenging 5K (3.5mi) race in Wisconsin Rapid and finished atop the podium in D1.
“It feels really good,” Ava Dziedzic, a sophomore who finished 9th. “It was pretty chilly, about 38 degrees and really windy,”
The Owls were led by 1st team All-Conference sophomore Piper Schuster, who took first place and finished in 18 minutes 45.1 seconds.
“With the weather being so cold it numbed some of the pain, and when we started, we just knew we needed to do it,” said junior Bailey Schmoldt who finished in 21 minutes 27 seconds.
“We just want to thank our fans and our coaches who supported us,” said Dziedzic.
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Co-head coach Terry Krall who has been in track and field for 50 years said Piper Schuster was going to be counted on to be a leader… and she did. “Very, very strong leader is Piper and she’s capable of being in the top 5 or 7 and even one of the top No. 1 or No. 2 runners,” he said. “Then we are just as strong all the way down the line.”
Krall said he expected Madison West was going to be the big challenger along with Brookfield East and Kaukauna.
There was a huge contingent of fans from Slinger on hand to cheer the Owls.
“When I finished, we were all bawling our eyes out – it was just an unreal moment,” said Schmoldt. “And we had so many fans, it was so loud. We just all wanted to win and support each other.”
The boys, Malachi Kurth and Reed Grotenhuis, finished 18th and 32nd. The senior Kurth crossed the finish in 16:07.4 and Grotenhuis, a sophomore, finished not far behind at 16:23.5.
The winner of the D1 boys race was junior Manny Putz of Onalaska who ran at a 4:52-mile pace and finished in 15:05.8. 24 4:43 1 9:46 5:04 5:20 15:05.8 4:52
18 Malachi Kurth 12 Slinger 26 4:58 15 10:17 5:19 5:51 16:07.4 5:12
32 Reed Grotenhuis 10 Slinger 69 5:08 40 10:34 5:26 5:51 16:23.5 5:17
Boys cross country final 2023Below is the article prior to the teams departure on Friday.
October 28, 2023 – Slinger, WI – A big sendoff in the Slinger School District as two boys and the entire girls’ cross-country team participate in the WIAA State cross country meet in Wisconsin Rapids.
Slinger girls are all racing because they qualified as a team taking 1st place.
The girls are SECTIONAL CHAMPS and Piper Schuster is the INDIVIDUAL SECTIONAL CHAMP.
You’ll be able to get LIVE updates on Saturday via PTTiming: https://pttiming.com/results-current.php
Click HERE to read more about how this year’s field measures up.
