It should come as no surprise that cross country programs from across the state, and even a few from Illinois, were lined up for the opportunity to run in Lake Mills’ annual Nightfall Classic 608. Hosted at Lake Mills Golf Course on Friday, Oct, 4, the massive invitational has a unique draw as it is run at dusk.
Both Marshall and Waterloo were in attendance for the festivities. The massive invitational was split into three separate races, of which both the Cardinals of Marshall and Pirates of Waterloo were grouped into the Division 3 category.
Waterloo’s boys produced the highest finish as they placed ninth of 22 teams with a combined team score of 248. Marshall’s boys put up a score of 476 for 18th. As for the girls, Marshall earned 13th with a combined score of 296 while Waterloo placed 19th with 476.
Wisconsin Home School won the boys race with a combined team score of 80, followed by Boscobel with 114 and Necedah at 136. Kohler took the girls’ top spot with 54 team points, followed by Home School with 95 and Johnson Creek with 132.
Waterloo’s impressive team score on the boys’ side was headlined by senior Owen Koele, who blazed a time of 17:27.28 for 13th place overall. David Sarmiento-Paz continued his impressive freshman season by earning 30th with a time of 18:15.12. Additionally, the Pirates got a 61st result from senior David Cefalu (19:04.02) and 70th from junior Isaac Opsteen (19:12.72). To round out the team scoring, senior Harrison Schaefer nabbed 74th with his time of 19:21.55.
Marshall’s boys race was led by senior Luke Egan, who earned 37th place with a time of 18:31.55. Freshman Elijah Reichelt also finished in the top-100 as his time of 20:20.18 landed him in 97th. Junior Anthony Gonzalez was right behind with a time of 20:22.65 for 101st and junior Drew Chadwick ran a 20:37.48 for 110th.
As for Marshall’s girls, senior Emma Hellenbrand led the way as her time of 22:09.29 earned her 31st place overall. Sophomore teammate Kylie Rateike was right behind her in 34th with a time of 22:16.04. Sophomore Tori Justmann also logged a 23:50.71 for 64th, freshman Ally Zimmerman put up a 24:49.23 for 79th, and sophomore Nora Jiannacopoulos nabbed 88th with a time of 25:11.52.
Waterloo freshman Harmony Schaefer offered up the Pirates’ fastest time of 24:20.66 for 71st. Sophomore Calla Schumann was next up in 85th with a 25:06.82. Senior Sydney Gordon followed in 103rd (27:09.00), sophomore Leanna Schumann claimed 106th (27:28.80) and senior Evie Quamme nabbed 111th (28:14.85). The results were all personal season-bests for these five athletes.
For Waterloo, competing in the Nightfall Classic came right on the heels of another invitational earlier that same week. The Pirates had competed at the Jefferson Invitational at Jefferson Golf Course on Tuesday, Oct. 1. There, the boys placed fifth of 12 teams with a team score of 105 and the girls finished fifth of six programs with a 142.
Koele was again a top-flight finisher as his time of 17:36.19 earned him fourth place overall. Opsteen joined him in the top-10 at eighth with a time of 18:11.55. Sarmiento-Paz also picked up 26th with a time of 19:10.03 while Cefalu and Schaefer finished back-to-back with times of 19:24.14 and 19:25.19 for 33rd and 34th, respectively.
Schaefer led the Waterloo girls’ effort with a time of 25:50.25 for 31st. Calla Schumann wasn’t far behind in 34th at 26:03.68. Gordon also nabbed 44th with a time of 28:18.61 and Leanna Schumann placed 47th with a time of 29:15.12.
Next up, Marshall will be the first of these two programs to return to action. The Cardinals will make the trek to Albany High School for an invitational on Saturday, Oct. 12. Waterloo will wait until Monday, Oct. 14 for an invitational at Columbus High School.
These meets are all that separate the Cardinals and Pirates from the 2024 Capitol Conference meet. This year’s edition of the event will be hosted at the Columbus Country Club on Saturday, Oct. 19.
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