9/18/2008 8:00:00 AM HARRIERS HUMBLED Madison West Invite brings out best of Big 8 teams
By Karl Raymond
Sports Editor
As refreshing as Sun Prairie High School boys cross country coach Jim Buhr finds escaping from time to time from fellow Big Eight Conference teams, eventually the Cardinals must go face-to-face against them. Such was the case last Thursday at the Madison West Invitational.
Buhr, who feels no other conference in the state can match the quality and strength of the Big Eight, wouldn't get any argument from anyone who watched the Big Eight teams dominate the Madison West Invitational at the Yahara Hills running course.
Madison West won its own invitational with 40 points, while Janesville Craig was runner-up with 65 points. Next in line were Verona 116, Madison Memorial 124, Monroe 137, Madison East 158, Sun Prairie 170, and Lakeside Lutheran 248. Waunakee 262, Oregon 264, McFarland 296, Stoughton 329, Madison Edgewood 330, Monona Grove 394.
"It was basically our conference and the best from the Badger (Monroe)," said Buhr of the invitational. "We've avoided this meet for years because it's right after school and we meet the same teams in our conference duals. But it's a logical choice because it's close and the course is familiar. It's a well-run meet with good competition."
On a positive note, 13 Sun Prairie runners posted personal best times. On the negative side, the Cardinals lost to teams that they had beaten by 100 points at the season-opening Watertown Invitational.
"We kind of rushed to the meet and there was little preparation," said Buhr, who knew that might come back to haunt his runners.
The high humidity didn't help either as Buhr said the new moisture wicking uniforms were anything but and will now has his runners compete in the SPHS track uniforms.
What disturbed the head coach the most was seeing Madison East beat Sun Prairie by 12 points.
"That was ridiculous," he said. "Let's just say that things did not go well. I don't think we can be that bad."
Spencer Houk led Sun Prairie with a sixth-place time of 16:53. Next in line was Mike Wipperfurth, who placed 29th in 17:38. He was followed by Ryan Connelly 40th in 17:58, Will Goss 46th in 18:09, Dylan Walsh 49th in 18:17, Sam Moran 50th in 18:23 and Matt O'Connor 53rd in 18:27.
Sun Prairie's JV team placed third with 68 points behind Madison West (43) and Janesville Craig (66). There were 280 runners in the JV race.
Tyler Beduhn led Sun Prairie by placing third in 18:19. He was followed by Joel Kaminski 9th in 18:34, Tyler Hart 14th in 18:42, Dillon Weber 16th in 18:47, Derek Brandt 26th in 19:11, Dan Sieber 37th in 19:36, Bryce Opps 39th in 19:40 and Joe Miggins 50th in 20:08.
Sun Prairie competed in the Big Eight Grade Level Meet on Tuesday at Janesville's Blackhawk Country Club.
Girls place 9th at West meet By Karl Raymond
Sports Editor
How to keep pace with the frontrunners in the Big Eight Conference is the question Sun Prairie High School girls cross country coach Steve Riggins was asking himself after last Thursday's Madison West Invitational at the Yahara Hills running course.
"Big Eight Conference cross country is parallel to any conference in the state," said Riggins. "We had 19 girls who ran and 17 had personal best times and we finish in ninth place. We do everything we can to be better and yet we have so many teams in our conference who are way ahead of us.
"It's hard to fault our girls when they run their hearts out. I can't fault the effort or the work ethic of the girls. We're just not as talented as some of the other teams."
Janesville Craig won the meet with 101 points. Following the Cougars were Waukesha West 111, Madison West 124, Verona 127, Oregon 148, Lakeside Lutheran 167, Stoughton 182, Madison La Follette 186, Sun Prairie 210, Waunakee 224, Madison Memorial 251, McFarland 267, Madison Edgewood 277, Madison East 347, Monroe 433, Monona Grove 458.
Sun Prairie's lone medalist was Liz Berkholtz, who placed sixth with a personal best time of 15:40. Following Berkholtz were Tamara Wolfgram 33rd in 16:50, Maura McManus 38th in 16:57, Jennifer McCabe 55th in 17:34, Melissa Assalone 78th in 18:08, Brianna Stacey 87th in 18:21 and Tanya Dring 102nd in 18:56. With the exception of McCabe, every Sun Prairie runner posted a personal best time.
Every Sun Prairie runner, with the exception of Kati Ford, also posted personal best times. Leading the JV runners were Caitlyn Berndt 47th in 18:38, Nikki Henderson 86th in 19:27, Angela Knauf 120th in 20:04, Shannon Lynch 127th in 20:10, Raechel Vandehey 132nd in 20:16, Allison Ives 137th in 20:21, Quinn Watson 154th in 20:37, Courtney Ollerman 192 in 21:21, Kati Ford 199th in 21:40, Grace Thompson 230th in 22:33, Paige Butler 232nd in 22:37, Shifee Vang 246th in 23:14. There were 272 runners.
Sun Prairie competed in the Big Eight Grade Level Meet on Tuesday at Janesville's Blackhawk Country Club. Sun Prairie will compete in the Bill Smiley Invitational this Saturday at Wausau - hosted by Wausau East High School.
