This story is sponsored by: Valley Communities Credit Union
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – The last time the entire Auburndale girls cross country team qualified for the WIAA State Cross Country Championships, two of the team moms were running for the Apaches.
The mothers of girls runners Sam and Stafani Karl and Auburndale boys runner Aaron Kollross were members of the 1985 team that was the last Apaches girls squad to run as a team at the state meet.
To say this is an exciting time for coach Jim Johnson and the Apaches is an understatement.
“I believed in them and they believed, but they weren’t sure they could do it,” Johnson said. “We weren’t picked, probably no better than third (at the Division 3 sectional at Athens). They ran really great, and the thing was so did the other girls. No team laid down for us.”
Danica Harrison, Emma Steines, Heather Nigh, Tracey Bredl and Skyler De Boer will join the Karl sisters at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids on Saturday. The Division 3 girls race is slated for 1 p.m.
The Apaches competed at the adidas Invitational at the University of Wisconsin earlier this month, which included a number of the top teams, regardless of division, in the state.
Harrison finished eighth overall and the team took sixth among Division 2 and 3 teams. Johnson said that race was a good gauge for the Apaches.
“They’re there to have fun, but they also have a job to do,” Johnson said. “They’ve been practicing good. I haven’t seen the pressure get to them. If we run our best, we’re going to place in the top half. If some other teams falter, we could do really well.”
Harrison is the only one of the Apaches who brings experience along with her on Saturday. The Auburndale junior will be running in her third state meet. She finished 12th as a freshman and was fourth last year, finishing among the top-six that reached the podium.
“We hope she gets to podium again,” Johnson said. “There are really good girls in the field. It’s even tougher than last year. All of the girls on the podium are back, except for one girls from La Crosse Aquinas who moved up to Division 2, and there are some freshmen running really fast too. It’s going to be tough. Top six is goal.
“She’s so happy the team’s going. She doesn’t quite feel the pressure of just herself going, and maybe that takes her mind off her own race.”
Wausau East, Pewaukee and Edgar won the team titles in the three divisions last year. Molly Seidel of University Lake School is the defending Division 3 individual champion.