Cloudy Day is a Happy Day

The rain holds off and we hold on. No grass grows on the hill in the woods, so a few minutes of rain turns it muddy and slippery. Today's 1-2-3 boys will churn wet clay into a Slip-N-Slide. Fortunately the storms wait until the eleven o'clock awards ceremony. The most treacherous thing the guys need to do is walk down wet bleachers to collect their first place trophy.
The Belleville Cross Country Course is known to be challenging. None-the-less, Adam Nelson (18:07), Joe Quaglia (18:08), Evan Guenther (18:58), Conor McCoy (19:01), Tom Nelson (19:16), Brayden Ryan (19:21) and Ty Ready (19:26) post reasonably fast times as they finish with a score of 31 points. Evansville scares us by placing their first runner ahead of Adam then putting their second and third guys right behind Joe. Evan, Conor, Tommy and Brayden then neutralize the rest of the E'ville team as they cross the line before other Blue Devils perform more evil deeds. New Glarus-Monticello Varsity boys take first of fourteen teams.
Running on the same course at the same time, the junior varsity gentlemen leave no doubt who is best today. Linden Lounsbury (19:51), Garrett Grossen (20:11), Logan Blum (20:33), Simon Blohowiak (20:47), Jude Rice (20:50), Beckett Malaise (20:54) and Ian Schwartzlow (21:21) place 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 11th to easily top the next team by scoring 21 points.
Our second boys junior varsity team today includes Desi Delforge (21:36), Griffin Ness (22:21), Aiden Runkle (22:32), Collin Blum (22:35), Lucas Fink (23:48), Ryan Winder (25:09), Ray Valentine (25:26), Eric Zielinski (27:09) and Landon Schneeberg (27:33). If scored independently, they place 4th.
Our New Glarus-Monticello ladies surprise their fans as they work this grueling B'ville course. Most spectators watch highly rated Lake Mills dominate the race and earn a measly 38 points. Their top runners go 1, 2 and 3 overall. Home School Eagles seem to be the next fastest team as their first athlete stays ahead of Annika Ziperski (22:35), their second finishes before Tenley Faber (23:20), and their third crosses in front of Dayna Karls (24:12). Whitney Disch (24:25), Molly Molencamp (24:52), Alexa Thayer (28:00) and Dylan Noll (30:17), however, pull off the upset by gaining enough time on the last Eagles to turn the score and give our NGM team second place by 3 points.
Two firsts and a second: when it rains it pours.