Eagle runners post four times inside top half of field at Mosinee Invite

Four of the six Northland Pines boys cross country runners finished in the top half of the field during the Mosinee Invite at Nine Mile in Wausau yesterday. Junior Ethan Miller led the team in the second meet of the season, as Northland Pines finished in eighth place out of 10 teams with 198 points. 

The Northland Pines girls team had just four runners at the event, which is under the minimum number needed to score as a team. 

Miller once again led the boys team for a second time this season. The junior improved his time by over 15 seconds from the first race this season and the same race a year ago. He finished in ninth place with a time of 18:53. He was roughly five seconds from the eighth-place spot. 

The freshmen group team also had another solid meet early in the season. Three of the four first-year varsity runners finished in the top half of the field, starting with Hunter Hoffman. He was the second Eagles runner to finish, taking 41st place out of 97 with a time of 21:43. Freshman Colin Miller finished five spots behind his classmate in 46th, with a time of 22:23. 

Jarrett Grassl finished nearly two seconds behind Miller, as there was a tight group of five runners who finished in a span of three seconds of each other. Junior Evrett Leslie ran his second-ever cross country race and took 68th place with a time of 23:38. 

Freshman Ryan McGrath was the last Pines runner to cross the finish line at 24:18, which is a similar time that he ran at the season opener in Rhinelander. On the girls side, it was sophomore Sophie Hoffman who paced the Eagles in a second-straight race. She battled hard with Wausau East’s Margaret Bennett for the 20th spot, as Hoffman finished with a time of 24:25.8. Bennett crossed the line at 24:25.2. Emma Thoma, the lone senior on the team, finished in 35th and was the second finisher for the Eagles. She grabbed a time of 25:45, which is 13 seconds better than her first meet this season in Rhinelander. 

Sophomore Emily Ritter finished with a big gap behind her as she took 27th with a time of 26:00.3. 

Another sophomore, Jessica Linn, rounded out the Lady Eagle runners with a 43rd-place finish early this season. Her 5k time was 27:52. 

The girls team will hit the course next Friday, Sept. 12, at Winagamie Golf Course, for a night race that starts at 7:45 p.m. Both teams will be back in action together for a meet at Wausau East on Saturday, Sept. 20.

This story will be updated with coach comments when available.