Pines XC sees success at Nightfall Classic

The Northland Pines cross country teams faced tough competition but saw many top finishes and plenty of personal bests at the Nightfall Classic at Winagamie Golf Course in Neenah on Sept. 11. The Nightfall Classic cross-country race in Neenah is a fun, interesting night race that Northland Pines competes in annually, and this year was led by finishes from senior Ethan Miller on the boys’ side and freshman Ryleigh Thompson on the girls’ side.

“After motivating one another all week during training, the boys and girls cross-country team stepped up and poured everything they had into the race,” said Pines Head Coach Patrick Gauthier. In a combined D2 and D3 race, the girls had 48 teams and 393 individual runners, while the boys’ D2 and D3 race sent out 411 runners, with 243 D2 runners.

For the Northland Pines girls’ team, Thompson finished her night in 16th place out of 243 D2 runners. She ran a personal best time of 20:40.

Junior Emily Ritter came in at a time of 24:05. It was her season’s best time, and Ritter improved her time from this race last year by over a minute.

Kelsey Huber and Courtney Archuleta, a pair of freshmen runners, had strong runs for the Eagles. Huber ran in her first varsity race and finished in 24:15, while Archuleta set a personal best with her 26:44 time. Junior Anna Chicka came in with a time of 28:47.

Five personal-best times highlighted the finishes for Northland Pines. Miller didn’t set a PR, but finished 24th out of 243 D2 runners at 17:51 and improved his time from last year by over a minute. Five sophomores ran in this one for the Eagles. Nelson Kirschbaum set a PR with his time of 20:02. He finished 100th out of 243. Colin Miller PR’d with a time of 20:27, which was also roughly a minute better than his time last year.

Logan Manriques and Ryan McGrath also set PRs with times of 20:27 and 21:33, respectively.

Freshman Austin Fuller had his first Nightfall experience and finished his night at 23:21. 

Northland Pines will look for more personal bests and top placements this coming weekend at the Smiley Invite at Wausau East on Saturday, Sept. 19. This is another large invite filled with schools from around the state.