This past Saturday, the Dodge-Point boys and girls cross country teams took home 3 gold and 3 silver titles from the WIAA D2 Sectional in West Salem. Champs from the meet include the girls team and individuals Layne Aurit and Ellie Robinson. Runners-up from the meet include the boys team and individuals Cody Yoder and Annie Robinson.
Going into the meet, the boys team knew they had a decent chance of going to state, but they would have to run hard, smart, and together. As spectators watched the race and mentally calculated the teams scores, the Dodge-Point fans figured the boys had earned themselves a spot. However, the race timing system got messed up and the boys had to wait about an hour longer than expected to see where their fate lay. After watching the finish line camera footage for nearly an hour, the coaches from all the teams there finally were able to determine times and places. It turns out our boys came in 2nd by only 7 points to West Salem, the team that was ranked 2nd in the state just under a week ago. Layne Aurit led the race and crossed the line with a 16:28 and Cody Yoder trailed shortly behind with a 16:41. These two runners staying so close together was a big boost to the team score and will hopefully be what helps propel the team in the rankings next Saturday. Crossing the finish line next for Dodge-Point was Gabe Engel in 8th overall. Engel has really seemed to gain some confidence this year as he rises in the placings each meet. Following Engel was Parker Owens (18), who is starting to look a lot more like himself on the course. Next came Ethan Hook in 19th, a little further back than usual. Sources say that he is saving his energy for a crazy state race. Three seconds after Hook, Jesse Yoder finished in 22nd place. Rounding out the varsity team was Alex LaMere in 37th.
Going into the race, the Dodge-Point girls team was ranked 2nd in the state, so they knew they would not have to run their hardest and fastest races, but they would have to be smart. Ellie Robinson led the race from the beginning and ended first with an 18:33 finish. Twin sister to Ellie, Annie Robinson stuck by her sister’s side as long as she could to earn herself a 2nd place finish and a big redemption from last year. The whole team was very happy to see Annie standing and smiling at the finish line waiting for her girls to cross, in comparison to her being carried to the ambulance last year. Next came freshmen Payton Christopher in 6th and Lilly Houtakker in 8th, then seniors Grace Wersal in 9th and Regan Schuette in 12th. These four ran as a wall up until the last mile, where they began to space out. 
Coach Denny McGraw was so excited to see this pack that he was seen jumping up and down in the middle of the course around the mile marker. The final DP runner to cross the finish line for the day was Abbey Ludwig in 21st.
Both teams will go on to compete in the WIAA D2 state race this Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids. The boys race will start at 12:35pm and the girls will begin at 2:25pm. If you can’t make it out to see your favorite runners, you can still see the results live through this link: https://pttiming.com/event.php?mid=1649&pt=schedule or it can be found on the Prime Time Timing website.
