Tiger runners jump into the deep end of the schedule

• Jordan Berry and Jocque Warner

New Richmond's Jordan Berry (center) splashes his way through one of the stream crossings while Jocque Warner (right) leaps down into the stream during the River Falls Extreme Meet.

Talk about it

The New Richmond cross country team is jumping into the deep end of the pool in terms of competition to start the 2010 season.

The Tigers started the season by running in the River Falls Extreme Meet last Thursday. That was more of a fun meet for the Tigers. The competition got much more serious when they took part in the Husky Invitational at Eau Claire North on Saturday.

The Extreme Meet gets its name from the terrain covered in the meet. The runners must traverse through streams several times in the race and run over treacherous footing. Tiger Coach Beth Kelly isn’t a fan of the course and she tries to encourage her athletes to run conservatively in the meet. That doesn’t usually happen.

“It’s hard for them to turn it off,” Kelly conceded. “They love that meet, the getting dirty and how different it is.”

Every coach is concerned about injuries in the meet and the Tigers got stung this year. Freshman Maddie Reimenschneider, who had worked her way into the varsity lineup, caught her foot under a rock while making a stream crossing. The injury knocked her out of the lineup for several days, including Saturday’s meet in Eau Claire.

Saturday’s meet featured many of the best teams from the western side of the state, including most of the La Crosse area schools. The Tiger girls were able to place fifth among the 12 schools in the meet while the Tiger boys placed 11th.

The Tiger girls were led by juniors Morgan Kelly and Kat Keller, who placed 10th and 20th. Freshmen Maddie Kelly and Audrey DeKock placed 21st and 42nd. Between them was junior Bailey Matthys, who ran 34th in the race. Coach Kelly said Matthys was the most committed of the Tiger runners in the summer strength program and she is now seeing the dividends from her hard work.

Leading the Tiger boys in Saturday’s meet was junior Walter DeKock, who placed 43rd. He was followed by seniors Dylan Novitzke-Christensen and Jason Staples, who placed 53rd and 56th.

Coach Kelly said she was impressed with the effort of Josh Green in Saturday’s meet. He improved his time enough to earn a spot in the varsity lineup for the Tigers’ next meet.

That meet will be the Tigers’ home meet on Thursday, Sept. 9. The Tigers don’t have a meet this week. Coach Kelly said that can be beneficial for the team’s progress, because the coaches can work two challenging workouts into that week.

Tags: cross country, sports, tigers, prep