Spartan girls take third place at New Richmond Invitational

• Shelby Peterson and Grace Becher

Somerset's Shelby Peterson (left) and Grace Becher ran together through parts of the New Richmond Invitational.

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The best news in a difficult week for the Somerset cross country teams was the third place finish by the Spartan girls at last Thursday’s New Richmond Invitational.

The Spartan girls finished behind New Richmond and Rice Lake. They did manage to finish just ahead of Osceola, Amery, Prescott and Ellsworth. Those are some of the main Middle Border Conference opponents the Spartans are measuring themselves against every meet.

Somerset coach Diane Belter said illness and other factors led to a “tough week” for both Spartan teams. The Spartans were able to get three girls to place in the top 10 runners in the team scoring. Senior Monica Emerson finished third overall, with juniors Tia Belter and Sara Henry ending seventh and 10th in the team point totals.

Coach Belter said two of the most encouraging efforts from the team came from sophomore Grace Becher and senior Krista Berger, who moved up to serve as the fourth and fifth varsity runners. They moved up to finish 31st and 32nd.

Belter said she was also impressed with freshman Carrie Kulibert in the junior varsity race.

The Spartan boys finished ninth among the 10 teams with full varsity lineups in the meet.

Somerset’s boys were led by junior Jake Wishard, who looks more comfortable as the Spartans’ lead runner with each passing race. Wishard finished 18th overall on Thursday, running a personal best time of 18:48.

Coach Belter said she was pleased to see sophomore Emmitt Foster continue to move up in the pack. He placed 61st in this meet.

The Spartans will continue to run in challenging meets. They will run in another of the long-time area meets this Saturday when they compete in the Osceola Invitational. The Spartans have also had a schedule correction. Instead of running at Hudson this Thursday, they will now be competing at a meet in Hudson next Tuesday.

Tags: cross country, sports, spartans, prep