Somerset's Belter earns return trip to state cross country meet

• Tia Belter

Somerset's Tia Belter (right) works to pass Amery's Natalie Haugerud early in the sectional race.
• Cassie Schmidt

Freshman Cassie Schmidt (468) showed a great deal of promise for the Spartans this season.

Talk about it

Bittersweet.

There was no joy in Tia Belter’s face when it was announced officially on Friday that the Somerset junior was one of the five individual qualifiers from the Amery Division 2 sectional to qualify for the 2010 WIAA State Cross Country Meet.

That’s because Belter was hoping to have company from the Spartans competing in the state meet. Somerset senior Monica Emerson missed by four seconds in her hopes of qualifying for the state meet for the second straight year.

The Spartans also had hopes of earning their ticket into the state meet as a team. That didn’t materialize as the Spartan girls placed fifth, 26 points away from qualifying for state.

Belter placed seventh overall in the girls sectional race, with a time of 16:30. Ladysmith sophomore Andrea Ostenso was the sectional champion, winning the race by nearly a full minute.

Emerson placed ninth in the girls race. Amery’s Kayla Faschingbauer got between the two Spartan runners, taking the final individual qualifier spot from the sectional meet.

Somerset coach Diane Belter said the girls knew it would be a difficult task to finish among the top two teams in the sectional.

“The last few weeks they lived and breathed this,” she said. “But when it was a reality, it was crushing for them.”

It was Rice Lake that stepped up its performance significantly to take second among the girls teams and earn their trip to the state meet.

Following Belter and Emerson was junior Sara Henry, who placed 21st. Sophomore Grace Becher was next for the Spartans, taking 43rd. Senior Krista Berger made a strong charge in the final mile of the race to move up to be Somerset’s fifth runner, placing 60th overall.

Somerset’s boys placed 14th among the 16 teams in the meet. Junior Jake Wishard, bothered by a sore hip, was Somerset’s lead runner, but dropped back to 39th overall. He was followed by Dakota Belter, Josh Verdeja, Emmitt Foster and Tyler Lindquist as Somerset’s five scoring runners.

2010 Amery Division 2 Sectional Cross Country Meet

Girls Team Scores: Northwestern 47, Rice Lake 112, Osceola 117, Amery 127, Somerset 138, Hayward 150, Spooner 182, Ashland 212, Bloomer 222, St. Croix Falls 300, Cumberland 314, Baldwin-Woodville 327, St. Croix Central 337, Barron 363, Unity-Luck 392, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 426

Somerset finishes

6. Tia Belter 16:40; 8. Monica Emerson 16:46; 21. Sara Henry 17:30; 43. Grace Becher 18:10; 60. Krista Berger 18:59; 65. Cassie Schmidt 19:15; 73. Shelby Peterson 19:50

St. Croix Central finishes

17. Courtney Kramer 17:18; 46. Hope Hoolihan 18:20; 83. Abbie Webb 20:55; 88. Jenna Ganther 21:17; 103. Hayley Ray 24:49

Boys Team Scores: Northwestern 66, Ashland 71, St. Croix Central 126, Amery 129, Hayward 137, Osceola 148, St. Croix Falls 163, Bloomer 209, Rice Lake 212, Ladysmith 214, Unity-Luck 304, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 343, Barron 347, Somerset 351, Baldwin-Woodville 399, Cumberland 408

St. Croix Central finishes

1. Brett Johnson 16:49; 19. Alex Halvorson 18:49; 21. Stephen Brunshidle 18:50; 35. Brett Briggs 19:32; 50. Jon Mielke 20:05; 68. Andrew Skala 20:48; 74. Logan Nelson 21:06

Somerset finishes

39. Jake Wishard 19:37; 70. Dakota Belter 20:55; 75. Josh Verdeja 21:12; 76. Emmitt Foster 21:12; 91. Tyler Lindquist 22:37; 95. Joe Germain 22:47

Tags: cross country, sports, spartans, prep