The Orioles cross country team competed in the Cadott Invitational on Tuesday Sept 22 and the Nightfall Classic in Marshfield on Friday Sept 25. The girls team finished 3rd and the boys team finished 4th out of 15 teams at Cadott. Orioles finishing in the top 15 were Aaliyah Prissel, Mariah Wehling, John Smit, and Hunter Ogle.
“Mariah’s 6th place finish was even sweeter since there was only one runner from the Cloverbelt in front of her. That’s encouraging with the conference meet only a few weeks away.” Coach Mahr added.
The race on Friday night was a unique event ran after dark with strings of lights and spotlights to brighten the 5k course. John Smit continued his improvement streak dropping  his PR from 17:17 at Cadott to 16:52 at the Nightfall race. That effort was enough to put him 9th overall in a field of nearly 250 runners from 32 teams. “The Nightfall race is a special time and it’s a lot of fun for the kids to run in this enthusiastic environment. There is so much excitement and energy several runners run their best race of the season with all the crowd of families and other runners cheering them on.” Coach Mahr commented.