Thirty years ago, the Malcolm High School boys’ cross country team won the school’s first state championship in any sport. In the the three decades since, that feat has been repeated eight times. If the season opener is any indication, things look good for a run at a 10th state title.
The Clippers posted the lowest team score possible as their top four runners finished first through fourth at the Aug. 23 East Butler Invite at Timber Point Lake near Brainard. Malcolm senior Noah Twohig was first to cross in 19:07. On his heels were Dillon Beach, John Swotek and Devyn Beekman, all finishing within 19 seconds of Twohig.
The 10-point score for Malcolm put them well ahead of second place Aquinas, which posted a score 43.
In a meet with unlimited varsity entries, Malcolm had nine runners earn medals by finishing in the top 15. Ryan Zoucha was seventh, while John Boesen, Jacob Schweitzer and Ty Brockhaus were 10th through 12th, respectively. Dylan Johnson was 15th.
“Our boys are extremely competitive,” Malcolm head coach Brie Pulec said. “They don’t give an inch, not even to each other.
“It’s really great to have the kind of depth we do. It makes the team a bit more confident going into a race, knowing they can count on another to step it up if someone is struggling.”
The Malcolm girls were equally impressive as they earned the team title with a score of 16 while six runners finished with a medal.
Senior McKenzie Teten finished second with a time of 23:58 while Logan Thomas was third at 24:31.
“I look for McKenzie and Logan to lead the way for us this year and set the example for our younger runners,” Pulec said. “McKenzie is a strong runner, and Logan is ahead of where she was at this time a year ago.”
Three sophomores picked up hardware for the Clippers as Addie Hejl, Jasmine Small and Grace Schleining finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Malcolm senior Kelsey Brady earned the 14th-place medal.
The Clippers head south on Friday, Aug. 31, to the Johnson Country Central Invite at the Tecumseh Country Club for a 9 a.m. race.
“I’m looking for improvement from week one to week two,” Pulec said. “As much as I want back-to-back wins for both teams, even more than that I want to see each runner a little better this week than they were last week.
“Tecumseh is a hilly course, so we will need to really focus on how we attack those hills. I would love to see our girls close the gaps between each other and start running as pack like we have done so well in previous seasons.”
