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Dodgeville-Mineral Point's cross country teams fared well in their first action of the season Saturday at the Darlington Invitational. The DP girls won the varsity event and took second in the JV race. The DP boys were runners-up in the varsity event and didn't have enough runners for a team score in the JV run.
Dodge-Point sophomore Julia Thompson led her team with an overall ninth place finish in 22:17 leading them to a 79 score, two better than Lancaster in a tight race between the top five of nine teams.
Following Thompson were: freshman Grace Wersal 15th in 22:57, junior Haley Kearns 16th in 22:58, senior Emily Cody 18th in 23:19 and senior Chloe Oberhauser 21st in 23:28. Senior Brittany Thompson was 22nd in 23:29 and freshman Zoey Dampf took 23rd in 23:29, just behind Brittany.
The race was run in three sections and then times were figured to give them their final finishes.
The rest of the team scores were: Albany 87, Boscobel 99, Darlington 105, Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton 168.
"We ran Friday night with two other teams and the rain didn't deter us," said Dodge-Point coach Denny McGraw. "The kids felt comfortable riding the bus. Some went with parents. It was just good to be able to be together and to run. We're trying to make everything work this year," he added.
"Julia and Grace both ran very good races. The rest ran well," he said.
Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton junior Kayci Martenson won the race in 19:27, followed by her freshman sister Hanna in 21:21.
Iowa-Grant was led by sophomore Hope Connelly's 14th placing in 22:52. The came senior Brie Straka 45th in 26:27, junior Ella Wolff 50th in 26:53, sophomore Evie Whitaker 52nd in 27:37 and senior Brena Straka 53rd in 27:44. Sophomore Leslie Bartolo-Rivera was 56th in 29:22.
The three Pec-Argyle finishes were: seniors Sydney Webster 60th in 30:09, Emily Zimmerman 61st in 30:25 and Allie Godfrey 62nd in 0:25.
The JV race was even closer as Dodge-Point and Lancaster tied at 41 with the sixth runner's finish giving the nod to the Lady Arrows.
Two DP freshmen, Regan Schuette and Sierra Davenport finished 1-2 in the race. Schuette was timed in 23:39 while Davenport was almost a minute behind in 24:30.
The rest of Dodge-Point's finishes were: freshman Christina Collier 4th in 25:01, sophomore Kiera Halverson 16th in 25:58 and senior Livia Winch 18th in 26:06. The other two finishes were: junior Kaylee Rochon 22nd in 26:43 and freshman Katie Kramer 33rd in 31:49.
The other team finishes were: Darlington 57, Boscobel 82 and Fennimore 139.
Running in three section and in separate groups, Darlington sophomore George West nipped Iowa-Grant's Nick Connolly 18:03.3 to 18:03.5 for the overall boys race win.
Then came Dodgeville-Mineral Point junior Will Aurit in 18:17 and sophomore Charlie Keith in 18:23.
The other DP finishes were:  sophomore Joey Robinson 20th in 20:09, junior Chandler Williams 21st in 20:09 and freshman Wyatt Scheckel 35th in 21:12. Then came sophomore Mason Winch 46th in 21:58 and junior Drew Palmer 64th in 24:25.
"The boys were missing one runner due to illness," McGraw pointed out. "Will and Charlie both ran well. Will had hoped to have another runner pushing him too as he felt he would've had a better time. The other runners came on and did a good job."
JV  runners were: freshman Thomas Esch 72nd in 24:31 and junior Paul Angel 86th in 28:30.
Boscobel won with 59 to Dodge-Point's 83.
Rounding out the team scores were: Darlington 91, Iowa-Grant 122, Lancaster 136, South-western/Cuba City/Benton 137, Albany 160, Riverdale 192, Fennimore 198 and Pecatonica/Argyle 234.
Following Connolly for Iowa-Grant were: sophomore Mason Aide 8th in 19:14, sophomore Owen Laufenberg 29th in 20:28, freshman Felix Bartolo-Garcia 38th in 21:33, senior Nic Pennekamp 45th in 21:54. Then came sophomore Caden Pennekamp 51st in 22:18 and junior Dylan Bingham 55th in 22:44.
JV runners were: senior Albert Rosales 61st in 23:24 and senior Ryan Esser 81st in 25:48.
Abut his team's results, IIowa-Grant coach Jake Winkler said, "Having three separate races was a clever way to have 10 teams be able to compete. I'm not going to complain, because I know we're lucky to be able to be racing. The course itself was definitely muddy, but not the craziest conditions that we've run in. I don't think any team had a particular advantage with the meet format. In group 3 we had the best weather, but the course was probably a little sloppier for us. Again, I'm grateful to be able to compete, but I do miss the competition of larger races. By the luck of the draw on the boys side we ended up with the three schools that finished 8th, 9th, and 10th, so there wasn't as much competition pushing us.
"I can't believe we're already in mid-September. Next week we're shifting from our base training phase to our competitive phase, so we're going to be seeing great performances coming up. The runners have done a nice job of rolling with the changes of this season. I know we're going to miss going to our usual invites, but it is fun to get to try out different meets and courses this year."
Finishes for Pecatonica/Argyle were: senior David Tisch 30th in 20:31. sophomore Ridge Toay 31st in 20:37, junior Brady Penniston 52nd in 22:21, junior Nathan Nickels 59th in 23:17 and sophomore Caden Stoeger 62nd in 24:02.
"It was absolutely great to get back out there and to compete on Saturday," reported Coach Jason Klocek, in providing post-meet remarks after his team had packed up and headed home from Darlington.
"The course was in great shape despite the rain over the past week, nothing like the slop fest of two years ago," added Klocek.
"The girls ran well, worked together, pushed one another. Syd the Kid (Sydney Webster) led the way. Norah (McCarthy) was a warrior, fought hard and (Allie) Godfrey and Emily (Zimmerman) finished together."
"The boys got out fast, we were in the hunt for the first two miles. David (Tisch) and Ridge paced the boys, BP (Brady Penniston) was up there for a bit and Nathan (Nickels) and Caden (Stoeger) went hard."
"I'm not going to get too deep into the weeds on our times this meet. For whatever reason, we struggle a little at Darlington, so we will get better. I'm looking forward to watching this team get better. One day at a time, that's how we have to live," concluded coach Klocek.