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Dodgeville-Mineral Point's boys and girls coss country teams started the season about as well as you could ask. They both took first place at the Iowa-Grant Invitational Saturday, the first action of 2021.
It was a nine team meet for the boys who posted a winning score of 37, easily outdistancing Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton at 76.
Then came Kickapoo/La Farge 79, Fennimore 136, Wisconsin Heights/Barneveld 142, Reedsburg Area 143, Iowa-Grant 144, Pecatonica/Argyle 181 and Riverdale 206.
Dodge-Point sseior Will Aurit won the race in 17:52 over Kickapoo/La Farge junior Nolan Reese's 18:15.
Next for Dodge-Point was freshman Cody Yoder 4th in 18:40 and then came junior Joey Robinson 6th in 18:53. Freshman Layne Aurit was 8th in 19:15 and senior Chandler Williams rounded out the varsity taking 18th in 20:16.
The other two varsity runners were sophomore Wyatt Scheckel, 34th in 21:19 and senior Cal Dampf, 39th in 21:50.
Other DP finishes were: Parker Owens 40th in 21:53, Alex LaMere 51st in 23:17, Chayse Helwig 58th in 24:40, Finn Redwick 70th in 28:29, Paul Angel 73rd in 29:52 and Ryan Gorgen 77th in 36:05.
"This is the first time we have participated in the Iowa-Grant Invite. It was a beautiful morning, though rather slippery from the overnight rain. It was great to be back participating in full force. The varsity and JV teams ran together with the top seven for each team scoring," said Dodge-Point coach Denny McGraw.
"The boys won the race with 37 points. Senior Will Aurit won the race by going out strong and leading the entire race. He beat the next runner by 28 seconds. Fresmen Cody Yoder (4th), Junior Joey Robinson (6th), and Freshmen Layne Aurit (8th) all pushed each other and had a great showing with determination and drive. Senior Chanler Williams (18th) rounded out the varsity team scoring. Sophomore Wyatt Scheckel (34th) and Senior Cal Dampf (39th) were the other varsity team members for this race. It is nice to have larger numbers out this year to help the team improve as they push each other. The JV score was not tallied."
Iowa-Grant finishes were: junior Mason Aide 13th in 19:49, junior Caden Pennekamp 19th in 20:29, freshman Bret Connolly 26th in 20:53, junior Own Laufenberg 40th in 22:01, sophomore Felix Bartolo-Garcia 6th in 22:56, senior Dylan Bingham 48th in 23:13 and freshman C. J. Straka 56th in 25:03.
There were five complete girls teams inthe race with Dodge-Point posting 32 pints to top Kickapoo/LaFarge's 55.
Then came Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton at 79, Wisconsin Heights/Barneveld with 86 and Iowa-Grant with 113.
Dodge-Point twin freshmen, Ellie and Annie Robinso, took second and third in the race won going away by SW/CC/B senior Kaycee Martinson in 19:41. Ellie was timed in 20:26 while Annie came in at 21:19.
Dodge-Point junior Julia Thompson took 5th in 21:56 while senior Haylee Kearns was 10th in 22:56 and sophomore Regan Schuette was 12th in 24:14.
Sophomore Grace Wersal, 15th in 24:14 and sophomore Sierra Davenport, 18th in 25:12 finished the varsity runners.
Other DP finshes were: Ava Hying 22nd in 25:46, Abbey Ludwig 23rd in 25:47, Ava McDonald 29th in 26:56, Brooke Paynter 30th in 27:27, Kaylee Rochon 40th in 29:37 Katie Kramer 43rd in 30:05, Madelyn Bakken 46th in 30:34, Mallory Spurley 48th in 31:12 and Mary Lou Gerault 56th in 36:26.
McGraw talked about the girls race sayng, "The girls won the race with 32 points. Ellie and Annie Robinson led the way for DP placing 2nd and 3rd. These two freshmen girls are quite the runners and we look forward to seeing how they can continue to improve. Junior Julia Thompson (5th), Senior Haylee Kearns (10th), Sophomore Regan Schuette (12th)- they all ran a strong race never letting up and working hard. These five girls were the scoring members of the squad with Sophomores Grace Wersal (15th) and Sierra Davenport(18th) rounding out the varsity team for the race. We realize it is early in the season, but we are excited to see so many talented runners pushing each other to improve the team. The JV score was not tallied."
The next race for Dodge-Point is Saturday, September 4th in Darlington. Varsity girls 8:45; JV girls 9:20; Varsity boys 10:00; JV boys 10:30; Middle School girls 11:05; Middle School boys 11:20.
"There are 22 teams in this invite, so it will be an exciting race to watch," said McGraw.
Iowa-Grant finishes in the girls race were: junior  Hope Connolly 7th in 22:36, sophomore Megan Cullen 21st in 25:45, senior Ella Wolff 25th in 26:24, junior Leslie Bartolo-Riveria 29th in 29:20, junior Yessica Garcia 31st in 31;02, senior Savannah Viian 33rd in 33:02 and senior Hailee Kite 35th in 35:19.
Iowa-Grant coach Jake Winkler talked about the day saying, "We caught a break with the weather, because we got the races in before it got too hot and it wasn't storming. It's always good to get the first race out of the way. When I'm hosting a meet, it's hard to balance the coaching and hosting duties, so it was a little hectic, but overall I thought the day went smoothly. The course was soggy due to the rains we had, but it held up pretty well.
"We had five first-timers racing, so it's exciting to get them going and building some confidence. It was also nice for the returning runners to check in and see where they're at - it gives us some direction with goals and some extra motivation.
"On the girl's side, Hope Connolly placed 7th in a very competitive race. She's done a fantastic job in the first few weeks of training, and is really excited to build on her success from last season. We were excited to have a complete scoring team for the girls, as there were 4 teams that did not have the minimum of 5 girls racing.
"On the boy's side, Junior Mason Aide was our fastest finisher, placing 13th. Mason has been our number two runner behind Nick the past two seasons. He's had some incredible races the past two years, and I'm excited to see how far he can go. We were 7th place out of nine teams, but only 8 points separated us and 4th place Fennimore. I believe we're going to come together as a team and be in the mix for the SWAL title, but it's going to take all five guys to contribute.
"Both our boys and girls teams have a lot of potential, so we're going to focus on getting everything we can out of this season."
The Panthers will also be running at the Darlington Invitational this Saturday.