The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater cross country program opened the 2023 season at the River Town Twilight hosted by UW-River Falls Friday. The Warhawk men were dominant in a first place finish while women were second in the eight-team field.
Christian Patzka (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights), the 2022 national runner-up, registered the top time at Friday's meet, 24:24.6.
Gunner Schlender (Brillion, Wis./Brillion) kept pace crossing the line just a tenth-of-a-second behind his teammate for second place. UWW runners secured places 4-10 for a total of nine runners finishing in the top 10.
Craig Hundley (Grayslake, IL/North) was fourth (25:31.4) followed by
Justin Krause (Ixonia, Wis./Pewaukee) (25:35.2),
Dan Anderson (Eau Claire, Wis./McDonell) (25:39.8),
Nick Hardin (Greenfield, Wis./Whitnall) (26:11.2),
Chris Allen (Downers Grove, Ill./North) (26:12.5), Conner Murphy (26:30.9) and
Tucker Johnson (Poynette, Wis./Poynette) (26:34.9).
Also representing the UW-Whitewater men were
Tommy Conklin (West Bend, Wis./East) (26:44.6),
Nick Wendl (Milwaukee, WI/Wisconsin Lutheran) (26:47.2),
Alex Metko (Brillion, Wis./Brillion) (26:50.2),
Landen Bratt (Waukesha, Wis./West) (26:57.1),
Jonah Block (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay) (26:57.2),
Rhett Reuter (Darlington, Wis./Darlington) (27:04.0),
Keegan Bratt (Waukesha, WI/West) (27:29.3), Aiden Johnson (27:39.0),
Braden Eckman (Lake Zurich, IL) (28:13.8) and
Will MacCudden (Slinger, Wis./Slinger) (28:14.7).
Katie Erb (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago) led the UWW women with a seventh-place time of 24:15.0 in a field of 77 runners.
Renee Forystek (Waukesha, WI/North),
Abbey Wedwick (Westby, WI) and
Payton Scoggin (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trails) added top 15 finishes with times of 24:37.1 (10th), 24:47.8 (12th) and 25:08.0 (14th) respectively.
Paige Fassbender (Slinger, Wis./Slinger) rounded out the five contributing to the team score with a time of 25:14.6 that was 16th Friday.
Also running for the Warhawk women were
Jocelyn Ramirez (Jefferson, WI) (25:19.9),
Miranda McNally (Downers Grove, Ill./North) (25:57.9),
Marlee Nichols () (26:13.7),
Nicole Brown (Grayslake, IL) (27:19.9),
Emma Shingledecker (New Berlin, Wis./West) (27:32.2),
Kayla Fogarty (Holt, MI) (27:52.0),
Kristan Larson (Rio, Wis./Rio) (27:53.0),
Abby Motz (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower) (28:03.0),
Kayleigh Thomas (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) (29:03.8),
Mollie Bennett (Cambridge, Ill./Cambridge) (29:32.2) and
Samantha Pieper (Marinette, Wis./Marinette) (30:20.6).
