The Clintonville’s Girls Cross Country team was awarded a team trip to the WIAA Cross Country State Championships event, Saturday Oct. 27, in Wisconsin Rapids at the Ridges Golf Course following their achievement at the Division 2 Sectionals held in Waupaca.
The Clintonville girls’ team displayed a solid performance with their six varsity runners in the field of 108 top seven runners from each of the 16 schools present.
Samantha Hohn finished in fourth place, Allison Johnson was in fifth place, Sara Messner took eighth place, Brianna Gretzinger captured 19th place, Jessica Petruzates took 23rd and Ana Huber placed 77th.
With Saturday’s individual performances alone, Clintonville would have sent three runners to the 2012 Championships.
Their team performance netted a second place team score, just behind Freedom, and a State Championship team invitation.
First place Freedom, with 53 points, edged out second place Clintonville, with 59 points, by a narrow six points. The third place team, Colby/Abbotsford trailed by 48 points, at 107.
The Clintonville boys’ team was represented by one individual, Jacob Decleene. He placed 24th out of 100 top runners overall with a 13th seed spot after the state team entries were removed.
Clintonville has sent individual qualifiers to the State Championships yearly. This year, as reward for their effort, Clintonville is sending the talented girls team.