Two LUHS seniors compete at state cross country meet

Lakeland Union High School seniors Ashton Bremer and Stella Meza competed at State Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country Championships at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids on Nov. 2.

Both runners qualified for the tournament based on their individual times at a WIAA Division 2 sectional in Colby on Oct. 25.

Bremer, competing at the state meet for his fourth time, finished the 5K race with a time of 16 minutes, 57.6 seconds. He placed 34th out of 150 boy runners. 

It was Meza’s first time competing at state. She finished the race with a time of 20:43.2. Meza placed 77th out of 152 girl runners.

Coach Gordy Hartzheim said it was a “beautiful” day for running. 

For Bremer, Hartzheim said his accomplishment of qualifying for the state meet four years in a row is “unprecedented” for LUHS.

She also recapped Bremer’s strong postseason run, noting his second-place finish at the sectional meet and that he was first-team all conference all four years as well.

Bremer, Hartzheim said, was top 20 after the first mile of the race, “but it was a very deep front pack.”

Bremer was 19th, and only 3.7 seconds out of the lead, after covering the opening mile in 5:02.8. He eventually fell back to 24th at the two-mile mark (10:39.1) and dropped 10 more spots over the final 1,800 meters.

“I was just going to leave it all on the course, and that’s what I did,” Bremer said. “I was happy with my race.”

“He has had such a great career at Lakeland,” the coach said. “He is 10th all-time (on the) school list for fastest 5K time.”

Hartzheim indicated Meza had a strong postseason run. She noted Meza finished eighth place at the Great Northern Conference (GNC) conference meet and then “came back with a vengeance” to place seventh at the sectional.

“She continued her end of the season surge by running a great time on a hard course at the state meet,” Hartzheim said. “She closed the gap between herself and the top sectional finisher by 42 seconds which is amazing.”

Meza held steady much of the race. She was 81st after running the opening mile in 6:24.4, and fell one spot to 82nd at the two-mile (13:27.3) before picking up five spots in the closing stretch.

Meza said she was satisfied with her season finale. 

“I was happy my last cross country race was the state course,” she said. “It was a really fun experience and I was happy with my overall race. I felt really strong the whole course and I had my amazing teammates Sherri (Handeland) and Ada (Ernst) cheering me on! This race was the perfect one to end my cross career on!”

With her high school running career behind her now, Meza left a mark on the LUHS cross country team. She finished 11 on the school’s all-time 5K list. 

Hartzheim concluded, saying the team “will miss both of these athletes tremendously.”

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].