Ashton Bremer, Stella Meza advance to state in senior seasons

Two Lakeland senior runners punched their tickets to state at a sectional meet on Friday.

The Lakeland cross country teams took part in a WIAA Division 2 sectional meet at Colby High School. Ashton Bremer and Stella Meza qualified for state individually based on time. 

Boys

After winning conference last week, the Thunderbirds looked to return to the state meet as a team for the second straight season.

The top two teams advanced to state. The Thunderbirds ended up third out of 13 teams with 101 points. Rhinelander, who finished behind Lakeland at the Great Northern Conference Meet, finished second with 86 points. New London won the sectional championship with 76 points.

“It was tough not making it as a team this year, but we lost our four top runners last year and to build the team back up to even have a chance to go to state again is a big accomplishment,” coach Gordy Hartzheim said. “They are a great group of guys that have really gotten close over the season and care about the team.”

Ashton Bremer leads two runners up a hill during a WIAA Division 2 sectional meet Friday, Oct. 25 at Colby High School. Bremer, 16:50, qualified for state for the fourth time in his career.
(Photo by Azael Meza/Lakeland Times)

Bremer finished second out of 95 total runners with a time of 16:50. Seymour’s Logan Boehnlein won individually with a time of 16:35.3. 

“Ashton had a great race taking second place,” Hartzheim said. “(Logan) pulled out ahead of the leaders in the last half-mile. Then Ashton had to really fight it out with Greyson Gremban for the last quarter-mile. They were both giving it everything they had, but Ashton got ahead and did not let up. He is so tough.”

The top five fastest individuals not on state-qualifying teams made it to state. Bremer ended up as the second-fastest runner not on a state team, advancing to state for the fourth time in his career.

“That’s a rare accomplishment,” Hartzheim said about going to state all four years in a career.

The Thunderbirds were still without Charlie Ernst. The top five runners all counted towards team points.

“We also did not have our No. 2 runner, Charlie Ernst, due to injury,” Hartzheim said. “It was really killing him not to be able to run. Who knows, had he been able to run, if we would’ve moved on to state. It still would’ve been very close with Rhinelander.”

Ati Gyuro crossed the finish line in 17th place at 18:08.6 as Lakeland’s No. 2 runner. 

“Ati had another great race coming in number two for the team,” Hartzheim said.

Parker McKinney, Lakeland’s No. 3 runner, ended up 22nd with a time of 18:18.6.

Meanwhile, the Hodags had three runners finish inside the top 15 — Greyson Gremban, third place, Avrom Barr, fourth place, and Brody Kowieski, 15th place.

Lakeland needed to make up ground with their No. 4 and 5 runners. Barrett Eggen finished 27th with a time of 18:33.2, Lakeland’s No. 4 runner. 

Rhinelander’s No. 4 runner Jackson Weinzatl finished 24th.

The Thunderbirds made up ground in their No. 5 runner — Erik Anderson. He finished 33rd (18:45) compared to Rhinelander’s No. 5 runner Ayden Myers, 40th overall.

“Parker, Barrett, Erik and Alton (Jackson) all had good races today,” Hartzheim said. “We just didn’t have that tight pack of four like we did at conference. It’s hard to replicate how well they did at conference — that was such an awesome race for them all.”

Lakeland’s Alton Jackson finished 46th overall as Lakeland’s No. 6 runner with a time of 19:03. Hunter Massignan crossed the finish line in 19:53.3 for 70th place.

“Hunter was our No. 7 today,” Hartzheim said. “He has worked his way up to the varsity roster by improving his times all season.”

Girls

The Thunderbirds finished fifth out of 12 teams with 141 points. Tomahawk won the sectional meet with 67 points.

“The girls ended up in fifth place,” Hartzheim said. “I was happy with that finish. We were fourth place in conference and only ended up one place lower with twice as many teams. Rhinelander beat us last week at conference, but we beat them today so that was a plus.”

Stella Meza qualified for the state meet for the first time in her career. She finished seventh overall with a time of 20:46.8. She grabbed the fifth and final individual spot amongst runners not on state-qualifying teams.

“It means so much to make it to state my senior year,” Meza said. “I knew the chance of me making it was in reach, but I knew it would mean I would have to have my best race ever.”

“I would say Stella had the best race of her career,” Hartzheim said. “We figured she would have to be top seven in order to make it as an individual.”

Meza had to hold off other runners for seventh place. Towards the end of the race, Meza separated herself to take seventh place by seven-plus seconds.

“At mile two, she was running just ahead of a Rhinelander runner, and they were number seven and eight,” Hartzheim said. “Once Stella realized she was in position to make it to state if she did not get passed, she was energized and took off ahead of the Rhinelander gal. She was comfortably in seventh place with no one close to her. She looked great.”

“I was so happy when I heard my coaches telling me to maintain my spot during the race because they knew I was in a great position,” Meza said. “Hearing this made me super confident, and I just ran my best effort I could, and it worked. I am super proud.”

It was a bounce-back effort for Meza after finishing as Lakeland’s No. 3 runner at the GNC Meet. She came back stronger than ever to extend her career by one more race.

“This was a great day for Stella to make it to state as a senior,” Hartzheim said.

Sherri Handeland finished as Lakeland’s No. 2 runner with a time of 21:34.7, 18th overall out of 79 runners in the field.

Ada Ernst crossed the finish line in 21:51.7 for 21st place.

Kristiana Clay finished 39th with a time of 23:14.6.

Miranda Schneider, Lakeland’s No. 5 runner, ended up 56th with a time of 24:34.

“Sherri, Ada, Kristiana and Miranda ran well today,” Hartzheim said. “This team is a great group of girls.”

Up next, the State Boys and Girls Cross Country Championships take place on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids. Meza’s Division 2 run takes place at 12:40 p.m. Bremer hits the course at 2:35 p.m. for the boys race.

Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].