Thunderbirds are Section Champions

It has been a fall of firsts for the GFW girls cross country team. Earlier the team won the Tomahawk Conference for the first time and this week they earned the Section Championship and a trip to the State Cross Country Meet on Saturday, Nov. 5. That race will take place at noon at St. Olaf in Northfield. The T-Birds came in with a score of 98 with Sibley East second at 105. Mady Steele led the way for the Thunderbirds by placing second in a time of 19 minutes 44 seconds. Ashley Vos was the next in line for the T-Birds as she was ninth at 20:45. Kelby Bruns and Abby Willegal were next for GFW, finishing 25th in 22:30 and 26th in 22:33, respectively. Rounding out the T-Birds’ runners were Taylor Bauer who was 39th in a time of 23:23 and Izzy Vos, 59th in a time of 24:21. Steele qualified for State last year. Kaden Weir ran for the boys and posted a personal best of 22:13. “This is the first time in the history of GFW we have had a girls’ team advance to State in cross country. It was also the first time for us to win the Conference Title. This accomplishment is huge for these girls and myself. They have worked so hard this season and had big goals of shining a light on a sport that is not quite in the spotlight,” said Coach Tara Rettmann. Her goals for the team are “To run their hearts out and give it their all, just as they have done the last two big meets—Conference and Sections. I would like to see Mady Steele place within the top 30 along with Ashley Vos near there too. We have worked as a whole team this season and are quite a close knit squad. There will be a community send-off on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at GFW High School.

For more sports coverage of the football playoff and volleyball tournament, check out the November 2 issue of the Winthrop News.