Caleb Zulauf wins 7th grade race at Cowchip Classic
By Fred Kroner
Caleb Zulauf was the individual winner on Friday (Sept. 1) in the boys’ seventh-grade race of the Chrisman Junior High Cowchip Classic.
Zulauf’s 2-mile time of 11 minutes, 56.6 seconds gave him a 23.2-second margin of victory.
Four of his teammates placed among the top 20 in the 88-runner field.
Grant Morphew ran ninth (12:53.7) and was followed by teammates Will Bednar (10th in 13:00.4), Abdel Abdo (15th in 13:13.2) and Greyson Groteueschen (17th in 13:23.4).
In the boys’ eighth-grade race, Bulldog Adam Smigielski finished in fourth place (11:45.2).
Teammates trailing him were Noah Crane (sixth in 12:02.4), Liam Burwell (10th in 12:24.3), Carter Alderks (12th in 12:31.2) and Elijah Beyer (19th in 12:56.5).
There were 82 runners in the race.
“Before the race, the coaches shared inspirational words, with the help of eighth-grade leader Carter Alderks,” M-S coach Lisa Martin said. “Alderks’ message to his teammates was – with motivation from our team slogan this year about how we are running as a family – ‘I believe in you. Now it is up to you to believe in yourselves.’
“Coach (Conan) Jurkowski reminded the runners that they won’t remember many races from junior high, but they will remember the Cowchip Classic and running in a cow pasture. So, make the most of it.”
In the 102-runner boys’ sixth-grade race, five M-S athletes completed the course among the top 30 finishers.
The leader was Graham Smolich (10th in 13:33.0). He was trailed by Gavin Vanskike (11th in 13:33.1), Luke Nickrent (21st in 14:13.7), Kylar Nargelenas (23rd in 14:19.7) and Hunter Shingleton (29th in 14:42.0).
In the boys’ open race, M-S’ Kiptyn Fan was the winner (13:12). Henry Welch placed second and Caleb Atteberry wound up in sixth place.
“I think my favorite part of this meet is the tradition,” Martin said. “So many of our athletes have family members that have run at this meet before, many years ago. It is fun to see social media light up with posts from years past in honor of our meet attendance.
“It is seriously one of the Bulldog runners’ favorite traditions: the shirts, the cow pasture, the concession stand, the cow bell and the memories made on the bus ride over.
“Of course, it is not necessarily one of their favorite courses, filled with hills, cow patties and some uneven footing. No one really seems to mind or complain and many end up with a personal record.
“The energy at this meet is unmatched. The flighted race feature allows for our runners to navigate the hills in a different way, being split from many of their teammates. We had a really tough week of practice due to modified workouts the week before because of heat. Coaches expected athletes’ legs to be tired. However, many still pulled off personal best times.”
Team scores were not tabulated.
M-S returns to action on Saturday (Sept. 9) in the Normal Parkside Invitational.
