Junior Mischke earns All-Camden Conference honors with 9th-place finish
Tuesday’s chilly, dank, wet weather would be enough to keep most people indoors, more than happy to wait a day or two to get back outside after the sun and blue skies returned.
Miranda Mischke is not most people.
The Westbrook-Walnut Grove junior actually prefers those kind of surroundings, at least when she’s running.
And on Tuesday in Cottonwood, Mischke, the ninth-ranked Camden Conference girls’ runner excelled in those conditions by earning All-Camden Conference honors with a ninth-place finish at the Camden Conference meet.
“I like when it’s cold, when it’s rainy,” said Mischke, who ran a 21:35 for a near personal record. “I was surprised that I almost PR’d again. But I knew I was going to do somewhat well because it was cold. I feel like I did really good.”
Mischke started her race in about the 11th-13th position and worked her way up to Top 10 which qualified her for all-conference honors. “We are very proud of her and she deserves it,” TMB coach Billy Dean said. “She has worked very hard this year. The race was a cold and rainy day, but I feel like we competed well and ran hard through the elements.”
Mischke, who has finished in the Top 10 in nearly every meet this year, credits her coaches for the jump she has made this year.
“It’s been a really good year,” she said. “The coaches are amazing. Mitchell (Buerkle) has a lot of experience, and Billy is always positive.”
Fellow Charger/Panther, Evelyn Rentschler, ran a 27:34, good for 42nd place. Gracelynn Struchen PR’d with a time of 27:44 (43rd place); and Stella Munson ran a tough race through some discomfort and finished with a time of 28:47 for a 44th-place finish.
For the girls’ JV, Jaeda Nelson ran a 34:12; and Payton Daniels a 36:44, which was a PR for her by about 3 minutes.
“I’m very proud of our girls,” Dean said. For the TMB/WWG varsity boys, 15-ranked Weston Marten was the Panthers’ top runner, with an 18th place finish at 19:05. Taylor Squires was next for the Panthers with a time of 20:24 for 34th place Owen Beier was 39th at 20:32; Jackson Jenniges was 42nd at 20:51; Noah Schmidt was 50th at 21:29; Logan Petersen was 51st at 21:39; and Jaxter Pfarr took 56th place with a time of 22:18.
“Our boys team ran a good race today,” said Dean. The TMB/WWG JV team racked up a number of PRs. Gatlin Struchen led the way with a PR time of 22:38 — 29 seconds faster than his last PR.
“It was a very good race for Gatlin,” Dean said. “He has been improving all year, and we are seeing great results from him right now — and he is only in seventh grade.”
Sam Wiborg was the second JV runner with a time of 23:03; Tyson Peterson finished third for TMB/WWG with a time of 23:28; Owen Maguire set a new PR with a time of 24:06; Zach Jones set a new PR with a time of 24:52, as did Adam Hippe with a time of 31:01 beating his old PR by a minute. Trajan Swanjord ran in his first 5K race and finished with a time of 31:45.
“We were very happy with all of runners, and we are looking to finish the year strong with our section meet coming up next Thursday (in Madison). Thank you to my coaching staff for a great year so far and thank you to all of our fans that have been supporting us at all of our races.”
