PHS girls three-peat champs in Panther Relays

Plymouth's Johnson wins fourth straight title

(Courtesy of The Plymouth Review)

PLYMOUTH – An impressive team effort fueled Plymouth's third consecutive girls championship in the Panther Relays cross country meet here Tuesday afternoon. Leading the charge for the Panthers was senior Haley Johnson who captured her fourth straight individual title in the Panther Relays. Johnson ran an outstanding time of 14 minutes, 55.20 seconds on the 2.5-mile course. Her teammate, senior Niki Rhyan, finished second for the third consecutive year with a 15:08.46 effort. PHS posted a cumulative time of 1 hour, 22 minutes, 26.87 seconds for its top-five runners. Pewaukee took second in 1:23:15.78. The Howards Grove Tigers, led by junior Cassie Marver who placed fifth, finished seventh out of nine teams with 1:34:09.87. Marver, who was third last year, was clocked in 16:12.36. Sheboygan North successfully defended its boys crown with a time of 1:29:20.43. Sheboygan South placed second in 1:32:02, followed by the Panthers at 1:33:11.58. The Tigers were ninth in 2:12:07.41. The Panther boys were paced by sophomore Thomas Jankowski who earned ninth in 18:24.34 over 3.1 miles. Marquis Bolz led Howards with a 55th-place finish in 22:45.07. The champion was McKena Ramos of South in 17:00.50 – an impressive 33 seconds ahead of the runner-up. “Both teams ran very well. We responded from our 10 days without a meet with some real strong performances,” said Panther head coach Jay Grosshuesch. “The girls' win was a great accomplishment as Pewaukee and Sheboygan North are both strong teams. “Our girls had the entire varsity squad under 18:20 which is very good depth. We had some great races from our Nos. 3-7 runners. Jenni Rathsack, Brooke Koehn, Julia Novotny, Christina Schicker and Mikaela Holdridge were all within 30 seconds of each other,” the coach pointed out. “For the boys, Thomas Jankowski turned in a great race and Nick Pearce, Mitch Tournour, Jacob Faust and Alex Dykstra were all within 30 seconds of each other. As these boys lower those times, our team will be even stronger,” Grosshuesch said. “Overall, it was a rather off-day for us,” said Tiger head coach Gary Kalk. “Cassie closed in on a personal-best performance while finishing in fifth place. We'll look to ramp up our efforts Thursday [Sept. 22] at the Kewaskum Invite.”

OVERALL VARSITY RESULTS
Boys
(Top 5 Overall)
1. McKena Ramos (Sheboygan South), 17:00.50; 2. Adian Welsch (Sheb. North), 17:33.19; 3. Trevor Damkot (Sheb.
North), 17:33.68; 4. Scott Wolter (Pewaukee), 17:49.58; 5. Matthew Norman (Sheb. North), 18:02.40.
Girls
(Top 5 Overall)
1. Haley Johnson (Plymouth), 14:55.20; 2. Niki Rhyan (Ply.), 15:08.46; 3. Katelin Cunningham (Ripon), 15:49.75; 4. Sara
Leibham (Sheb. North), 16:00.90; 5. Cassie Marver (Howards Grove), 16:12.36.
PLYMOUTH PLACE-WINNERS
Boys
9. Thomas Jankowski, 18:24.34; 11. Nick Pearce, 18:34.67; 12. Mitch Tournour, 18:35.28; 15. Jacob Faust, 18:40.21; 18.
Alex Dykstra, 18:57.08.
Girls
1. Johnson, 14:55.20; 2. Rhyan, 15:08.46; 17. Jenni Rathsack, 17:15.27; 23. Brooke Koehn, 17:28.81; 26. Julia Novotny,
17:39.13.
H. GROVE PLACE-WINNERS
Boys
55. Marquis Bolz, 22:45.07; 56. Eric Dvorachek, 23:14.74; 58. Cody Stange, 23:45.68; 59. Chris Spieth, 23:45.92; 63.
Fred Meyer, 38:36.00.
Girls
5. Marver, 16:12.36; 46. Jessica Larson, 18:43.61; 47. Emily Eschen, 18:57.03; 53. Karissa Kidder, 19:39.57; 58. Rachel
Hartlaub, 20:37.30.