The St. Peter’s Lutheran girls won the National Lutheran Cross Country Championship at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, and the boys finished third. Team members included, front row from left, Mason Package, Hudson Lane, Anthony Bolte, Cole DeVreese, Giuliana Mackox, Chole Package, Trinity Clore, Veronica Phillips, Audrey Dickson, Cooper Troyer, Brooklyn Bolte; and back row, coach Hillary Dickson, Marquez Mendez, Henry Meredith, Garrett Donner, Braden Mullins, Landon Bush, Remi Wells, Ava McLeod, Sydney Madden, Evelyn Callihan, Charlotte Edgran, Aaliyah Miller and coach Julia Clore.
Submitted photo
St. Peter’s Lutheran had its share of adversity this cross-country season, with coach Jeff Niewedde seriously injured in an accident on his property.
Niewedde has been in trauma ICU for several weeks and faces a long road to recovery. He is in a specialty hospital that deals with brain injuries.
Late last month, Niewedde’s St. Peter’s girls team captured the National Lutheran Cross Country Championship at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin. The St. Peter’s boys squad finished third.
“He would have been so thrilled with both of their results,” assistant coach Carol Wettschurack said. “We’re just praying that his brain will continue to heal so they can get him off the sedation.”
The girls scored 47 points to 107 for runner-up Zion from Belleville, Illinois, in the meet that featured 17 teams and 193 individuals.
“They were so shocked when they found out, and they were jumping up and down,” Wettschurack said. “They hadn’t posted the results yet, but they saw it online. Last year, the boys team won, and the girls were 12th, so it was kind of hard for them.”
Fifth-grader Chloe Package led the Lions with a fifth-place finish in 12 minutes, 40 seconds for two miles. She was top sixth-grade-and-under finisher and earned All-American honors.
Eighth-grader Sydney Madden finished 13th in 12:56. Sixth-grader Veronica Phillips took 21st in 13:11, while fifth-grader Guiliana Mackos was 22nd (13:12), seventh-grader Aaliyah Miller 27th (13:23), sixth-grader Trinity Clore 45th (13:51), eighth-grader Charlotte Edgran 96th (14:43) and seventh-grader Evelyn Callihan 101st (14:50).
“I told them, if you all run your best and get your personal records, you could really place well, and all eight of them ran their personal records,” Wettschurack said.
Trinity of Bloomington, Illinois, won the boys meet with 73 points. St. Peter’s tied with Hales Corners (Wisconsin) Lutheran with 140 points, but Hales Corner won the tiebreaker with a faster sixth runner.
Eighth-grader Cole Devreese finished second in 11:00 to lead the Lions and earn All-American honors. Eighth-graders Landon Bush took 33rd and Braden Mullins 34th, both in 12:12, while seventh-grader Mason Package was 50th (12:36), seventh-grader Garrett Donner 108th (13:24), seventh-grader Marquez Mendez 144th (13:48), eighth-grader Remi Wells 145th (13:49) and sixth-grader Hudson Lane 165th (14:13).
“I have to admit, I didn’t think they’d place because our second runner Landon had struggled with injuries,” Wettschurack said. “I told them if the all got their personal records, they could probably place, and most of them did get personal records.”
White Creek Lutheran seventh-grader Anthony Bolte, who had run with St. Peter’s most of the season, finished 11th in 11:36 to earn All-American honors.
The St. Peter’s runners certainly have been thinking of and praying for Niewedde.
“We had our banquet, and they were asked, ‘What’s your favorite thing about the team,’ and almost every one of team said, ‘We are family.’ When asked for one word about Jeff, they said, ‘Dedication,’” Wettschurack said. “He was incredible. He just knew them so well.”
