The Brookfield Central Boys’ Cross Country team fell short of their state bid at the sectional meet on October 26th. They scored 100 points to place fourth out of eight teams. Despite Saathvik Gowda’s personal best of 16:21, he unfortunately was unable to qualify for state individually.
The race kicked off at 11:45 AM at Greenfield Park, where the mid-fifties temperatures and beautiful autumn scenery were ideal for both racers and spectators. Gowda inserted himself into the first pack of runners and placed 12th through the mile mark, while juniors Owen England, Ben Turner, Jacob Seifert, all followed within reasonable distance of each other. As the course left the open picnic area and veered into the woods, all of the top four Lancers maintained their positions while Sophomore Austin Tilkens moved up five spots to 30th place. The course returned to Greenfield Park’s picnic area for the final mile, where a last effort sprint by Gowda placed him just shy of the individual state roster (the top five racers who are not on the top two teams). Turner and Seifert would finish in 20th and 21st place respectively, and Tilkens impressively passed another eight runners over the last portion of the race to finish 22nd. England closed for the scoring lancers in 27th place, putting all runners in the top thirty.
Brookfield Central’s Girls’ Cross Country team fared similarly, placing fourth with a score of 84 points. Notably, Anderson-committed senior Emory Winter went under 19 minutes in her runner up finish to qualify individually for state.
The number-nineteen-ranked lancers raced at 11:15 AM and sped off to a hot start through the first mile. Their combined score of 72 points placed them in third behind Brookfield East and Wauwatosa East, who were ranked sixth and fifth in the state respectively. Winter maintained her runner-up position throughout the first two miles in spite of a lead change, while sophomore Lily Michalski and junior Alexandra Rossi stuck together to keep their place in the top fifteen. Central’s leading freshman, Angelina Goll, and senior Caroline Swanson rounded out the top five through the two mile mark, coming in at 24th and 33rd place. Impressively, each of the scoring Lancers had managed to maintain their separate positions through the first half of the race regardless of the fierce competition and shifting pace. Unfortunately, this did not prevent them from dropping to fourth place in the team standings, just behind Sussex Hamilton in the final stages. Winter finished in 2nd place with a time of 18:57 to punch her ticket to state. A strong finish by Rossi in the grassy homestretch put her in 11th place, which was not quite enough to qualify. Michalski followed closely behind in 12th place, and Goll and senior Emily Summers wrapped up the team scoring in 22nd and 37th place respectively.
Emory Winter has made the trip up to Ridges Golf Course for State before, back when the Girls’ Cross Country team qualified as a whole in 2023. In her second time around and final race as a Lancer, she finished in a spectacular 15th place overall. The official instagram account of the girls’ team, ladylancerxc, congratulated its leading member in its latest post: “Proud is an understatement. The lady lancers were so lucky to be blessed with this amazing runner and teammate the last 4 years”.
For Saathvik Gowda, sectionals served as a more bittersweet conclusion to his cross country career.
“Hitting an eighteen second PR was an awesome feeling. Despite this, it still felt terrible to have run that hard just to miss qualifying to State by one place given how competitive our sectional was compared to the other ones in the state”, he reflected. “I started cross country in freshman year just to have some fun and stay healthy, and I never could have imagined I would’ve reached this point”.
Both of the seniors will have the opportunity to make one last State bid in the coming track season alongside their teammates.
