Oregon's cross country teams got in a pair of meets last week, competing at the Madison West Invitational and the Badger Challenge.
Madison West Invitational
Morgan Engelhart shaved nearly 30 seconds off her time from the Verona Invitational to finish fifth overall at Thursday's Madison West Invitational at the Yahara cross country course in 15 minutes, 34 seconds.
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"Morgan had a fantastic race - a solid start, strong, but controlled throughout and she moved up confidently," head coach Doug Debroux said.
Sisters Annie and Allie Heifner were separated by nine seconds (16:34 and 16:34), finishing in 24th and 29th place, respectively.
There was also nine seconds between Oregon's final two varsity scorers, Kali Jahn and Katie Jeffris, who placed 43rd and 47th in 17:07 and 17:16.
"Having a teammate next to each other is something we stress and something that can help the girls pull each other," Debroux said. "The closer we can get our pack to Morgan, the stronger we'll be as a team."
Oregon finished fifth overall with 148 points, 21 behind former Badger South rival Verona. Sectional rival Janesville Craig won the invitational with 101 points, 10 ahead of Waukesha West (111) and 23 in front of Madison West (124).
On the boys side, it was once again Matt Mixdorf and Matt Bakken leading the pack. Mixdorf finished two seconds ahead of Bakken in 17:26 for 24th place.
It would be 36 spots and a minute-and-a-half before the next Panther reached the finish line as Luke Belanus placed 60th in 18:56.
Tyler Hale and Gus Schermetzler were Oregon's fourth and fifth runners, finishing in 19:31 and 19:40 for 76th and 79, respectively.
"Our No. 3 through 6 runners are gaining more confidence and now we have to start seeing those results in meets," Debroux said.
The Panthers finished 10th overall as a team with 264 points, 32 ahead of McFarland and well in front of Stoughton (329).
Badger South favorite Monroe was the top conference finisher with 137 points, good for fifth place, while Madison West won the meet with 40.
Janesville Craig (65) and Verona (116) rounded out the top three.
Badger Challenge
Oregon traveled to Waunakee's Ripp Park on Tuesday to take part in the Badger Challenge.
Scored based on the top five times from the fresh/soph and junior/senior races, Stephanie Copp lead the way for the girls with a time of 18:31.
Sandy Hughes (18:45), Meghan Zernick (18:51), Megan Hagstrom (18:55) and Genny Schulz-Welo (19:01) rounded out the varsity scorers, all placing with 16 seconds of one another.
Bakken and Mixdorf paced Oregon's pack in the boys race as the Panthers finished with a total time of 96 minutes, 8 seconds.
Bakken and Mixdorf both clocked times of 17:57.
Bleanus (19:33), Tyler Hale (20:18) and Connor MacWilliams 20:23 rounded out the top five.
Monroe won the meet in 90:06, while Sauk Prairie and Fort Atkinson finished in 90:24 and 90:40, respectively.
The Panthers return to action this Saturday in Wausau at the Smiley Invitational before heading to the Midwest Invitational in Janesville on Saturday, Sept. 27.
