Hale’s Truchon, Oconomowoc win titles
TOWN OF MERTON – The dry spell is over.
In the division for the state's largest schools, the WIAA state boys cross country meet has been a time for competitors from other parts of Wisconsin to shine. West Allis Hale's Josh Truchon and Oconomowoc said enough of that Saturday.
The two scored convincing victories at the Division 1 state meet at Arrowhead. Truchon, a senior, became his school's first state cross country champion by scorching the 5,000-meter course with a time of 15 minutes 18.3 seconds. That was almost 20 seconds head of Slinger senior Cael Grotenhuis, who finished in 15:38 for his second straight second-place finish.
Oconomowoc was a first-time champion as well. Led by senior Phillip Houston, who finished 26th in 16:33.1, and sophomores Hayden Triebold (16:38.3) and Zachariah Vance (16:39.5), who finished 31st and 32nd, the Raccoons scored 109 points, 20 better than second-place Marquette.
The win marked the third victory of the season for Oconomowoc at Arrowhead after winning the Classic 8 Conference and subsectional meets there.
“We kind of went into the race with the mindset that the only thing we have control over is how we race In our wave or our heat,” said Oconomowoc's Joel Heroux, who shares head coaching duties with Jeff Tortomasi. “We went in with the mindset of we have to run our race, we have to take care of ourselves.”
Oconomowoc's and Truchon's big days capped a COVID-19-adjusted state meet like none other.
Usually the meet is run at one venue, Rapids Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids,
but this year the three divisions were run at different sites. At those sites, the field was split into three sessions to help mitigate the potential spread of coronavirus.
Under those conditions, La Crosse Aquinas won the Division 2 title at Colby High School and Sheboygan Lutheran won the Division 3 crown at Maple Grove Venues in West Salem. Madison Edgewood senior Leo Richmond and Durand junior Parker Schneider were the respective individual champions in those divisions.
Like the other race sites, the format meant racing and waiting. Truchon ran in the first session and finished at about 10:30 a.m., more than six hours before the final results were known. Oconomowoc ran in the second session and had about a three-hour wait for results.
“With this COVID era, we're trying to be hyper-aware so the team stuck together and hung out at one of our team members' backyards, so they were all able to find out together,” Heroux said. “The coaches were at school. We chatted on the phone as soon as we found out the results.”
While Oconomowoc earned as a state favorite as the season went on. Truchon was one of the runners to beat from Day 1.
A state qualifier the previous three seasons, he took 21st as a sophomore and his fourth-place finish last season made him the No. 2 returner in the division behind Grotenhius.
He was undefeated as a senior, staying locked in mentally in his final race to win convincingly.
Truchon's closest competition in his session, Shorewood sophomore Nathan Cumberbatch, was about 32 seconds off Truchon's pace.
“I was just looking to go out and run my race. Whatever time I got is what I got,” Truchon said.