Don Loker City Championships - Varsity 2nd, JV 3rd

A great afternoon of racing by the Spartans at the 2026 Don Loker City Championships. The Madison area has produced a lot of talented runners that have competed at the City Championships over the years. Future state champions, national champions, and Olympians have toed the line at the Madison City Championships and although the meet might be small in number of teams the competition is always in big in depth and talent. This year was no different and our Spartans came prepared to battle. The team is running well at the right time of year and our varsity started the night off with a bang. Our guys battle for 1st place through the first half of the race, before the Lancers pulled away over second half (we will see LaFollette again at Conference and Sectionals) but finished a very solid 2nd, our highest finish since 2021. Individually, Charlie G led with a hard-earned 5th place finish and PR of 16:28. Berndt was close behind in 10th place and with another sub 17 time on the season. Paul K and Max B both also ran PRs and Patrick H and Ian G rounded things out with 24th and 25th place finishes and solid races. It is great to see this group keep improving from week-to-week as we head into the end of the season.

Our JV squad finished a strong 3rd place and were battling for the win throughout the entire race. We also saw some big time drops as these guys let the strong competition push them to lots of PRs. They were led by top 10 finishes from Anthony L and Bowen D. Bowen ran a PR of 18:31 and was followed by Henry M who also ran a big PR of 18:39. Henry S also ran a huge PR of over 1-minute to get 19:10 and be the 5th finisher for the Spartans. There were tons of other PRs from Levi B (first sub 24), Eli B (first sub 20), Grey H, Miguel M (first sub 25), Ethan P, Kaiden S, Eli S (first sub 23), Owen G, Devon M, Jacob S, Milo L, Jaxon P, Coda S, Ryan S, and Walter S (first sub 20). The young guys on this team showed some great effort and were rewarded with nice PRs....who from this group can make the big jump in the off-season to challenge for a varsity spot? S These guys prepare for their final meet of the season at the Big 8 Conference Championship but have many future races in their lifetime where they will continue to run faster as they continue to embrace this sport and their training. 

RESULTS
Badger State Timing - Live Results

NEXT COMPETITION
Saturday October 17th
Big Eight Conference Championships
@ Janesville - Black Hawk Golf Course (Course)
Bus = 7:30am
10:05 = Boys Varsity (Box 1)
11:15 = Boys JV (Box 1)
~11:50 = Awards - top 16 finishers in each race

NEWS & NOTES
--> Team picture on Thursday. Remember your uniform!

--> Thurs & Fri practice this week still at normal schedule time (4:00pm)
--> JV Runners will have optional practices on Monday-Tuesday next week to run a last chance mile on the track (We will pick the day with the best weather to run the mile)

--> JV runners turn in uniforms and other checked out items next week
--> Only varsity runners preparing for Sectionals will have required practice Oct 20th & beyond 

- For all the photographers - Upload pictures here https://photos.app.goo.gl/XCx5pYMw4uhwsVht8

- Sign up for meet snacks - https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0948AEA72CA3FB6-65337408-memorial?useFullSite=false