August 25, 2017 at 2:33 p.m.
Franson finishes 2nd in home invite
Franson finishes 2nd in home invite
It wasn't meant to be, however, as Wausau West's Brooke Jaworski caught and passed Franson in the final 150 meters as Franson settled for second place in the Hodag Invitational Thursday in front of RHS.
It was the second runner-up finish in three days for Franson, who was beaten by Lakeland's Ashley Peterson Tuesday at the Ted Voigt Invite in Minocqua. Franson, who has lofty expectations of defending her Great Northern Conference title and vying for a podium finish at the WIAA state meet in October, said she's pleased with her results so far.
"I've worked really hard this summer for early in the season," she said. "I'm mainly working on improving times from last year, which I cut almost 30 seconds off of Minocqua Winter Park. This meet I really wanted to get down to the 19s, but it was a good race. I closed the gap with Brooke definitely. Last year she was about 15 seconds ahead of me. I'm glad I closed the gap with her."
From the start, it was clear the race would come down to Jaworski and Franson, who ran 1-2 the entire five-kilometer distance. Jaworski led Franson much of the race before Franson rallied in the final mile to take the lead.
"Brooke's a great runner and they dueled the whole race," Hodag coach M.J. Laggis said. "Alayna was staying right on her heels, then Alayna got her and Brooke was probably playing a little possum there at the end. (She kicked) hard and beat Alayna right before the finish line."
Jaworski posted a winning time of 20 minutes, 1.1 seconds, 3.5 seconds ahead of Franson. The two finished nearly a minute ahead of third-place Mariah Haight of Wausau East.
Franson agreed that Jaworski, the reigning Division 1 state champion and record holder in the 400-meter dash, likely saved a little extra for the finish. Franson, on the other hand, said she didn't have anything left in the tank for the final 100 meters and regretted not trying to open up more of a lead in the final mile.
"I was debating whether to save a little energy for the end or go for it. I guess I learned I should just go for it when I feel it," she said in hindsight. "I felt like coming out of the woods I could have gone a little faster and then I kind of wasted that opportunity."
Franson will likely have another crack at Jaworski next month at the Bill Smiley Invitational in Wausau and will see Lakeland's Peterson several times during the fall season. Franson said finishing second to the two in August will fuel her for later in the season.
"It's good to have some motivation and competition early in the season," she said. "It makes me want to work harder during the off weeks where we don't have any weeks to push to beat them. It's nice to have a target on their backs."
Hodag girls finish sixth
Franson's runner-up performance highlighted a sixth-place finish for the Hodags out of seven teams in the larger "senior" division of the competition.
Rhinelander was without No. 2 runner Anna Sturzl for the race and the remainder of Rhinelander's varsity finished toward the middle of the 135-runner field.
Junior Allie Fugle finished 46th overall (25:34.1), Claire Bowman was 62nd, (26:54.6), Lexi Morrison was 71st (27:40.7), Jenna Younker took 76th (27:53.0), Houston Mathwig was 79th (28:05.0) and Abby Krueger rounded out the varsity, taking 91st (28:42.5).
"Anna would have definitely helped. She would have been up there and given us a little more scorability," Laggis said. "Behind that, we have a pack of three runners we need to get a lot quick, and we will. We'll work hard on it. Allie Fugle's improved a ton and she was up there today. Then we've got to get a fourth and a fifth clipping a little bit faster and I hope that will sort itself out. All we can do is keep working at it."
Wisconsin Valley Conference schools Wausau West, D.C. Everest, Wausau East and Merrill took the top four spots in the Senior Division, followed by GNC schools Northland Pines, Rhinelander and Antigo.
The Hodags race again Sept. 5 at Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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