October 4, 2017 at 2:37 p.m.
Lightning halts race with Franson leading
Lightning halts race with Franson leading
This time, however, it was Mother Nature who beat Franson as lightning prompted race officials to cancel the girls' portion of the Northland Pines Invitational.
Franson was engaged in a battle with Three Lakes' Kortnie Volk as the runners neared the two-mile mark of the roughly three-mile race. That's when the race was called with lightning in the distance.
"I was honestly so surprised," Franson said of the race's abrupt ending. "Both me and Kortnie are good rivals and it was going to be a good fight to the finish. I'm disappointed that I can't see how it ends now. I don't know, it's just disappointing."
Franson had approximately a one-second lead on Volk when the race was called. There were no official results. In essence, the race never happened.
With thunder in the distance, race officials pushed ahead the start of the girls' race by five minutes, a last-second call that prevented Medford's team from getting to the starting line on time. Rumbles of thunder could be heard much of the way, though the cell that prompted the cancellation of the girls' race bypassed the Northland Pines campus without producing any precipitation.
"Obviously, weather trumps everything," coach M.J. Laggis said. "You don't want to see a kid get hurt. It just would have been nice to get the girls' race in. It's just frustrating."
Both Franson and senior teammate Anna Struzl were running in the top 10 at the time of the cancellation.
The run was not completely in vain for the Hodag girls, however. Northland Pines will host the Great Northern Conference meet next Saturday and the team did learn some valuable information regarding the course Tuesday.
"Just to have a good pace from the start," Franson said. "I don't want to get out too strong to too slow. It was a really good pacing race for me. I felt really strong the entire race, so now I know how to feel during the one-mile mark, the two-mile mark."
Added Laggis: "It was really good that they saw the course and know what to expect at conference."
Boys finish fifth
The teams waited out the weather, and with the threat of lightning past, started the boys race at 5:20 p.m., roughly 10 minutes later than the scheduled start.
The Hodags finished fifth of six teams in the race, defeated by GNC rivals Medford, Northland Pines and Antigo.
Markus Johnson led Rhinelander with an eighth-place finish. Following a slow start, Johnson picked his way through the field and passed Antigo's Zach Morris down the stretch as he finished with a time of 18 minutes, 13.1 seconds.
"He gets stronger as it goes," Laggis said. "He was a good, strong finish, a good kick. The thing about him is first gear is mile one. He shifts into second gear and then he's at his best at the end of the race. He had a really nice time tonight and my goal for him is to peak at the right time here in the next couple weeks, finish really well at conference and into sectionals."
Jacob Weddle was 25th for Rhinelander (19:16.4), JC Adams finished 29th (19:39.1), Abe Laggis was 34th (19:59.9), Levi Smith was 45th (20:56.0), Konnor Kennedy was 48th (20:56.8) and Mathew Herman finished 49th (20:57.9).
The Hodags return to action Saturday at the Hatchet Invite in Tomahawk.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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