The DeForest High School girls' and boys' cross country teams faced their toughest competition of the season last Saturday during the River Valley Invitational, and both squads more than held their own.
The Lady Norskies came away with 205 team points to finish in sixth place in the Large Division, while the DHS boys' squad was seventh in the Large Division with 213 points.
Dodgeville-Mineral Point claimed the girls' title with 71 points.
On the boys' side, Madison LaFollette earned the crown with an impressive score of 34.
Anna Howery was the only member of the DeForest girls' squad that finished in the Top 20, as she was 17th with her time of 16 minutes, 34 seconds.
Katie Williams was the second Lady Norski to cross the finish-line, and she did so in 17:14 to take 39th place. Teammate Sarah Hoekstra (17:15) was right behind her in 40th place.
The Norskies' Rachel Campbell worked her way around the course in 17:38, and she finished in 53rd place.
Janelle Skora rounded out the scoring for DeForest, as she was 56th with her time of 17:45.
Larissa Schlitz (58th, 17:46) and Lizzy Owen (76th, 18:18) also ran for the Lady Norskies, but they did not factor into the team score.
Meanwhile, Kyle Eisler had the best finish among all DHS runners, and he led the boys' team with his 10th-place finish. He was able to record an impressive time of 17:25.
Josh Knuteson did his part to the keep the Norskies in position for a Top 10 team finish, as he clocked in a t 18:18 to finish in 24th place.
Adam Woods (18:55) and Justin Hageman (18:56) helped the cause by finishing back-to-back in 54th and 55th place, respectively.
Matt Engelhardt (19:00) finished in 60th place to close out the scoring for the DHS boys' team.
Casey Paplow (82nd, 19:49) and Tyler Grinstead (94th, 20:27) competed but did not count toward the Norskies' team total.
Reedsburg's Brea Goodman (14:55) won the individual title on the girls' side, while Alex Brill (16:03) was the winner on the boys' side.
On Saturday, the Norskies will take part in the Belleville Invitational at 9 a.m.
