CROSS COUNTRY: Falcons’ Patel, Capra move to state

Westosha Central runners Sheel Patel, a senior, along with junior Meghan Capra qualified for the WIAA Division 1 state cross country meet in Wisconsin Rapids Saturday.
Westosha Central runners Sheel Patel, a senior, along with junior Meghan Capra qualified for the WIAA Division 1 state cross country meet in Wisconsin Rapids Saturday.

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

When Westosha Central High School senior Sheel Patel entered the cross country season, he had a mission to duplicate the performance of recent graduate Jacob Hebior, who was last year’s Southern Lakes Conference Runner of the Year and WIAA Division 1 sectional champion.

Patel nearly accomplished that mission, after he won the SLC meet, and finished third at the Kenosha Bradford sectional held on the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus Oct. 22 to make his first state appearance.

The WIAA Division 1 state meet is scheduled for Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids.

As a team, the Falcons finished 11th of 12 schools, with Muskego and Tremper moving onto the state meet in Wisconsin Rapids this weekend.

“He was inspired and driven by Jacob and has made it a goal this year to replicate Jacob’s success,” said Falcons coach Keith Olsen, who believed in Patel all season.

“We were pretty confident in Sheel’s ability all year, but I agree, his recent races, particularly county, Falcon and conference gave him the confidence in himself to run with anyone at sectionals and qualify.”

Patel is not the only athlete to qualify, however, with junior Meghan Capra making another state appearance following her seventh place sectional finish.

Capra, who clocked in at 19 minutes, 52.2 seconds, came up less than five seconds from making a top five appearance.

“Meghan is a talented, hard working and very goal-driven athlete,” Olsen said. “Those three things together make an athlete dangerous no matter what the sport.”

The Falcon girls, who finished sixth as a team, nearly had another qualifier in freshman Heaven Anderson.

Anderson just missed qualifying after the finished more than seven seconds behind the last individual qualifier, Badger’s Amara Trent, who finished 10th.

“Heaven is another talented runner,” Olsen said. “Here again we knew we had something pretty special here but always want the freshman to grow into the sport a little before we start pushing or raising expectations.”

The expectations, however, were raised when Anderson and Capra teamed up to help the Falcons win the SLC meet a week earlier, wrestling it away from defending champion Badger.

“That win was huge and not many saw us coming that day,” Olsen said. “The girls really rallied and now in hindsight definitely had their best race that day.”

For Wilmot, two runners finished in the top 30, senior Ryan Ott, who finished 22nd at 17:30 and sophomore Jordan Paulsen’s 26th place finish at 17:18.7.

Freshman Tara Nopenz was the Panthers best overall finisher, taking 17th with a time of 20:50.09.

BOYS RESULTS: 1. Muskego 101, 2. Tremper 106, 3. Bradford 111, 4. Badger 124, Oak Creek 147, 6. Racine Horlick 150, 7. Racine Case 152, 8. Franklin 167, 9. Wilmot 203, 10. Indian Trail 215, 11. Westosha Central 238, 12. Racine Park 272.
Westosha: 3. Sheel Patel 16:24.0, 50. Colton Greenhill 18:03.6, 52. Mason Hedrick 18:07.9, 65. Trevor Silber 18:40.9, 68. Jacob Yule 18:41.9.
Wilmot: 22. Ryan Ott 17:30.0, 26. Jordan Paulsen 17:18.7, 40. Alex Wank 17:45.3, 57. Kyle Diedrich 18:23, 58. Shawn Davis 18:27.6.

GIRLS RESULTS: 1. Muskego 41, 2. Franklin 75, 3. Oak Creek 102, 4. Indian Trail 103, 5. Badger 130, 6. Westosha Central 148, 7. Bradford 157, 8. Racine Horlick 193, 9. Tremper 206, 10. Wilmot 273.
Westosha: 7. Meghan Capra 19:52.2, 11. Heaven Anderson 20:35.4, 39. Lindsey Kimpler 21:44.4, 43. MacKenzie Maccaux 22:13.3, 51. Haley Trecker 22:34.7.
Wilmot: 17. Tara Nopenz 20:50.9, 64. Zoe Glass 23:24.3, 68. Gretta Cieslak 24:04.8, 69. Stephanie Nuccio 24:13.6, 71. Barbara Cooper 24:22.5, 72. Katie Strother 24:54.


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