CROSS COUNTRY: Alayna Franson finishes 14th at state
STAR JOURNAL REPORT
Rhinelander High School junior Alayna Franson closed out the cross country season Saturday when she placed 14th out of 152 finishers at the Division 2 State Meet held at the Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.
“She had the goal of finishing in the top 20 and that is exactly what she did,” said RHS head coach M.J. Laggis. “We are really proud of her not just for the accomplishment, but more importantly for her work ethic in practice.”
Franson’s time on the 5,000-meter course of 19 minutes, 53.71 seconds, was 1:32.23 off the winning time of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau sophomore Dana Feyen. Franson, who was the Hodags’ only state qualifier this year, also came 25.39 seconds short of finishing in the top 10 and receiving a medal.
“Alayna now will be setting goals for next year and what she needs to do to break into that top 10 at the state meet,” Laggis said. “If you want to do well against the best in the state, you have to train like that. Her preparations will start in the off season and carry her into her senior year. We are all very happy for her and the season she had.”
This was Franson’s second time competing at state. In 2014, when RHS was in Division 1, she finished 49th in 19:39.67.
In this year’s girls team competition, East Troy won the Division 2 state title with the top score of 88 and Luxemburg-Casco took home the runner-up trophy at 108. Lakeland, which won the sectional that the Hodags competed in, ended up 12th at state with a score of 275.
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.