Memorial’s cross-country season for both boys and girls has now come to an end for both teams, with Memorial boys freshman Will Lisowski-Semb qualifying for the state cross country meet, held in Wisconsin Rapids on October 28, 2023. 

The meet results for varsity from the season are as follows, with JV being found in the compiled results. Varsity typically runs seven individuals, the top five of which score based on place in a race. The lowest score out of the teams wins. 

Saturday, September 2nd – Verona Invitational – Verona, WI 

Boys – 11th out of 31 teams 

Girls – 24th out of 27 teams 

Thursday, September 7th – Arrowhead Invitational – Hartland, WI 

Girls – 17th out of 18 teams 

Saturday, September 9th – Monona Grove Invitational – Monona Grove, WI 

Boys – There were no official results for this invite, as the boy’s team had initially planned to go to the Stan Druckery in South Milwaukee, but the bus arrived around an hour late, so the team ran untimed in Monona Grove. 

Tuesday, September 12th – Big 8 Grade Level Challenge – Madison, WI

Note that team scores were calculated based on the combined highest places of runners from each race, meaning that high scorers in the freshman/sophomore race could contribute to team scores. Also, not all teams run their full varsity at this meet. 

Boys – 4th out of 9 teams (VPM freshman Will Lisowski-Semb wins frosh/soph race) 

Girls – 5th out of 8 teams 

Saturday, September 16th – Smiley Invitational – Wausau, WI 

Boys – 9th out of 21 teams 

Saturday, September 23rd – Midwest Invitational – Janesville, WI 

Boys – 33rd out of 50 teams 

Girls – 38th out of 42 teams 

Saturday, September 30th – Stoughton Invitational – Stoughton, WI 

Boys – DNF out of 8 teams (Varsity ran 5 and had a runner injured during the race)

Girls – 6th out of 7 teams

Friday, October 6th – Don Loker Madison City Championships – Madison, WI 

Boys – 5th out of 5 teams (Had two runners drop mid-race)

Girls – 5th out of 6 teams 

Saturday, October, 14th – Big 8 Conference Championships – Verona, WI 

Boys – 8th out of 10 teams 

Girls – 7th out of 9 teams 

Saturday, October 21 – WIAA D1 Sectional – Verona – Verona, WI 

Boys – 7th out of 12 teams 

(VPM freshman Will Lisowski-Semb places 8th overall and qualifies as an individual for the WIAA state meet) 

Girls – 9th out of 10 teams 

Saturday, October 28 – WIAA State Cross Country Championships – Wisconsin Rapids, WI 

VPM freshman Will Lisowski-Semb places 57th out of 190 runners with a time of 16:47.80 

The state meet at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids, WI is one of the hardest courses in the state, with a relatively flat first mile followed by constant hills the last ⅔ of the race. That being said, the competition is the best that the state of Wisconsin has to offer, with this year’s top two places running 15:05.80 and 15:09.70 respectively. After qualifying as an individual out of the sectional meet, Will Lisowski-Semb got the chance to race at the state meet and ended up running his best race of the season. Not only was the time of 16:47.80 a PR by over 20 seconds for him, but he was also the third freshman in the state, only behind Ryan Keller (27th, Hudson, 16:19.50) and WIll Pongonis (29th, Eau Claire Memorial, 16:22.10), both of which qualified with teams. 

Congratulations to Will and both teams for great seasons!