Just two days after winning the first of two Trailways Conference meets, the Pardeeville girls cross country squad continued its impressive surge with a first place finish at the Westfield Classic at Westfield Area High School on Thursday afternoon.

Led by senior Samantha Bluske's second place finish with a time of 16 minutes, 53 seconds, Pardeeville got three runners in the top seven and its top five in the top 19 en route to beating Marshall by three points for the meet title. Bluske's performance was especially impressive, considering she is fighting illness and as of Wednesday, planned on sitting out the Westfield meet, before deciding to enter the race on Thursday.

"Sam has been really sick. We actually (decided) yesterday, we weren't going to run her," Pardeeville head coach Wes Babcock said. "She really ran, I thought great, for the way she's been feeling. She was just hacking and wheezing and is in terrible shape."

Pardeeville freshman Anne Ritter put together another strong race for the Bulldogs, finishing third, just 10 seconds behind Bluske with a time of 17:03. Brooke Jarchow turned in her second straight strong performance, finishing seventh at 18:23. Rounding out Pardeeville's top five were Chelsea Becker in 13th (18:57) and Danielle Jarchow in 19th (19:34).

After getting a big break at the first conference meet on Tuesday, when the Bulldogs beat a heavily favored Oshkosh Lourdes squad that was without it's top runner, Babcock said his team can focus on improving for sectionals with hopes of qualifying as a team for the state meet.

"I feel good about the progress we are making. We got a long way to go yet if we're hoping to potentially qualify to go to the state meet, or maybe contend at the conference again," Babcock said.

"We should be at least co-champs, and the big focus has to be on trying to get our group tighter together so that we have a chance when we get to sectionals."

With only three runners, the Rio/Fall River girls didn't field a complete team for the meet, but did get another strong performance from freshmen Hansena Vangen, who finished fourth with a time of 17:42. Kristin Olson also finished in the top 20 for the Rebels, ending up in 18th place at 19:33.

Turning in the top performance for the host Pioneers was Thanri Jooste with an eighth-place time of 18:26.

On the boys side, Rio/Fall River's Derek Johnsrud was just four seconds behind the race winner, Hunter Weber of Marshall, finishing in second place with a time of 17:03.

The Pardeeville boys were led by senior Ryan Casey, who ended up in seventh place at 17:47. Babcock said Casey is also fighting some illness and is hoping to close the gap on Johnsrud and eventually be running with him at the end of the season.

"Ryan Casey has been running pretty consistent," Babcock said. "Ideally, that is what he is hoping to do, is be there with (Johnsrud). Derek having made it to state last year, then (Ryan) should be in contention hopefully. Down the road, that's what we're looking to see."

Casey's finish helped the Bulldogs close the gap on rival Rio/Fall River, who just edged Pardeeville by two points in the team standings after easily beating the Bulldogs at Tuesday's conference meet.

Rounding out Pardeeville's top five runners on Thursday were Steve Schultz in 27th (19:46), Jim Housner in 33rd (20:05), Adam Verbsky in 43rd (21:27 and Gino Salvatore in 48th (21:45).

Babcock said his seeing improvement from his boys squad, which doesn't have a lot of experienced runners on the roster.

"We had a good team performance from those guys. I was happy with the way they ran," Babcock said of his boys team. "I like the way they're working. They're working hard. They are definitely showing improvement. I can't ask anymore out of them. I am happy with what they're doing.'

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES: Pardeeville 44, Marshall 47, Columbus 72, Monona Grove 111, Berlin 143, Westfield/Montello 166, Rio/Fall River and Green Lake inc.

TOP INDIVIDUAL - Ashleigh Giese (Mar) 16:41.

PARDEEVILLE - 2, Sam Bluske 16:53; 3, Anne Ritter 17:03; 7, Brooke Jarchow 18:23; 13, Chelsea Becker 18:57; 19, Danielle Jarchow 19:34; 22, Hannah Hayes 19:49; 41, Lindsay Johnson 21:35. PARDEEVILLE JV - 17, Ali Neesim 21:52; 28, Elle Becker 23:21.

RIO/FALL RIVER - 4, Hansena Vangen 17:42; 18, Kristin Olson 19:33; 46, Marissa Peters 23:09.

WESTFIELD/MONTELLO - 8, Thanri Jooste 18:26; 30, Emily Clay 20:28; 40, Hannah Wagner 21:04; 43, Bobbi Burgess 22:12; 45, Kaitlin Wagner 22:18.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES: Marhsall 44, Adams-Friendship 59, Berlin 86, Columbus 132, Monona Grove 134, Rio/Fall River 156, Pardeeville 158. Westfield/Montello 164.

TOP INDIVIDUAL - Hunter Weber (Mar) 16:59.

PARDEEVILLE - 7, Ryan Casey 17:47; 27, Steve Schultz 19:46; 33, Jim Housner 20:05; 43, Adam Verbsky 21:27; 48, Gino Salvatore 21:45; 49, Taylor Wescott 21:51.

RIO/FALL RIVER - 2, Derek Johnsrud 17:03; 21, Josh Tolley 19:00; 31, Jarrad Hovland 20:02; 50, James Olrick 21:52; 52, Ryan Fry 22:17; 53, Shane Foreman 22:17.

WESTFIELD/MONTELLO - 20, Nathan Vogel 18:58; 22, Jayson Reetz 19:22; 37, Scott Gohlke 20:18; 41, John Martin 21:10; 44, Ben Krombach 21:32; 45, Patrick Manning 21:34; 51, Ryan Walker 22:06.