The Valders Vikings are right where they’re supposed to be in early November, participating in the WIAA State Cross Country meet in Wisconsin Rapids.
The Vikings surprised many by finishing second in both the boys’ and girls’ Division Three sectional meet last Saturday at Meadow Links in Manitowoc, thus punching their state ticket for a second consecutive year.
Head Coach Marci Skaletski tells SeehaferNews.com she couldn’t be prouder of these kids.
“This year we had a very young crew. Almost all our team are underclassmen with a total of three seniors combined among the boys’ and girls’ teams,” she explained. “It’s been a rebuilding year, but they kept working hard and pushing themselves to be better. They kept focused, continually surprising themselves, and eventually it just all fell into place.”
Valders and cross country go together like peanut butter and jelly.
The Vikings have been one of the most dominant programs in the state over the last several years, winning three straight boys titles from 2017 to 2019 and another in 2021.
The girls are no chopped liver, having finished as Division Two runners-up in 2021 and third in the 2022 Division Three field.
Senior Owen Kreuger describes the winning formula for this team in 2025, calling “Marci (Skaletski) is a good coach. She led us to the state meet last year and we have one of the hardest courses to train on in eastern Wisconsin. I feel like we use these to our advantage. Along with leadership from the upperclassmen, we feel we have a chance to only compete but beat quality competition.”
Kreuger refers to Kevin Halvorsen, who’s an alternate runner for the Vikings.
The lone remaining senior is Clara Sieracki, who is the captain of the girls’ team. She qualified for state as a sophomore for the Roncalli/Valders girls gymnastics team, ironically held in Wisconsin Rapids.
She says that experience helped her impart knowledge to her younger teammates.
“I feel like I have experience from that (state appearance),” she told SeehaferNews.com. “Bringing that over to cross country certainly helped us, it’s all about team. We help each other as it’s all about the team and not just one individual.”
The Vikings aren’t predicted to do too well, according to the pundits, with some picking the boys to finish last in the Division Three field.
“That’s just fine”, says Coach Skaletski, who just wants the kids to embrace the entirety of the moment.
“It’s amazing what they’ve accomplished as a young team this season,” she said with pride. “We’re going to go over there (Wisconsin Rapids) and soak up the experience and learn something while we are there. We’re going to have fun and plan to run our best race of the season.”
The boys run at noon, and the girls’ race is at 1:45 Saturday afternoon.
