Huskies finish third in GMC meet by razor-thin margin

West Allis - The results will show that the West Allis Hale boys cross country team placed third in Saturday's Greater Metro Conference Meet, but it was not a typical third place by any means.

The Huskies tallied 62 points to finish just one point behind co-champions Brookfield East and Marquette, which both totaled 61 points.

"That was the closest finish in GMC history," said Hale head coach Ron Kurtz. "The GMC is also the toughest cross country conference in the state, with five teams rated in the top 25 in Wisconsin."

Hale is sixth in the state, while Wauwatosa East was eighth, Marquette 11th, Brookfield East 13th and Brookfield Central 25th. In Saturday's meet, Tosa East finished fifth and Brookfield Central fourth.

The Huskies were led by Milan Stojanovic in seventh place with 16 minutes, 28 seconds and Sam Gagliano in eighth (16:30). Both earned first-team all-conference berths.

Daniel Nelson came in 10th (16:45) and Robert Effinger 13th (16:50), and they both claimed second-team spots. Tony Lozano captured 24th (17:08) and was named to the third all-conference group.

Tim Ebben ran 46th (18:06), Alec Krause 57th (18:45) and Bailey Keune 61st (19:22) for the Huskies.

Kurtz said times were slow, with no personal bests, as the meet was run in rain showers.

The Hale girls squad finished sixth with 149 points, overcoming the loss of a shoe.

"Ellie Probst's foot was stepped on during the race, and her shoe came off before the half-mile mark," girls head coach Terry Labinski said. "She ran great the rest of the race without one shoe."

In fact, Probst led the Huskies with 15th place (15:59), earning second-team all-conference honors.

Madison Mihaljevic took 18th (16:02) and made third-team all-conference, while April Koshen came in 32nd (personal-best 16:32), Caroline Daniels 40th (personal-best 16:56), Elizabeth Elliott 44th (17:08), Emily Zelten 51st (17:28) and Jenna Freund 53rd (17:35).

Both teams will now compete in a WIAA Division 1 sectional meet at Washington Park on Oct. 20. The boys will run at 11 a.m. and the girls at 11:45 a.m., with the top two teams advancing to the state meet.