The trophy cabinet at River Ridge High School just got a little more crowded with the addition of last Thursday’s Ridge & Valley conference championship plaque, won by the River Ridge girls’ cross country team.

For coach Shane Sperle and the River Ridge cross country program, it is the first conference championship since its inception in 2017.

With a team score of 27, the Timberwolves finished 18 points ahead of the second-place team from Wauzeka-Steuben.

“I have been fortunate to be a part of many titles during my career and each one has a different story and is special in its own way,” explained coach Sperle. “this one is very special to me since we have come a long way since the first year in 2017 and this group of young ladies has been working toward this moment since they were in middle school.”

Leading the River Ridge girls with a time of 22:33.9 was sophomore Alix Van Butsele, who finished first of 38 runners and captured the conference Runner of the Year award.

“Alix has been such a great addition to our team this year,” said coach Sperle. “She has won multiple races this season and has put up multiple races under 20 minutes. Her addition this season really helped us achieve school history.”

Junior teammate Leah Patterson was right behind Butsele with a third-place time of 24:08.5, to earn first-team all-conference honors, while freshman Lindsay Burmeister (24:25.9) and junior McKenzie Taylor (24:43.0) also earned first-team all-conference honors with fourth and sixth-place finishes.

For Patterson, who was out most of this season with a calf injury, it is her third first-team all-conference in an illustrious high school career.

“Leah has been the most accomplished runner and she ran a great race at the conference meet to help us win the championship,” said Sperle.

“As a freshman I knew Lindsay could help us out this season, but from day one she has been exceeding expectations,” Sperle added. “McKenzie has been probably the most improved athlete I have seen in my over 30 years of coaching. We figured we would have two top runners with Leah and Alix after the season started, but what McKenzie and Lindsay did all season made us a very good team.”

Rounding out River Ridge’s top-five runners was junior Jovie Kruger, who finished 18th overall with a time of 29:38.5.

Also, earning a spot on the All-Sportsmanship Team from River Ridge was junior Chloe West.

On the boys’ side, River Ridge finished fifth of five teams with a score of 108.

River Ridge senior Mason Pecinovsky led the T-Wolves with his 19th place finish and time of 22:27.2. He also was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team.

Pecinovsky was followed by senior teammate Colton Kirschbaum in 28th (24:56.7), senior Luke Breuer in 30th (25:21.2), sophomore Bryce Mason in 31st (25:21.7) and sophomore Adam Williams in 43rd (36:10.8).

“With no seniors on this year’s girls team we were fortunate to have three senior boys in Mason, Luke and Colton to be great leaders and role models for the girls,” said Sperle. “I am thankful to have such a great group of supportive leaders this season again.”

The Timberwolves will next compete at the D3 Prairie du Chien Sectional on Saturday, where the top two teams will advance to the WIAA State Meet, along with the first five individuals who are not members of a qualifying team.