5 high school boys cross country stars of the week: Sept. 20 edition

The State Journal will recognize the accomplishments of five boys cross country runners from our coverage area each week.

The efforts may not be the greatest statistically but are notable. We then invite readers to vote for the Supernova, the performance that most stood out to you.

Here are this week's honorees.

Elijah Pabon continues to work himself back from injury

Senior Elijah Pabon is still recovering from a stress fracture he suffered during track season, but he's had a great teammate in junior Lucas Tanner to test himself against.

Pabon has finished second in most of DeForest's meets besides one to Tanner and the River Valley Blackhawk Invite was no different. Pabon finished second at 16 minutes, 3.8 seconds to Tanner's 15:43.2.

"He knows Lucas is in great shape and racing well." DeForest coach Joe Parker said. "I think it helped Elijah coming off his injury to be able to have somebody that was able to push him to maximize what fitness he did have. His fitness has started coming into shape now."

Parker said the temperature was high during the meet.

"I think Elijah handled that as well as could be expected for the amount of hard training he's been able to do during the peak summer months," Parker said.

Spencer Alf has room for improvement

McFarland coaches Andrew Garvey and Scott Fischer remember senior Spencer Alf telling them after the River Valley Blackhawk Invite that he could do better than his seventh place finish in 16:26.

Coaches said Alf is "putting on good mileage" after competing against top-tier teams at Saturday's event. He was one of the top runners for the majority of the race, which both coaches were pleased to see.

"We felt like he (started out) at a good pace," Garvey said. "For him to not have his A-plus stuff and still taking a top-10 finish and scoring only seven points for our team is pretty spectacular."

Fischer said it was "really warm" during the race and for some unknown reason, the heat usually gets to Alf.

"I think that him fighting through it and not giving up is a testament to his mental toughness," Fischer said.

Emmett Samson running fast right now

Senior Emmett Samson won the Big Eight Grade Level Challenge for the seniors and juniors race in 16:55.5 in Cross Plains.

It was consistent with his race at River Valley in which he finished 13th in 16:55.3.

"It was a great day for him," Madison La Follette coach Brady Nichols said. "He's one of our leaders."

Nichols said Samson made a conscious effort of starting both races faster than the weekend before. He got out stronger and more in front of the pack in both meets.

Eric Thuesen 2 seconds off personal best

Middleton coach Brian Finnel was pleased with how junior Eric Thuesen ran at the River Valley Blackhawk Invite.

Finnel said Thuesen's 16:57 was "2 seconds off his personal best," which was good for 14th.

"He's been pretty consistent under 17 minutes," Finnel said. "I was really happy with his race. I thought he moved up well and maintained position, especially in that last mile."

After the halfway point of River Valley, Finnel felt Thuesen moved up the leaderboard "pretty good." He was second among his teammates.

Finnel said Thuesen is a better runner because he's getting more experience and still learning about himself as he's now one of the top two runners on the team.

"I really think he's going to dip his toes more into the 16:40s and beyond," Finnel said. "He's really blossomed. ... He's really come on strong."

Aaron Yarbro moves up Verona's leaderboard

Junior Aaron Yarbro moved up Verona's all-time record times when he ran a 16:23.9 for second place at the Monona Grove Invite.

He moved up to 17th all-time, which pleased coach Matt Cooper.

"We knew the course is fast, being on a golf course as apposed to the first couple of races we did," Cooper said. "We're on hillier terrain where the footing isn't as good. We knew this could be a fast day for the guys."

Cooper said Yarbro is a gritty racer, who isn't scared to get out to a fast pace in the first mile, which he maintained. He also made a lot of ground between him and the competitors.

"His aerobic strength to just be able to endure for a long period of time just carried him to a good time," Cooper said.