William Krumbach of La Crosse Central ran an excellent time Thursday.

He still wasn’t close to Tomah’s Derek Storkel.

Storkel won his eighth race of the season at the La Crosse Central Cross Country Invite held at La Crosse’s Forest Hills Golf Club. His winning time was 15 minutes, 50 seconds, 22 seconds ahead of Krumbach. Nobody else ran the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course faster than 16:42.

Tomah coach Bruce Luebke said Storkel seized control early in the race by running a blistering first mile in 4:48.

“I was surprised at the time of the second-place runner, but Derek was in control early,” Luebke said. “We were looking for Derek to run a first mile in 5:00 or 5:05. He wanted to run a better time, but that first mile may have caught up with him late in the race. It’s not like he ran a bad time, though.”

Both the Tomah boys and girls finished last in the varsity team standings even though 19 of Tomah’s 25 runners set personal records.

“Even though we struggled team-standing wise, we’re still improving,” Luebke said.

Flottmeyer leads girls

Haleigh Flottmeyer led the Tomah girls with a time of 16:34 over the 4,000-meter (2.5-mile) course. She was 25th out of 65 runners. Mel Roubik of Holmen won the race in 16:26. Runner-up Marissa Fellenz of La Crosse Central was 12 seconds behind Roubik.

The other Tomah varsity girls were: Tara Lamb (18:34), Ariel Scott (19:31), Chloe Shmays (19:40), Allison Coffey (19:45), Gabriella Mubarak (19:45) and Amber Ingwell ( 20:00).

Team scores: La Crosse Central 37, Holmen 53, West Salem 89, Viroqua 137, La Crosse Aquinas 141, La Crosse Logan 143, Cashton 189, Wisconsin Rapids 190, Arcadia 209, Tomah 267.

Coty Jensen led Tomah’s junior varsity girls with a time of 20:26. She was followed by: Hillary Byrum (21:10). Kelsey Rose (21:28), Katie Elsing (21:28) and Cassandra Bogle (25:29).

Teams scores for the jayvee race: La Crosse Central 31, Holmen 33, West Salem 80, La Crosse Aquinas 118, Wisconsin Rapids 145, Arcadia 148, Tomah 189.

Jesse Parker was Tomah’s next varsity runner after Storkel. His time was 19:58. The rest of the Tomah varsity runners were: Jacob Waddell (20:19), Kyle Laylan (20:49), Michael Wilde (20:49), Mitch Rezin (21:06) and Chris Laylan (21:23).

Teams scores in the boys race: Eastview (Minn.) 53, La Crosse Central 56, Holmen 106, La Crosse Aquinas 106, Viroqua 131, Wisconsin Rapids 140, West Salem 144, Arcadia 198, Tomah 223.

In the junior varsity race, Zach Humpal was the Timberwolves’ best runner. His time was 20:54. The other jayvee boys were: Jacob Rezin (21:25), Kevin Kirsch (21:46), Skylar McCarthy (21:53), John Lanska (22:02) and Danny White (24:09).

Jayvee team scores: Eastview (Minn.) 15, Holmen 59, La Crosse Central 71, West Salem 125, Wisconsin Rapids 147, Arcadia 156, La Crosse Aquinas 211, Tomah 218.

Next on the schedule is Tuesday’s Tomah Invitational, the Timberwolves’ only home meet of the season.

The girls varsity/junior varsity race begins at 4:15, followed by the boys at 5 p.m.

The field includes DeForest, Chippewa Falls, New Lisbon and La Crosse Logan (boys only).