Girls, boys in final meet of season or career; Liana Blomgren wins hearts with her sportsmanship in girls race
No Mountain Lake Area (MLA) Wolverine boys or girls cross country runners are advancing to the Minnesota State Class A Meet, but, in the girls 5,000-meter, MLA senior Liana Blomgren won the hearts of fans and runners with her unselfish act of sportsmanship – which, unfortunately, ended up with her disqualification (DQ).
During the girls run at Section 3A in Luverne yesterday (Thursday, October 27), Blomgren, who has qualified for state in the past, closed out her career by assisting Windom Area High School eighth-grader Gracie Bucher across the finish line. Bucher, too, was DQ’d. Bucher collapsed in the final 100 meters of the race, and Blomgren, who was running just behind her, assisted Bucher to her feet – and ran with her the rest of the way to the chute.
As for the rest of the girls race, Luverne’s Madison Schandelmeier, a senior and now a three-time gold medal winner, and eighth-grader Ragan Feit were 1-2, Schandelmeier taking the title with a time of 19:22.30, followed by Feit at 19:31.70.
The Cardinals went on to claim the girls team championship with 42 points. The second-place team, Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd (70 points) also advances as a unit to St. Olaf.
Canby/Minneota was third in the girls’ team standings with 122 points, followed by Redwood Valley (143), Pipestone Area (169), Murray County Central/Fulda) (203), Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (244), Jackson County Central (252), Southwest Christian/Edgerton (284), Montevideo (324), Mountain Lake Area (339), Heron Lake-Okabena (342), Windom Area (348), Ortonville (398), Springfield/Cedar Mountain/Comrey (405), Adrian (407), Yellow Medicine East (416), Bird Island/Olivia/Lake Lillian/Danube (427), Wabasso (428) and Hendricks (471). Community Christian School of Willmar, Maynard/Clara City/Raymond-Renville County West and Lakeview were .each incomplete.
The girls advancing to the state meet include the individual top eight, and additional state qualifiers (or, the top eight individuals not on the two qualifying teams. All who move on include – 1 – Schandelmeier (Luverne) 19:22.30; 2 – Feit (Luverne) 19:31.70; 3 – Sadie Thompson (Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd) 19:37.60; 4 – Morgan Gehl (Murray County Central/Fulda) 19:44.10; 5 – Lauren Karnitz (Redwood Valley) 19:51.60; 6 – Jordan Sterud (Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd) 19:56.40; 7 – Christiana Green (Windom Area) 19:49; 8 – Carissa VanderWal (Ortonville) 20:01.60 and additional qualifiers – 9. Livia Wallace (Pipestone) 20:04.40; 12. Emily Gillingham (Canby-Minneota) 20:16.70; 13. Angel Martens (Pipestone Area) 20:20.30 and 14. McKenzie Ruether (Canby-Minnesota) 20:23.
Here is how the Wolverine girls finished:
+ Mercedes Saengosoth, 34th overall. 21:49.80.
+ Anika Fast, 50th overall, 22:27.10.
+ Jordan Wright, 80th overall, 23:50.80.
+ Olivia Klassen, 82nd overall, 23:53.20.
+ Sara Quiring, 103rd overall, 25:09.50.
+ Chloe Klassen, 115th overall, 26:02.80.
One hundred forty-three girls ran the 5,000-meter course around an athletic field complex and open area on the western edge of Luverne.
Results from the boys 5K
The Windom Area boys brought home the team championship hardware, with the senior trio of senior trio of John Irwin (second, 16:22.10), Isaac Tade (seventh, 16:53.30) and Nickolas Green (eighth, 16:54.70) leading the way.
Matthew Van Eps of Community Christian School of Willmar was the first to cross the finish in the boys race with a time of 16:19.40, three seconds in front of Windom Area’s Irwin.
Boys moving on to run at the state meet include the individual top eight, and additional state qualifiers (or, the top eight individuals not on the two qualifying teams. Those who will run at state include – 1. Van Eps (Community Christian School) 16:19.40; 2. Irwin (Windom Area) 16:22.10; 3. Keiser Freetly (Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd) 16:27; 4. Matthew Kennedy (Pipestone Area) 16:29.80; 5. Anthony Wollum (Canby-Minneota) 16:37.60; 6. Kurt TeBeest (Montevideo) 16:49.70; 7. Isaac Tade (Windom Area) 16:53.30; 8. Nickolas Green (Windom Area) 16:54.70 and additional qualifiers – 10. Logan Knutson (Heron Lake-Okabena) 17:08.10; 11. Carter Menz (Redwood Valley) 17:11.80; 12. Justin Clarke (Murray County Central/Fulda) 17:14.50 and 13. Joshua Tastad (Montevideo) 17:23.10.
The finish placings and times for the MLA boys was as follows:
+ Ryan Blomgren, 30th, 18:16.80.
+ Aaron Fast, 32nd, 18:21.40.
+ Emilio Garcia de la Cruz, 44th, 18:43.90.
+ Emmanuel Fentanez, 67th, 19:33.40.
+ Phonesaveng Xayachack, 73rd, 19:51.90.
+ Josiah Gardiner, 77th, 20:01.60.
+ Andrew Fast, 83rd, 20:29.80.
Senior Tommy Kraemer, who has been ill for more than two weeks, according to Coach Kyle Blomgren, did not run.
There were 146 runners in the boys 5K.
Windom boys were first with 69 points, while Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd finished second, scoring 86. Both teams will run at the state meet.
Murray County Central/Fulda was third in the boys’ team standings with 114 points, followed by Pipestone Area (119), Redwood Valley (169), Montevideo (181), Canby-Minneota (210), Luverne (210), Mountain Lake Area (241), Heron Lake-Okabena (271), Bird Island-Olivia-Lake Lillian-Danube (305), Springfield/Cedar Mountain/Comfrey (315), Ortonville (391), Yellow Medicine East (409), Jackson County Central (413), Community Christian School of Willmar (414), Lakeview (433), Maynard-Clara City-Raymond/Renville County West (460), Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (551) and Wabasso (591). Adrian, Southwest Christian/Edgerton and Hendricks each ran incomplete.
The state meet will be held next Saturday, November 5, at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
