Three boys finish in top ten; Saengosoth leads girls
Wolverine boys and girls cross country runners took flight yesterday (Monday, September 18) at the Eagle Invitational, run on a fairly flat, fast – and wet (due to rain and mist) – Windom Country Club course.
One hundred varsity boys runners, representing 11 schools, ran the 5000-meter, with Lukas Pierson (from Butterfield-Odin) running for St. James Area and Nathan Runck (from Red Rock Central) running for Mountain Lake Area (MLA) once again finishing 1-2. Both runners completed the loops under 17 minutes. Pierson, the Minnesota State Class A ninth-ranked runner, pulled away over the final 500 meters and finished with a first-place time of 16:32.9 for his third straight meet victory. Runck (Class A’s 11th-ranked runner – and who is participating in cross country for the first time this fall season) took to the chute at 16:45.3. Coming in third was Springfield’s Mitchell Buerkle with 17:25.3.
Two other Wolverines ran the course to top 10 placings. Dalton Piotter was fifth at 17:35 and Ryan Blomgren finished seventh with 17:45.
Additional Wolverine boys varsity runners were:
- Emilio de la Cruz Garcia – 17th, 18:49.
- Josiah Gardiner – 19th, 19:06.
- Emmanuel Fentanez – 36th, 20:18.
- Bubba Xayachak – 46th, 20:50.
- Logan Pankonin – 57th, 21:33.
- Dima Hanson – 62nd, 21:55.
- Paxton Morin – 71st, 22:36.
- Daniel Gardiner – 91st, 24:55.
St. James Area claimed the team title with the low score of 29 points (1-4-6-8-10), with MLA finishing in second with a score of 45 (2-5-7-15-16). Other team finishes had Windom Area third with 84 points (11-14-17-19-23); followed by Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet (LC-WM/N), 127; Heron Lake-Okabena (HL-O), 146; Springfield/Cedar Mountain (S/CM), 154;, Southwest Christian/Edgerton (SWC/E), 181; Sleepy Eye Unified (SEU), 217 and Ellsworth, 231. Adrian ran incomplete.
On the girls varsity side, 89 runners completed the 5K. LC-WM/N’s MaKenna Thurston, Class A’s seventh-ranked girls runner won with a time of 19:30.7.
Wolverine Mercedes Saengosoth stepped up to run the varsity contest, coming in first for the Maroon-and-Silver at 17th overall, finishing with a time of 22:12.
Other varsity girls runners included:
- Anika Fast – 30th, 23:47.
- Olivia Klassen – 41st, 24:59.
- Sara Quiring – 50th, 25:37.
- Aura Spry – 58th, 26:22.
- Summer Janzen – 59th, 26:29.
- Jorja Lepp – 66th, 27:14.
- Elizabeth Linscheid – 82nd, 30:28.
- Emma Stade – 85th, 32:57.
- Amy Bartsch – 88th, 35:34.
LC-WM/N’s team scoring (1-2-7-14-18) led to a first-place total of 42. SWC/E was runner-up with 92 points, with Tracy-Milroy-Balaton a close third with 95. The remaining field had HL-O fourth with 118 points, followed by Windom Area (131), S/CM (167), St. James Area (179), Adrian (179), MLA (187) and SEU (203).
Wolverine Head Coach Kyle Blomgren was especially pleased with the way the girls stepped up and competed. “We had big races from Mercedes Saengosoth, Anika Fast and Olivia Klassen – all finishing in the top half. We saw another round of PRs (personal records) run by our girls.
“On the boys side, we had very solid races run by Nathan Runck, Dalton Piotter and Ryan Blomgren – all running career PRs and finishing in the top seven. Our top five scorers all finished in the top 20.
“The kids are coming along nicely! Expect the times to continue to drop as we move into the speed work phase of our training.”
Next up is a run Thursday, September 21, at Jackson, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Junior High 1700-meter runs
Boys and girls junior high runners completed a 1700-meter course.
MLA eighth-graders Drayton Klassen (6:18.9) and Caden Swoboda (6:25.6) finished third and fourth in the boys run. Another pair of Wolverine runners finished in the top 10, Ben Bartsch, seventh with a time of 6:38 and Landon Boldt, eighth with 6:45.
Additional boys runners were:
- Thavien Xayachak – 15th, 7:01.
- Luke Klassen – 19th, 7:18.
- Andrew Rasavong – 20th, 7:23.
- Ian Penner – 25th, 7:35.
- Mark Quiring – 26th, 7:42.
- Chad Suderman – 27th, 7:45.
- Jerdane Vongkaenchan – 35th, 8:22.
- Aiden Penner – 39th, 9:11.
- Tommer Vongkaenchan – 40th, 9:14.
- Landon Morin – 41st, 10:10.
The top five MLA girls finished 4-5-7-8-9. Tiegan Meyer hit the chute in fourth with a time of 7:22. Hot on her heels was Kate Janzen, fifth at 7:23. The squad’s third runner, Jordan Wright, was seventh with 7:25; followed by Riley Schroeder, eighth at 7:31 and Sierra Perkins, in ninth with 7:54. Shyann Ober just missed finishing in the top 10, running to 11th with a time of 8:01. Kaiya Sayavong was 21st at 9:17 and Milana Ivashchenko was 26th with 11:54.
Winning the junior high girls race was HL-O’s Elie Sheldahl with a time of 7:09.2.
