Prep report: East girls take fifth at state cross country
Nov. 4—FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — A fifth-place finish from the Duluth East girls in Class AAA led Northland girls finishers at the MSHSL state cross country meet in the first year of its new era at the Les Bolstad Golf Course on the University of Minnesota campus.
The Greyhounds and the rest of the AAA field were well-beaten by defending champions Wayzata, which had 48 points. Prior Lake (122), Minnetonka (132), Mounds View (142) and the Greyhounds (156) rounded out the top five.
East senior Rowan Bixler had a memorable performance, finishing in sixth place. She ran the 5 kilometers in 18 minutes, 16.5 seconds, putting her 49 seconds behind individual champion Norah Hushagen of Forest Lake.
The Greyhounds were well-represented near the front of a field of 160 runners, as freshman Sasha Wahman (19:22.4) and junior Anna-Britta Helmer (19:26.6) finished 44th and 46th, respectively.
The Greyhounds boys finished in 12th place of 16 teams, with 265 points. Wayzata won the boys' team championship as well, their third in a row in AAA and their 10th since 2007.
Senior Ben Westholm was East's best finisher, taking 36th overall in 16:12.8. Robert Mechura was the individual champion in 15:04.2.
Rory Fischbach and Sam Blasczyk of the Greyhounds were 65th and 69th, respectively, in a field of 160.
In Class AA, both Hibbing and Proctor found themselves in the middle of the team pack, with the Bluejackets taking seventh with 170 points and the Rails ninth (248) behind champions Marshall.
Hibbing senior Mileena Sullivan was comfortably within the top 20 individuals, finishing in 19:11.9, 1:15 behind champion Isabelle Schmitz of Hutchinson. Teammates Tara Hertling (40th) and Avery Kukowski (49th) landed within the top 50. For Proctor, junior Lizzy Harnell was one spot ahead of Sullivan in 15th (19:09.6), with senior Carlie Blevins in 63rd.
Rock Ridge's Jack Kendall finished 30th in the boys race behind Section 7AA and state champion Eli Hall of Pequot Lakes, who won by more than 10 seconds. Kendall was 1:19 behind Hall in 16:32.5. Other local finishers included Brenden Sylvester of Grand Rapids in 65th, Evan Rothamel of Cloquet in 70th (17:07.7) and Andrew Shepherd of Cloquet in 76th (17:13.1).
Carlton/Wrenshall's 11th place finish topped local Section 7 teams in Class A girls. The Raptors had 255 points behind champion St. Cloud Cathedral's 68th.
Chisholm eighth-grader Olivia Pascuzzi was the best local individual, taking 14th overall in 19:33.1, with Emaleigh Olesiak of Cromwell-Wright in 17th, Lola Champlin of Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin taking 23rd and freshman Brielle Simula the first finisher for Carlton/Wrenshall, in 23th at 19:54.8. Raptors teammate Ruth Sandstrom took 59th.
The individual champion was senior Olivia Pauly of St. John's Prep in 18:20.5.
South Ridge was 13th in the team competition, with Zoey Buckhardt leading her team in 54th.
Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin had the best team finish of any Northland boys team, taking fourth in the Class A field with 146 points. Heritage Christian won the meet with 106, eight points ahead of Cotter.
Jack Riley of Carlton/Wrenshall had the best finish by any Northland male runner in the individual standings, as the senior took 12th in Class A in 16:30.1, 50 seconds behind champion Eddie Snider of Mounds Park Academy.
South Ridge's Alex Burckhardt (16:47.3) also landed a top-20 finish (in 20th). The Panthers team took 12th of 16.
GNK's top runner was 34th-place Brayden Nielsen (16:57.2), but their strong team finish was helped by having Levi Danielson and Bryce Nielsen in close proximity in 44th and 45th plus two other runners in the top half of the field.
Esko's Spencer Hipp, competing as an individual, finished 59th in the field of 160.
