St. Cloud Cathedral girls, St. John's Prep's Olivia Pauly wins cross country championships
FALCON HEIGHTS – A year after placing second in the state championship, the St. Cloud Cathedral girls cross country team is the 2023 Class A champion.
On Saturday at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, the Crusaders nearly halved Staples-Motley's second-place score of 125. They had three runners finish in the top 25 and scored 68 points to win.
Senior Ella Voit took third place, finishing in 18 minutes, 36.2 seconds. Olivia Pauly of St. John’s Prep won in 18:20.5.
The St. John’s Prep boys competed as a team and took seventh, the Johnnies’ highest-ever finish. Senior Nick Hansen took third in 15:56.6.
The Becker girls team placed 10th in Class 2A out of 16 teams. Local athletes from Albany, St. Cloud Apollo, St. Cloud Tech, ROCORI, Holdingford and Sartell ran individually.
Winning the individual race, Pauly averaged a blistering 5:53.9 pace. Teammate Louise Ruzanic finished 11th at 19:22.8.
For Cathedral, senior Clara Schad and freshman Katelyn Waldoch both ran under 20 minutes to come in 16th and 25th place. Sophomore Addie Mondloch and eighth grader Enya Scanlon placed 40th and 58th to complete the Crusaders’ 1:51.3 team spread. Eighth grader Cecelia Jamison (75th) and junior Emma Jamison (129th) also competed. The team is coached by 2022 Class A coach of the year Greg Jamison, who has three daughters on the team.
On the boys side, SJP’s top five runners averaged 17:21. The Johnnies relied heavily on senior duo Nick Hansen and Zach Meyer finishing in third and 21st place. Junior Benjamin Suo (56th), senior Aaron Ruesink (111th), senior PoHuan Lu (135th) were the other scoring Johnnies. Sophomore Laurenz Haselbock (136th) and freshman Ryan Mahowald (150th) also competed.
Becker used its talented middle schoolers to make state for the third year in a row. Last year the Bulldogs took fourth. Eighth grader Adele Changamire has led the team all year and finished 26th overall. Seventh grader Andersyn Changamire (114th) and eighth grader Laney Hodel (117th) were within eight seconds of each other. Also competing were seniors Alea Briggs (57th), Olivia Babler (106th) and Natasha Berthiaume (152nd) and sophomore Katelyn Brower (148th).
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The Bulldogs also had two top-20 finishes on the boys side. Sophomores Tanner Felton and Parker Spindler took 17th and 18th place; classmate Alex Swanson was 103rd.
Apollo freshman Zili Lenzner placed 24th in the Class 2A girls race. The Eagles also had two boys running: junior Elijah Preisler and Ryan Karls, who placed 98th and 115th.
"This is a small, but mighty group of kids," coach Linda Snowberg said of the Eagles. "They are dedicated and supportive of each other. They do more than is asked of them."
Also in Class 2A, Albany senior Carter Schwalbe was 72nd in the boys race and junior Eva Lundgren took 37th in the girls race.
ROCORI sophomore Brody Sieben was 83rd in the boys race; teammates Izzy Kraemer and Annna Korynt got 44th and 53rd in the girls division.
Tech senior Stella Rusch placed 90th while junior Joseph Marlette was 75th in the boys division.
Sartell-St. Stephen sent two seniors in 2A. Mady Dockendorf took 82nd in the girls race and Eli Hanson was 115th on the boys side.
"They've both qualified for the state meet four consecutive seasons — a very impressive feat," coach Greg Henning said. "Beyond that, they've been captains on the team for the past two seasons and have made an immeasurable impact on the climate and members of the teams."
Two boys represented Holdingford in the Class A race. Senior Joseph Guthrie was 57th and freshman Dawson Hofer was 87th.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud-area state cross country results: Cathedral wins girls A title
