Which teams advanced to state cross country meets from Thursday's sectionals?
SAINT CLOUD – The boys cross-country teams in Section 5-1A have been battling all year, and St. John’s Prep and St. Cloud Cathedral emerged from the pack on Thursday at the sectional championship.
They’ll compete in the state race Nov. 4 at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights along with several other area teams and individual qualifiers.
The Johnnies placed three runners in the top five individual finishers, taking first with 82 team points. The Crusaders came in second with 91 points and a 1:16 split between their top five runners. Holdingford was just behind Pine City’s score of 106, with the Huskers‘ 108 placing fourth. St. Cloud Christian finished 11th.
SJP’s senior duo of Nick Hansen and Zach Meyer have taken turns winning meets throughout the season and the pair battled down the section finish chute at Grand National Golf Club in Hinckley. Hansen finished one-tenth of a second faster to win.
St. Cloud Cathedral’s Griffen Ward placed fourth with a 17:10.2. Junior Benjamin Suo rounded out the top five for the Johnnies, coming in at 17:16.1. Holdingford freshman Dawson Hofer (17:19.2) was the Huskers’ fastest runner, and he and senior teammate Joseph Guthrie (17:19.3) qualified individually for state, placing seventh and eighth.
Rounding out SJP’s qualifiers were Aaron Ruesink (31st), Laurenz Haselbock (43rd), PoHuan Lu (45th), and William Vix (57). Competing for Cathedral was Andrew Uy (17th), Carson Rolph (25th), Owen Anderson (33rd), Ryan Liebrenz (37th), and Leo Kramer (48th).
On the girls side, Cathedral won handily with a team score of 32, led by school record-holding senior Ella Voit placing second behind SJP’s Olivia Pauly.
Pauly ran a 18:38.3 and Voit a 18:48.1. The Johnnies placed third, missing out on the state team race to Northwest. All seven Crusaders finished in the top 20 and they’ll be a favorite in the state championship. Senior Clara Schad took fourth with a 19:36.5 and freshman Katelyn Waldoch came in seventh, at 20:08.2. Enya Scanlon (11th), Addie Mondloch (12th), Cecilia Jamison (16th) and Lilly Jamison (17th) also ran for the Crusaders. The Holdingford girls placed 11th.
Section 5-2A
Becker will also be sending a full team to compete in the state meet after its girls squad had four top-20 finishers and a Section 5-2A-winning score of 50. Eighth-grader Adele Changamire was the top Bulldog, placing fourth with a 19:20.2. Teammates Alea Briggs (seventh) and Andersyn Changamire (ninth) were also in the top 10 and joined by teammates Olivia Babler (13th), Laney Hodel (19th), Natasha Berthiaume (29th) and Katelynn Brower (31st).
St. Cloud Apollo freshman Zili Lenzer placed third and qualified for state with a 19:12. St. Cloud Tech senior Stella Rusch also qualified (11th, 20:55.1). The Tigers did not field a full team; the Eagles placed fifth and Foley took ninth.
In a tight boys race, Becker was only three points from winning the meet and yet its season is done after Big Lake (51 points) and Monticello (53) qualified in front of the Bulldogs (54).
Becker sophomores Parker Spindler, Tanner Felton and Alex Swanson will compete individually at state after finishing in fourth, fifth and seventh place, respectively. Apollo and Tech also had runners qualify despite finishing fifth and sixth as teams. Eagles Ryan Karls (ninth) and Elijah Preisler (11th) sandwiched Tiger Joseph Marlette (10th).
Section 8-2A
Teams from ROCORI and Albany competed at Little Falls Country Club. The ROCORI boys placed fourth as a team with a team score of 105 and Albany came in sixth with a 208. The Spartan girls also placed fourth with a team score of 125. Albany was behind, its score of 204 coming in seventh.
Huskies junior Eva Lundgren finished ninth to qualify individually for state. Also qualifying were ROCORI’s Izzy Kraemer (11th) and Paige Larsen (12th). The top Husky and Spartan boys also qualified for state, placing 11th and 12th for Albany senior Carter Schwalbe and ROCORI sophomore Brody Sieben.
Section 8-3A
Sartell-St. Stephen senior Eli Hanson ran a 17:19.24 to place eighth overall and qualify for state, but the Sabre boys placed sixth as a team. The girls team also placed sixth with senior Mady Dockendorf sneaking into the top 10 runners. She’ll run by herself at state. The Sauk Rapids-Rice's boys and girls teams placed ninth.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud-area high school cross country sectional results
