The Minnewaska Area girls’ cross-country team finished second in a pair of competitive invitationals over the last week.  The Lakers finished behind Milbank during the 8-team Milbank Invitational, Sept. 10, and also finished as runner-up during the 12-team NLS Invitational, Thursday.

Lauryn Ankeny was fifth and Kiearra Wilmes sixth at the Milbank meet, while Ankeny was sixth and eighth at the Little Crow Invitational.

Maeson Tank continues to lead the boys, placing third at Milbank to help the Lakers finish third of 11 teams, and sixth at NLS, helping Minnewaska place eighth of 17 schools.

The only meet scheduled for this week is the Melrose Invitational, set for Tuesday (tomorrow).

at Melrose Invitational

Caroline Kuehne, of LPGE, won the girls’ individual title with a time of 20:03 over 5,000 meters, edging Morris Area’s Hailey Werk by five seconds for first, while Minnewaska’s Lauryn Ankeny was third overall with a time of 20:36.

WDC had racers finish 8th, 10th, 12th, 15th and 24th for 61 total points, while the Lakers were second of 13 teams with 73 points and NLS was third with 92.

Kierra Wilmes was next for the Lakers in ninth place with a time of 21:55, while Elsey Hagen was 14th (22:31), Piper Citrowske was 21st (22:55), Teagan Stark was 33rd (23:54), Aubrey Stark placed 35th (23:57) and seventh-grader Sydney Ankeny was 57th (25:31) of 89 runners in her first varsity race.

•  Maeson Tank placed fourth in the boys’ varsity race of 5K with a time of 17:50.  Brandon Kampsen, of Sauk Centre, and Eli Hall, of Pequot Lakes, dominated the race.  Kampsen had a time of 16:14 to win by 10 seconds over Hall (16:24) and the third-place finisher was almost a minute and a half back.

Nick Ankeny added a 23rd place finish with a time of 19:24, followed on the Laker team by Zach Palmer in 44th (20:25), James Ward in 48th (20:37), Ian Mills in 54th (20:52), Chase Wacker in 69th (21:37) and Carter Dinsmore in 75th place (22:00) out of 93 total runners.

•  In the girls’ JV race of 5,000 meters, Alexx Carlson was sixth (26:18), Autumn Hess was seventh (26:28), Izzy Bautista was eighth (26:51) and Molly Hjelm was 11th (27:24) for the Lakers out of 27 runners in a race won by WDC’s Cambrie Geiger in 24:59.

Jaden Anderson placed 13th in the boys’ JV race of 5,000 meters, while Caden Manderschied was 30th (23:25) and Ryan Kooehntop was 38th (24:14) out of 64 runners in a race won by NLS’ Henry Vetsch in 20:29. 

•  In the junior high races, Emma Koehntop (18:41) was 25th out of 37 runners in the girls’ 3200-meter race won by WCA’s Kyra Beyer in 14:14, while Owen Greene was 14th (14:12) and Rylan Tank was 53rd (16:33) out of 69 runners in the boys’ junior high race won by Litchfield’s Xander Chvatal in 12:46.

at Melrose Invitational

Girls varsity team results:  (1) WDC 61  (2) Minnewaska 73  (3) NLS 92  (4) Litchfield 143  (5) Melrose 176, Breckenridge-Wahpeton 180, Pequot Lakes 187, LPGE 200, Morris Area 216, West Central Area 218, Sauk Centre 263, Paynesville 269, Brandon-Evansville 329

Girls top five:  (1) Caroline Kuehne, LPGE 20:03  (2) Hailey Werk, Morris 20:08  (3) Lauryn Ankeny, Min 20:36  (4) Madison Wendlandt, Pay 20:53  (5) Katie Holzner, Hillcrest 20:57

Minnewaska Area times:   (3) Lauryn Ankeny 20:36  (9) Kiearra Wilmes 21:55  (14) Elsey Hagen 22:31  (21) Piper Citrowske 22:55  (33) Teagan Stark 23:54  (35) Aubrey Stark 23:57  (57) Sydney Ankeny 25:31 . . . 89 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Sauk Centre 55  (2) Pequot Lakes 85  (3) NLS 94  (4) West Central Area 125  (5) Litchfield 137  (6) Minnewaska 173, Breckenridge-Wahpeton 183, Melrose Area 195, WDC 213, Morris Area-CA 224, Paynesville 274, LPGE 292, Brandon-Evansville 302

Boys top five:  (1) Brandon Kampsen, SC 16:14  (2) Eli Hall, Pequot Lakes 16:24  (3) Jacob Drevlow, SC 17:45  (4) Maeson Tank, Min 17:50  (5) Jack Barney, NLS 17:54

Minnewaska Area times:   (4) Maeson Tank 17:50  (23) Nick Ankeny 19:24  (44) Zach Palmer 20:25  (48) James Ward 20:37  (54) Ian Mills 20:52  (69) Chase Wacker 21:37  (75) Carter Dinsmore 22:00 . . . 93 total runners