The Minnewaska Area cross-country teams ran into two of the top teams in the state last week.  The Lakers placed second and third at the Staples-Motley Invitational last Monday night in meets easily won by the host team and Thursday, the Lakers placed 14th and eighth at a large meet at Perham-Dent with the host Perham team edging Lakeville South for titles in both meets.

Lauryn Ankeny placed third at S-M and ninth at Perham to lead the Lakers, while Maeson Tank was fourth at S-M and 23rd at Perham to lead the Laker boys.

Minnewaska Area is set to host the Laker Invitational, Tuesday (tomorrow) at the Minnewaska Golf Course before preparing for the WCC Meet, Monday, Oct. 17 at BOLD.

at Stap-Mot Invitational

Staples-Motley dominated a home meet last Monday night, placing first, second and fourth during the girls’ competition and going one-two-three in the boys’ meet.  Staples-Motley totaled 21 points to win the girls’ meet, while Wadena-DC was second (54) and Minnewaska third (62) in the five-team meet.

Kyanna Burton, of SM, won the individual girls’ title with a time of 18:40, which was 1:12 better than the runner-up time of 19:52.

Lauryn Ankeny led the Lakers with a time of 20:12 to place third overall, while Kiearra Wilmes was right behind in seventh with a time of 21:09 and Elsey Hagen was 13th with a time of 21:58.

Piper Citrowske added a 18th place time of 22:20, followed on the Laker team by Teagan Stark in 22nd (23:19), Aubrey Stark in 24th (23:52), Sydney Ankeny in 25th (23:56), Alexx Carlson in 34th place (26:37) and Molly Hjelm in 40th (28:30) out of 49 varsity and JV runners.

Staples-Motley had girls place 1-2-4-6-8 for its winning total of 21 points.

•  The host Cardinals also dominated the boys’ competition with the top three place finishers, along with other runners placing sixth, 10th, 14th and 15th for 22 total points.

Staples-Motley had seven runners finish under 19:53, including the winner, Issiah Tabatt, who edged a teammate by three seconds for first place with a time of 17:31.

Maeson Tank placed fourth for the Lakers with a time of 18:08.  He was edged out for third place at the end, but Tank also edged out a runner for fourth as three racers finished with the same time in a photo finish.

Minnewaska Area did finish second in the boys’ meet with 57 points, followed by WDC in third (66) and Breckenridge-Wahpeton in fourth (81).

The Lakers had three other runners finish under 20 minutes as Nick Ankeny was ninth in 19:25, Zach Palmer finished with a time of 19:27 to place 12th and Jayce Kovarik placed 17th with a time of 19:57.

Ian Mills finished right on 20 minutes to place 18th, followed on the Laker team by Chase Wacker in 29th (21:23), Jaden Anderson in 30th (21:47), Carter Dinsmore in 32nd (22:15), James Ward in 37th (22:51), Caden Manderschied in 42nd (24:11) and Ryan Koehntop in 45th place (25:30) out of 46 racers.

• In the boys’ junior high race of 2,500 meters, seventh-grader Owen Green was fifth with a time of 10:33 and seventh-grader Rylan Tank placed 11th with a time of 10:55 in a race won by SM’s Garret Bjerga in 9:58.  In the girls’ junior high race, eighth-grader Emma Koehntop placed 13th with a time of 13:29 in a race won by Pine River-Backus’ Evelynn Peterson in 10:36.

at Perham-Dent Invite

Perham edged Lakeville South for both titles at the Perham-Dent Invitational, Thursday.  Perham had 60 points and Lakeville South 77 in the girls’ meet, with Minnewaska Area placing eighth of 21 full teams with 250 points, while Perham had 56 points and Lakeville South 88 in the boys’ competition with the Lakers placing 14th with 365 points out of 22 full teams.

Jade Rypkema, of Nevis, won the girls’ race with a time of 17:16, while Lauryn Ankeny paced the Lakers in ninth place with a time of 19:19.  Kiearra Wilmes was next for Waska with a time of 20:38 to place 49th, followed by Piper Citrowske in 63rd (21:10), Elsey Hagen in 64th (21:10), Aubrey Stark in 74th (21:31), Teagan Stark in 88th (22:19) and Sydney Ankeny in 98th place (22:38) out of 153 total runners.

In the boys’ competition, Perham’s Bjorn Anderson ran a great time of 15:37 to edge another runner by 13 seconds for first.  Maeson Tank led the Lakers in 23rd place with a time of 16:53.

Nick Ankeny was next for the Lakers in 70th place with a time of 18:05, followed by Zach Palmer in 84th (18:48), Ian Mills in 87th (18:53), Jayce Kovarik in 104th (19:29), James Ward in 118th (19:53) and Carter Dinsmore in 128th place (20:35) out of  163 racers.

•  In the boys’ JV competition, Chase Wacker was 68th (20:40), Jaden Anderson was 75th (20:57), Ryan Koehntop was 101st (22:15) and Caden Manderschied was 103rd (22:25) out of 137 total runners.

Just how good is Perham?  Perham had all seven JV runners finish with a time of 19:02 or better, including the winning time of 17:37 by Henry Mathiason.  

In the girls’ JV race, Izzy Bautista was 63rd (24:53), Alexx Carlson was 64th (24:54) and Molly Hjelm was 91st (27:17) out of 115 runners.

•  In the junior high races, Emma Koehntop finished 53rd for the girls’ team (15:40) over 3,200 meters out of 104 runners, while Owen Greene was 55th (13:33) and Rylan Tank was 86th (14:26) out of 155 junior high boy racers.

at Staples-Mot Invite

Girls varsity team results:  (1) Staples-Motley 21  (2) Wadena-DC 54  (3) Minnewaska 62  (4) Breckenridge-Wahpeton 84  (5) Pine River-Backus 155

Girls top five:  (1) Kyanna Burton, SM 18:40  (2) Audrey Brownell, SM 19:52  (3) Lauryn Ankeny, Min 20:12  (4) Aften Robinson, SM 20:23  (5) Britta Sweeney, WDC 21:01

Minnewaska Area times:   (3) Lauryn Ankeny 20:12  (7) Kiearra Wilmes 21:09  (13) Elsey Hagen 21:58  (18) Piper Citrowske 22:20  (22) Teagan Stark 23:19  (24) Aubrey Stark 23:52  (25) Sydney Ankeny 23:56  (34) Alexx Carlson 26:37  (40) Molly Hjelm 28:30 . . . 49 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Staples-Motley 22  (2) Minnewaska 57  (3) Wadena-DC 66  (4) Breckenridge-Wahpeton 81

Boys top five:  (1) Issiah Tabatt, SM 17:31  (2) Luke Brownell, SM 17:34  (3) Logan Robben, SM 18:08  (4) Maeson Tank, Min 18:08  (5) Lane Hoefs, WDC 18:08

Minnewaska Area times:   (4) Maeson Tank 18:08  (9) Nick Ankeny 19:25  (12) Zach Palmer 19:27  (17) Jayce Kovarik 19:57  (18) Ian Mills 20:00  (29) Chase Wacker 21:23  (30) Jaden Anderson 21:47  (32) Carter Dinsmore 22:15  (37) James Ward 22:51  (42) Caden Manderschied 24:11  (45) Ryan Koehntop 25:30 . . . 46 total runners

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at Perham-Dent Invite

Girls varsity team results:  (1) Perham 60  (2) Lakeville S 77  (3) SC Cathedral 103  (4) Moorhead 128  (5) Little Falls . . (8) Waska 250 . . . 21 full teams

Girls top five:  (1) Jade Rypkema, Nevis 17:16  (2) Claire Vukovics, Lake 18:13  (3) Mia Hoffman, Bemidji 18:30  (4) Ella Voit, SCC 18:34  (5) Gracie Morris, Peer 18:45

Minnewaska Area times:   (9) Lauryn Ankeny 19:19  (49) Kiearra Wilmes 20:38  (63) Piper Citrowske 21:10  (64) Elsey Hagen 21:10  (74) Aubrey Stark 21:31  (88) Teagan Stark 22:19  (98) Sydney Ankeny 22:38 . . . 153 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Perham 56  (2) Lakeville S 88  (3) Park Rapids 92  (4) Bemidji 156  (5) Moorhead . . . (14) Minnewaska Area 365 . . . 22 full teams

Top five:  (1) Bjorn Anderson, Per 15:37  (2) Ethan Starfield, Lake 15:50  (3) Austin Liebl, Moor 16:05  (4) Brady Rach, B-H 16:09  (5) Noah  Huot, PR 16:11

Waska:   (23) Maeson Tank 16:53  (70) Nick Ankeny 18:05 (84) Zach Palmer 18:48  (87) Ian Mills 18:53  (104) Jayce Kovarik 19:29  (118) James Ward 19:53  (128) Carter Dinsmore 20:35 . . 163 total runners