The Minnewaska Area cross-country teams had a very busy week last week, competing in the LPGE Invitational last Monday and the Little Crow Meet at NLS, Thursday.

Things settle down for the teams over the next few weeks as the Lakers are set to race at the Melrose Invitational, Tuesday, Sept. 19, followed by the Paynesville Invitational, Sept. 26, and the Sauk Centre Invitational, Oct. 3.

at LPGE Invitational

The Minnewaska Area cross-country team raced at Long Prairie-GE last Monday night with Lauryn Ankeny winning the girls’ individual title and Maeson Tank placing fifth for the boys’ team.

The Laker girls came within a second or two of winning the 11-team title as West Central Area had 81 points and the Lakers were second with 82.

Ankeny, a sophomore, ran a time of 20:13 to earn first by 34 seconds in the girls’ race, while a pair of seventh-graders ran their first race for the Lakers and placed among the top 30.

Seventh-grader Nori Song earned 17th place with a time of 22:48, while sophomore Piper Citrowske-Lee was 18th (22:49), eighth-grader Sydney Ankeny was 22nd (23:25), senior Teagan Stark was 24th (23:35), seventh-grader Jillian Deutsch placed 25th (23:36), ninth-grader Sophia Wallin was 26th (23:37) and sophomore Aubrey Stark was 28th (23:52).

•  Bertha-Hewitt won the 13-team boys’ title with 34 points in a tight three-team race.  Holdingford was second with 52 points, while Sauk Centre was third with 76 and Minnewaska Area was fourth with 128 points.

Maeson Tank placed fifth for the Lakers boys in a race of 121 athletes.  Zane Guderjahn, of Bertha-Hewitt, won the title with a time of 16:59, while Tank had a time of 17:25 to finish 14 seconds from second place.

Zach Palmer was next for the Lakers with a time of 18:26 to earn 12th, while Ian Mills placed 13th (18:31), Carter Dinsmore was 43rd (20:28), Luke Hoffmann was 55th (21:23), Jayce Kovarik placed 56th (21:28) and Chase Wacker earned 72nd (22:54).  

• In the girls junior high race of 2,500 meters, Ayden Svenning placed 31st (16:30) in a 48-runner race won by Karissa Anderson of Border West in a time of 13:16.

In the boys junior high race, Rylan Tank placed 15th with a time of 12:52, while Joel Theis, of Holdingford, won the race with a time of 11:26.  There were 76 runners in the boys jr. high race.

at Little Crow Meet

The Lakers ran at the NLS Little Crow meet, Thursday, with the boys team placing eighth of 15 teams and the girls earning fifth of 14 teams.

Lauryn Ankeny led the Laker girls with a time of 20:53 to place eighth overall, while Nori Song earned 33rd (23:05) and Piper Citrowske-Lee was 37th (23:08).

Olivia Pauly, of St. John’s Prep, earned first place with a very fast time of 18:57, while Redwood Valley won the team title with only 37 points.

Also racing for the Lakers were Aubrey Stark in 42nd place (23:25), Jillian Deustch in 44th (23:32), Sydney Ankeny in 45th (23:33), Sophia Wallin in 48th (23:37) and Izzy Bautista in 79th (25:18) out of 101 total runners.

•  Maeson Tank placed 11th for the Laker boys with a time of 17:27 in a race won by SJP’s Nick Hansen in 15:59.  Dassel-Cokato edged Redwood Valley for the boys team title (68-77), while Minnewaska Area was eighth with 218 points.

Zach Palmer was next for the Lakers with a time of 18:43 to place 33rd out of 103 runners, while Ian Mils was 45th (19:04), Jayce Kovarik placed 53rd (19:36), Carter Dinsmore was 77th (20:55), Luke Hoffmann earned 86th (21:39) and Luke Koehntop was 98th (22:27).

at LPGE Invitational

Girls varsity team results:  (1) WCA 81  (2) Minnewaska Area 82  (3) Melrose Area 93  (4) LPGE 135  (5) Bertha-Hewitt 142, Sauk Centre 164, Pillager 167, Morris Area-CA 168, Holdingford 185, Benson-KMS 226, ABE 261

Girls top five:  (1) Lauryn Ankeny, Min 20:13  (2) Caroline Kuehne, LPGE 20:47  (3) Amber Rosemeier, BKMS 21:10  (4) Maria Hinnenkamp, Mel 21:17  (5) Kendra Miller, BH 21:23

Minnewaska Area times:   (1) Lauryn Ankeny 20:13  (17) Nori Song 22:48  (18) Piper Citrowske-Lee 22:49  (22) Sydney Ankeny 23:25  (24) Teagan Stark 23:35  (25) Jillian Deutsch 23:36  (26) Sophia Wallin 23:37  (28) Aubrey Stark 23:52 . . . 92 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Bertha-Hewitt 34  (2) Holdingford 52  (3) Sauk Centre 76  (4) Minnewaska 128  (5) Royalton 181, Melrose 192, WCA 206, Frazee 211, LPGE 239, ABE 258, Benson-KMS 260, Morris Area-CG 333, Pillager 356

Boys top five:  (1) Zane Guderjahn, BH 16:59  (2) Brady Rach, BH 17:11  (3) Jacob Drevlow, SC 17:13  (4) Dawson Hofer, Holding 17:19  (5) Maeson Tank, Min 17:25

Minnewaska Area times:   (5) Maeson tank 17:25  (12) Zach Palmer 18:26  (13) Ian Mills 18:31  (43) Carter Dinsmore 20:28  (55) Luke Hoffmann 21:23  (56) Jayce Kovarik 21:28  (72) Chase Wacker 22:54 . . . 121 total runners

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at NLS Invitational

Girls varsity team results:  (1) Redwood Valley 37  (2) NLS 122  (3) Melrose 153  (4) St. John’s Prep 156  (5) Minnewaska 160, Sartell 164, Litchfield 182, WCA 188, Dassel-Cokato 190, Paynes 245, Morris Area 274, Sauk Centre 281, EVW-Kimball 284, LQP-DB 287

Girls top five:  (1) Olivia Pauly, SJP 18:57  (2) Addie Thomes, Red 19:41  (3) Lola Luze, Red 20:06  (4) Louise Ruzanic, SJP 20:06  (5) Madison Wendlandt, Pay 20:09

Minnewaska Area times:   (8) Lauryn Ankeny 20:53  (33) Nori Song 23:05  (37) Piper Citrowske-Lee 23:08  (42) Aubrey Stark 23:25  (44) Jillian Deutsch 23:32  (45) Sydney Ankeny 23:33  (48) Sophia Wallin 23:37  (79) Izzy Bautista 25:18 . . . 101 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Dassel-Cokato 68  (2) Redwood 77  (3) Sartell 92  (4) St. John’s Prep 97  (5) Sauk Centre 151, LQP-DB 190, NLS 215, Minnewaska 218, Litchfield 231, Orton 272, WCA 300, EVW-Kimball 301, Melrose 307, Paynes 379, Morris Area 456

Boys top five:  (1) Nick Hansen, SJP 15:59  (2) Zach Meyer, SJP 16:06  (3) Soren Bortnem, DC 16:11  (4) William Ahrens, Red 16:14  (5) Henry Lemke, EVW 16:29

Minnewaska Area times:   (11) Maeson Tank 17:27  (33) Zach Palmer 18:43  (45) Ian Mills 19:04  (53) Jayce Kovarik 19:36  (77) Carter Dinsmore 20:55  (86) Luke Hoffmann 21:39  (98) Luke Koehntop 22:27 . . . 103 total runners