The Minnewaska Area cross-country team had a great meet at Melrose Area last Tuesday night.  The Laker girls placed second, edging NLS and WDC for the runner-up position behind Breckenridge-Wahpeton, while the boys team earned fourth after losing a tiebreaker for third place with NLS in a meet won by Pequot Lakes.

The Lakers also had a pair of third-place individual finishes as Lauryn Ankeny ran a time of 20:47 to place third in the girls’ competition, with Nori Song finishing 16th, and Maeson Tank had a time of 17:29 to earn third in the boys’ race with teammate Zach Palmer right behind in ninth place.

The Lakers are set to race at the Paynesville Invitational, Tuesday (tomorrow) with the Sauk Centre Invitational one week after that on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

Melrose Invitational

Lauryn Ankeny and Nori Song led the Lakers to a runner-up finish in the girls’ race at the Melrose Invitational last Tuesday.

Ankeny had a time of 20:47 to place third overall, while Song had a time of 21:47 to place 16th.

That helped the Lakers total 124 points to finish second of 15 teams.  Breckenridge-Wahpeton had its top five runners place in the top-28 to earn first in the team competition with 80 points.

NLS was third with 128 points, while section nemesis Wadena-DC placed fourth with 130 points in a tight race for second, third and fourth.

LPGE’s Caroline Kuehne won the race by 47 seconds with a time of 19:48, while Paynesville’s Madison Wendlandt was second in 20:35.

Jillian Deutsch added a 33rd place finish for the Lakers with a time of 22:46, followed by Teagan Stark in 35th (23:02), Sophie Wallin in 37th (23:11), Piper Citrowske-Lee in 42nd (23:34) and Sydney Ankeny in 47th place (23:41) out of 98 total runners.

•  Maeson Tank, Zach Palmer and Ian Mills led the Laker boys to fourth place in the boys’ competition.  Pequot Lakes had two of the top four runners to earn first with 54 points, while Sauk Centre was second with 73 points and NLS and Minnewaska tied for third with 117 points.

The Wildcats won the sixth-person tiebreaker giving NLS third place and the Lakers fourth.

Tank had a time of 17:29 to place third out of 99 runners.  Sauk Centre’s Jacob Drevlow won the race with a time of 17:10, while Pequot Lakes’ Liam Zins was four seconds back with a time of 17:14 to earn second.

Palmer placed ninth for the Lakers with a time of 18:16, while Mills was 21st in 19:18.

Also running for the Lakers were Jayce Kovarik in 40th (20:15), Luke Hoffmann in 46th place (20:29), Carter DInsmore in 53rd (20:42) and Chase Wacker in 68th place (21:46).

•  In the girls’ JV race, Aubrey Stark won with a time of 24:07.  There were 29 total runners.  Placing fifth was Izzy Bautista with a time of 25:33, while Autumn Hess was 16th (29:25) and Alannah Christensen placed 26th (33:16).

In the boys JV race, Ryan Koehntop placed 18th for the Lakers in 22:08.  Tate Waslowski added a 33rd place with a time of 23:18, while Rylan Tank was 38th (23:43).  There were 62 total runners and Sauk Centre’s Chris Boyer led a 1-2-3 finish for his team with a time of 20:11 to place first.

In the girls’ junior high race, Ayden Svenning placed 15th with a time of 17:12.  There were 38 runners and Nora Block, of Litchfield, won the race with a time of 14:23.

at Melrose Invitational

Girls varsity team results:  (1) Breckenridge-Wahpeton 80  (2) Minnewaska Area 124  (3) NLS 128  (4) WDC 130  (5) Litchfield, Melrose 190, WCA 194, Pequot Lakes 220, Paynesville 224, Sauk Centre 253, Hillcrest 261, LPGE 286, ABE 296, Benson-KMS 303, Morris Area-CA 308

Girls top five:  (1) Caroline Kuehne, LPGE 19:48  (2) Madison Wendlandt, Pay 20:35  (3) Lauryn Ankeny, Min 20:47  (4) Katie Holzner, Hillcrest 20:54  (5) Lucie Comstock, Breck-Wahp 21:06

Minnewaska Area times:   (3) Lauryn Ankeny 20:47  (16) Nori Song 21:47  (33) Jillian Deutsch 22:46  (35) Teagan Stark 23:02  (37) Sophia Wallin 23:11  (42) Piper Citrowske-Lee 23:34  (47) Sydney Ankeny 23:41 . . . 98 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Pequot Lakes 54  (2) Sauk Centre 73  (3) NLS 117  (4) Minnewaska 117  (5) Wadena-DC 142, Litchfield 143, WCA 182, Melrose 208, ABE 232, LPGE 270, Brecken-Wahp 279, Benson-KMS 281, Paynesville 337, Morris Area-CA 371

Boys top five:  (1) Jacob Drevlow, SC 17:10  (2) Liam Zins, Pequot Lakes 17:14  (3) Maeson Tank, Min 17:29  (4) Shane Crowley, Pequot Lakes 17:44  (5) Carter Kjesbo, WCA 17:58

Minnewaska Area times:   (3) Maeson Tank 17:29  (9) Zach Palmer 18:16  (21) Ian Mills 19:18  (40) Jayce Kovarik 20:15  (46) Luke Hoffmann 20:29  (53) Carter Dinsmore 20:42  (68) Chase Wacker 21:46 . . . 99 total runners

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!