•  Girls team places third and boys are fourth

The Minnewaska Area cross-country teams competed at the Section 6A Boys and Girls Cross-Country Meet, Thursday at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle.

The Lakers knew it was going to be a tough competition going in and it certainly didn’t help that a mix of rain and wind  was added, making it even tougher for the runners.

Maeson Tank placed fourth in the boys race to earn his second-straight state berth, while Lauryn Ankeny earned fifth to reach state for the third-straight season.

In the girls team competition, Staples-Motley placed first and Wadena-Deer Creek edged the Lakers for second to earn the two state team berths, while in the boys meet, Bertha-Hewitt was first, Staples-Motley second, Sauk Centre third and Minnewaska Area fourth.

The girls team, which reached state two years ago, was unable to keep up with a pack of WDC runners who went on to place 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th overall.

Minnewaska Area’s top two runners, Ankeny and Nori Song, placed fifth and ninth, respectively, while WDC’s top two runners were 10th and 19th overall.

That meant it came down to the “pack” for each team and Minnewaska’s next three runners were 27th, 33rd and 43rd compared to 22nd, 23rd and 24th for WDC.

There were a number of incomplete teams in the competition so the “actual” placing of each athlete doesn’t always match up with how many points they earn for their team.  For example, Nori Song placed ninth overall, but for scoring purposes, she was seventh when taking out the incomplete teams.

Ankeny and Tank now prepare for the State Boys and Girls Cross-Country Meet set for Saturday, Nov. 4 at St. Olaf College.

Seniors on this year’s cross-country teams are Izzy Bautista, Teagan Stark, Jayce Kovarik and Maeson Tank, who also are serving as captains for this year’s team.

Section 6A Meet

Staples-Motley won the girls team title and Bertha-Hewitt earned the boys team championship during the Section 6A Cross-Country Meet, Thursday afternoon.

Staples-Motley totaled 39 points to easily win the girls competition, while WDC had 84 to place second over the Lakers, who came home with 102 points.  There were 15 complete teams and 110 runners in the girls meet.

Kyanna Burton, of Staples-Motley, edged her teammate by one-hundredth of a second to place first, while Lauryn Ankeny placed fifth for the Lakers with a time of 20:12 to earn her third-straight state berth.  It was also a personal record for the Minnewaska Area sophomore.

Seventh-grader Nori Song just missed out on reaching state during her first season of cross-country.  She ran a personal record of 20:34 to place ninth overall, missing out on state by two places, or about 18 seconds.

Seventh-grader Jillian Deutsch added a 27th place finish (21:45), while eighth-grader Sydney Ankeny was 33rd (22:09), freshman Sophia Wallin placed 43rd (22:43), sophomore Piper Citrowske-Lee was 48th (23:07) and sophomore Aubrey Stark placed 60th (23:34).

The Lakers’ final scores gave Minnewaska 102 points with places of 5-7-23-29 and 38, while WDC had 84 points on placings of 8-16-19-20 and 21.

•  In the boys competition, Zane Guderjahn led Bertha-Hewitt to the team title with a winning time of 16:37.  Bertha-Hewitt also had the third-place runner and totaled 48 points to win the team title, while Staples-Motley was second with 71 points, Sauk Centre was a close third with 76 and Minnewaska Area earned fourth with 121 points.  There were 15 complete teams and 114 boys’ runners.

Maeson Tank, a senior, earned fourth place and his second-straight state berth with a time of 17:00, while junior Zach Palmer was next in 18th place with a personal best time of 17:57.

Junior Ian Mills added a 28th place time of 18:38, followed on the Laker team by senior Jayce Kovarik in 35th (19:05), junior Luke Hoffmann in 36th (19:05), sophomore Carter Dinsmore in 42nd (19:17) and junior Ryan Koehntop in 85th place (21:22).

at Section 6A Meet

Girls varsity team results:  (1) Staples-Motley 39  (2) Wadena-DC 84  (3) Minnewaska 102  (4) West Central Area 147  (5) Melrose 153, LPGE 177, Sauk Centre 188, Morris Area 208, OTC 237, Pillager 295, Benson-KMS 309, Ashby-B-E 315, Osakis 344, Verndale 357, Alexandria Community 367

Girls state qualifiers:  (1) Kyanna Burton, SM 19:10  (2) Audrey Brownell, SM 19:10  (3) Caroline Kuehne, LPGE 19:23  (4) Victoria Linscheid, SC 20:06  (5) Lauryn Ankeny, Minnewaska 20:12  (6) Norah Froslee, OTC 20:13  (7) Katie Holzner, Hillcrest 20:16

Minnewaska times:   (5) Lauryn Ankeny 20:12  (9) Nori Song 20:34  (27) Jillian Deutsch 21:45  (33) Sydney Ankeny 22:09  (43) Sophia Wallin 22:43  (48) Piper Citrowske-Lee 23:07  (60) Aubrey Stark 23:34 . . . 110 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Bertha-Hewitt 48  (2) Staples-Motley 71  (3) Sauk Centre 76  (4) Minnewaska 121  (5) Wadena-DC 171, OTC 172, WCA 180, Osakis 196, Melrose 233, LPGE 306, Ortonville 312, Benson-KMS 342, Morris Area 352, Ashby-B-E 356, Pillager 414

Boys state qualifiers:  (1) Zane Guderjahn, BH 16:37  (2) Issiah Tabatt, SM 16:51  (3) Brady Rach, BH 16:59  (4) Maeson Tank, Minnewaska 17:00  (5) Carter Kjesbo, WCA 17:03  (6) Jacob Drevlow, SC 17:04  (7) Cadyn Vanderwal, Orton 17:10  (8) Logan Robben, SM 17:17  (9) Peter Newark, OTC 17:18

Minnewaska Area times:   (4) Maeson Tank 17:00  (18) Zach Palmer 17:57  (28) Ian Mills 18:38  (35) Jayce Kovarik 19:05  (36) Luke Hoffmann 19:05  (42) Carter Dinsmore 19:17  (85) Ryan Koehntop 21:22 . . . 114 total runners

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!