The Minnewaska Area cross-country teams continue to excel this fall.  The Lakers, who have continually been near the top of area meets this season, competed at the Paynesville Invitational last Tuesday.

Both teams placed third out of eight teams with a strong Rocori squad earning first in both meets.

Maeson Tank led the boys team with a third-place finish, while Zach Palmer was eighth and Ian Mills 14th.  In the girls meet, Lauryn Ankeny led the Lakers in fourth place, followed by Nori Song in 20th, Piper Citrowske-Lee in 22nd and Sophia Wallin in 23rd.

This week, the cross-country teams are set to compete at the Sauk Centre Invitational, Tuesday (tomorrow) and the girls’ team is also set to compete at Perham-Dent, Thursday.

Paynesville Invitational

Rocori dominated the Paynesville Invitational last Tuesday.  The Rocori girls totaled just 29 points to beat out NLS (64 points) and Minnewaska (90) for first.

Rocori also had the first, second and fifth-place runners.  Paige Larsen won the race with a time of 20:04.

Lauryn Ankeny paced the Lakers with a time of 20:44 to earn fourth out of 61 runners.  She was followed on the Laker team by Nori Song in 20th (22:23), Piper Citrowske-Lee in 22nd (22:39), Sophia Wallin in 23rd (22:42), Jillian Deutsch in 25th (22:48), Sydney Ankeny in 28th (23:03) and Aubrey Stark in 31st place (23:16).

The second through seventh runners for Minnewaska Area finished within 53 seconds of each other.

In the boys race, Rocori edged Sauk Centre by one point (48-49) for first, while the Lakers earned third with 87 points.

Henry Lemke, of EVW, placed first with a time of 16:31 to win by 44 seconds, while Jacob Drevlow, of Sauk Centre, was second in 17:15 and Maeson Tank placed third for the Lakers with a time of 17:32.

Following Tank was Zach Palmer in eighth (18:24), Ian Mills in 14th (18:42), Jayce Kovarik in 35th (20:14), Luke Hoffmann in 36th (20:15), Carter Dinsmore in 40th (20:55) and Chase Wacker in 46th place (21:29).

•  In the boys JV race, Ryan Koehntop placed 23rd (21:28) and Tate Waslowski (23:43) was 42nd out of 57 runners in a race won by Melrose Area’s Dominic Kerzman in 19:57.

In the girls’ JV race, Izzy Bautista placed fifth with a time of 24:43, while Autumn Hess was seventh in 25:08 and Alannah Christensen was 30th  with a time of 32:48.  Seventh-grader Kyla Vick, of NLS, won the race with a time of 21:06.

In the junior high races, Rylan Tank placed 16th (11:57) out of 41 runners in the 2,500-meter race won by St. Cloud Christian’s Miles Rassier in 9:37, while Ayden Svenning placed 12th for the Lakers in the girls’ junior high race won by Rocori seventh-grader Lainey Ehresmann in 9:39. 

at Paynesville Invitational

Girls varsity team results:  (1) Rocori 29  (2) NLS 64  (3) Minnewaska 90  (4) Melrose 117  (5) Sauk Centre 150  (6) Paynesville 156  (7) EVW 157  (8) Benson-KMS 174

Girls top five:  (1) Paige Larsen, Rocori 20:04  (2) Izzy Kraemer, Rocori 20:12  (3) Madison Wendlandt, Paynes 20:28  (4) Lauryn Ankeny, Min 20:44  (5) Elise Hofer, Rocori 21:03

Minnewaska Area times:   (4) Lauryn Ankeny 20:44  (20) Nori Song 22:23  (22) Piper Citrowske-Lee 22:39  (23) Sophia Wallin 22:42  (25) Jillian Deutsch 22:48  (28) Sydney Ankeny 23:03  (31) Aubrey Stark 23:16 . . . 61 total runners

Boys varsity team results:  (1) Rocori 48  (2) Sauk Centre 49  (3) Minnewaska 87  (4) NLS 96  (5) Melrose 121  (6) EVW 122  (7) Paynesville 189  (8) Benson-KMS 190

Boys top five:  (1) Henry Lemke, EVW 16:31  (2) Jacob Drevlow, SC 17:15  (3) Maeson Tank, Min 17:32  (4) Kaleb Cremers, Rocori 17:36  (5) Brody Sieben, Rocori 17:49

Minnewaska Area times:   (3) Maeson Tank 17:32  (8) Zach Palmer 18:24  (14) Ian Mills 18:42  (35) Jayce Kovarik 20:14  (36) Luke Hoffmann 20:15  (40) Carter Dinsmore 20:55  (46) Chase Wacker 21:29 . . . 58 total runners