The Minnewaska Area cross-country program continues to be one of the best programs in the area,

The boys and girls cross-country teams had great seasons in 2023 as both teams were among the top teams in almost every meet they entered, including the WCC meet where the girls were first and the boys were second, and at the Section 6A Meet where girls were third and the boys placed fourth out of 15 complete teams.

The girls team has narrowly missed out on advancing to state as a team the last few years after reaching state in 2021, but this could be the season the Lakers finally break through and earn a return trip to state as a team.

Gone from last year’s team are Izzy Bautista, Teagan Stark, Jayce Kovarik and Maeson Tank, who also all served as captains for last year’s team.  Tank qualified to the state meet the last two years, while current junior Lauryn Ankeny has qualified to state the last three seasons.

The cross-country teams are set to commence with the season Monday, Aug. 26 at the Morris Invitational followed by the Wadena-DC Invite, Tuesday, Sept. 3 and the LPGE Invitational, Monday, Sept. 9.

The Minnewaska Area Invitational is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8, while the WCC Meet is scheduled for Melrose and the Section 6A Meet will take place at WDC this season.

This year’s Minnewaska Area girls cross-country roster includes juniors Lauryn Ankeny, Piper Citrowske-Lee, Grace Herfindahl and Aubrey Stark; sophomore Sophia Wallin; ninth-graders Sydney Ankeny and Ella Larson; and eighth-graders Jillian Deutsch, Maia Larson and Nori Song, while the boys cross-country roster includes seniors Luke Hoffmann, Ryan Koehntop, Ian Mills, Zach Palmer and Chase Wacker; juniors Carter Dinsmore and Tayte Wasiloski; ninth-grader Rylan Tank; eighth-graders Deitrich Reidenbach and Jase Ritter; and seventh-grader Caden Hawkins.

A look at last year

In addition to winning the WCC team title, the Laker girls were second at the 11-team LPGE Invitational, second of 15 teams at the Melrose Invite and second of four teams at the Minnewaska Invitational last year, while the boys were also second of nine teams at the Sauk Centre Invitational and third of eight teams at the Paynesville Meet.

Maeson Tank and Lauryn Ankeny were the leaders for their respective teams last season.  Tank placed first at the WCC Meet with a time of 16:54 and was also second at the Morris Invitational and third at three other competitions, while Ankeny placed first at the LPGE Invitational and WCC Meet, was second at the WDC Invitational and third at the Melrose Invitational.

Of course, the highlight of the season was Tank and Ankeny qualifying to the state meet where Tank closed out his high school career with a 35th place finish in the Class A Meet, while Ankeny placed 122nd in her third-straight state competition.

In the Section 6A team race, Staples-Motley had 39 points and Wadena-DC had 84 to edge out the Lakers, who totaled 102 points.

In the boys section team competition, Bertha-Hewitt was first with 48 points, Staples-Motley was second with 71 and the Lakers were fourth with 121 points.

Just missing out on state berths last year were Nori Song, who placed ninth at the section meet for the Laker girls, and Zach Palmer, who was 18th for the boys team at the section meet.

At the state meet, Heritage Christian won the boys Class A team title, while St. Cloud Cathedral dominated the Class A girls meet.

•  Earning All-Conference for the cross-country program last fall were Lauryn Ankeny, Nori Song, Zach Palmer and Maeson Tank, while Jayce Kovarik and Jillian Deutsch were both honorable mention.