Song leads girls cross-country team to title at LPGE
Sports | Published on September 16, 2024 at 2:11pm CDT
The Minnewaska Area cross-country teams competed in two meets last week, one of only two times this season the Lakers race twice in one week.
The Laker girls won the LPGE Invitational last Monday and also placed third at the NLS Invitational, Thursday, while the boys team was fifth at LPGE and ninth at NLS.
Nori Song paced the girls’ team by placing fourth overall at LPGE and eighth at NLS, while Ian Mills led the boys team with a 15th place finish at LPGE and 23rd at the loaded NLS Meet.
This week, the Lakers are set to race at the Melrose Invitational, Tuesday, Sept. 17. Also coming up is the only meet at home, the Minnewaska Area Invitational, set for Tuesday, Oct. 8.
LPGE Invitational
The Laker girls had their top five finishers in the top 12 to earn the team title at the Long Prairie-GE Invitational last Monday.
The Lakers totaled 30 points with WDC second (67), Sauk Centre third (114) and Melrose Area fourth (115).
Nori Song paced the Lakers with a time of 21:22 to place fourth overall, just one minute off the winning pace set by Norah Froslee of Parkers Prairie in 20:22.
Jillian Deutsch was next in seventh with a time of 21:53, while Lauryn Ankeny finished eighth (22:03), Maia Larson was ninth (22:04) and Piper Citrowske-Lee placed 12th (22:11).
Also running for the Lakers were Sydney Ankeny in 18th (22:59), Sophia Wallin in 26th (23:58), Aubrey Stark in 39th (25:15) and Ella Larson in 53rd place (26:12). There were 81 total runners in the girls’ race.
Jacob Drevlow, of Sauk Centre, continued his domination of area meets with a first-place time of 16:50 to win the boys meet of 85 runners.
That helped Sauk Centre tie with Holdingford for the team title after both schools finished with 34 points. WDC was next in third (93 points), followed by Melrose Area (111) and Minnewaska Area (123).
There were 11 full teams in both the girls and boys meets.
Ian Mills led the Lakers with a time of 18:54 to place 15th overall, while Zach Palmer was 19th (19:24) and Luke Hoffman was 23rd (19:39).
In addition, Carter Dinsmore placed 39th (20:42), Rylan Tank was 48th (21:00), Ryan Koehntop placed 63rd (22:59) and Chase Wacker was 77th (26:00.
• Dietrich Reidenbacher placed third for the Laker boys in the JV meet with a time of 16:08. The winning time was 15:13 by Holdingford’s Cameron Martini. In addition, Jase Ritter placed seventh in 16:35.
Grace Herfindahl placed eighth in the girls JV race with a time of 22:55, while Amiyah Herner, of Verndale, won the title with a time of 18:33 over 4,000 meters.
• In the girls junior high race, the Lakers did not have any runners, but in the junior high boys’ race, Caden Hawkins earned 17th (12:49) over 2,500 meters. Brennan Simmons, of WDC, won the junior high boys race in 10:47.
NLS Invitational
The Minnewaska Area cross-country teams met up with some of the state’s best teams, Thursday at the NLS Invitational.
Redwood Valley won both team titles with NLS and Minnewaska Area placing second and third, respectively, in the girls competition and Rockford and Sauk Centre earning second and third in the boys competition.
Nori Song led the Laker girls with a time of 21:22 to place eighth overall. Addie Thomes, of Redwood, led a one-four-five finish for the Cardinals with a time of 20:18 to place first.
Lauryn Ankeny was next in 15th with a time of 22:12, while Jillian Deutsch was 17th (22:19), Maia Larson was 19th (22:41), Sydney Ankeny earned 26th (23:34), Piper Citrowske-Lee was 27th (23:42) and Sophia Wallin placed 34th (24:20.
Redwood Valley also had both individual titlists as Kilen Cilek, of the Cardinals, placed first in 16:27 and a teammate was also third.
Leading the way for the Lakers, as he has done in every meet, was Ian Mills with a time of 18:25 to earn 23rd.
Zach Palmer was next in 38th place with a time of 19:22, followed by Luke Hoffmann in 45th (19:45), Dietrich Reidenbacher in 51st (20:18), Carter Dinsmore in 75th place (21:23), Jase Ritter in 77th (21:25), Ryan Koehntop in 87th (22:34) and Chase Wacker in 101st (25:34).
• The Lakers did not have any runners in the boys JV race, but in the girls JV race, Ella Larson placed sixth overall for Minnewaska Area with a time of 25:41 and Grace Herfindahl was 34th (30:12). Winning the race was NLS’ Sydney Peltier in 23:54.
• In the junior high races, Caden Hawkins placed 27th for the Lakers in the boys’ meet with a time of 11:04 in a race won by NLS’ Soren Selander in 9:42. There were no Lakers racing in the girls jr. high meet.
at LPGE Invite
Girls varsity team results: (1) Minnewaska Area 30 (2) WDC 67 (3) Sauk Centre 114 (4) Melrose 115 (5) Border West 143 (6) ABE 150 (7) Morris Area 187 (8) Holdingford 205 (9) Pillager 216 (10) Alex Community 230 (11) LPGE 239
Girls top five: (1) Norah Froslee, Par Pr 20:22 (2) Chloe Reedy, Royal 20:46 (3) Julia Schmidt, BW 21:08 (4) Nori Song, Min 21:22 (5) Karissa Anderson, BW 21:30
Minnewaska Area times: (4) Nori Song 21:22 (7) Jillian Deutsch 21:53 (8) Lauryn Ankeny 22:03 (9) Maia Larson 22:04 (12) Piper Citrowske-Lee 22:11 (18) Sydney Ankeny 22:59 (26) Sophia Wallin 23:58 (39) Aubrey Stark 25:15 (53) Ella Larson 26:12 . . . (81 total runners)
Boys varsity team results: (1) Holdingford and Sauk Centre, both 34 (3) WDC 93 (4) Melrose 111 (5) Minnewaska 123 (6) Royalton 202 (7) LPGE 214 (8) Morris Area 214 (9) Frazee 225 (10) ABE 236 (11) Pillager 288
Boys top five: (1) Jacob Drevlow, SC 16:50 (2) Cadyn Vanderwal, Orton 17:06 (3) Zackery Bruder, Osakis 17:17 (4) Dawson Hofer, Hold 17:25 (5) Quinn Guthrie, Hold 17:30
Minnewaska Area times: (15) Ian Mills 18:54 (19) Zach Palmer 19:24 (23) Luke Hoffmann 19:39 (39) Carter Dinsmore 20:42 (48) Rylan Tank 21:00 (63) Ryan Koehntop 22:59 (77) Chase Wacker 26:00 . . . (85 total runners)
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at NLS Invite
Girls varsity team results: (1) Redwood 45 (2) NLS 51 (3) Minnewaska 81 (4) Litchfield 126 (5) Sauk Centre 130, Dassel-Cokato 165, WCA 202, LQP-DB 226, EVW-Kimball 233, Paynesville 240, Morris Area 256, Norwood-YA 339
Girls top five: (1) Addie Thomes, Redwood 20:18 (2) Amanda Ashwill, DC 20:29 (3) Kyla Vick, NLS 20:44 (4) Lola Luze, Redwood 20:59 (5) Elie Nelson, Redwood 21:06
Minnewaska Area times: (8) Nori Song 21:22 (15) Lauryn Ankeny 22:12 (17) Jillian Deustch 22:19 (19) Maia Larson 22:41 (26) Sydney Ankeny 23:34 (27) Piper Citrowske-Lee 23:42 (34) Sophia Wallin 24:20 . . . (86 total runners)
Boys varsity team results: (1) Redwood 59 (2) Rockford 66 (3) Sauk Centre 95 (4) Dassel-Cokato 110 (5) Litchfield 113, LQP-DB 185, NLS 200, WCA 212, Minnewaska 225, EVW-Kimball 238, BKMS 293, Norwood-YA 332, Paynesville 332, Morris Area 361, BOLD-BLHS 443
Boys top five: (1) Kilen Cilek, Redwood 16:27 (2) Charlie Bortnem, DC 16:38 (3) William Ahrens, Redwood 16:38 (4) Henry Lemke, EVW 16:43 (5) Jacob Drevlow, SC 16:55
Minnewaska: (23) Ian Mills 18:25 (38) Zach Palmer 19:22 (45) Luke Hoffman 19:45 (51) Dietrich Reidenbacher 20:18 (75) Carter Dinsmore 21:23 (77) Jase Ritter 21:25 (87) Ryan Koehntop 22:34 (101) Chase Wacker 25:34. . . (101 total runners)