The Minnewaska Area girls cross-country team placed  second for the third time in five meets this fall at the Melrose Invitational last Tuesday.

The Lakers, who won the LPGE Invitational the previous week, placed second of 12-team at Melrose, while the boys were fourth.

NLS continued its great girls’ season with the team title while the Sauk Centre boys also continued to excel in area competitions with a first place in the 13-team boys field.

Nori Song and Ian Mills both placed sixth for their respective Laker teams while Jillian Deutsch earned eighth and Maia Larson was ninth.

This week, the Lakers were set to race at the Paynesville Invitational, set for Tuesday (tomorrow).  After that, the Lakers are set to race at the Sauk Centre Invitational, Tuesday, Oct. 1 and host the Laker Invitational at the Minnewaska Golf Course, Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Melrose Invitational

Nori Song, Jillian Deutsch and Maia Larson placed sixth, eighth and ninth for the Laker girls cross-country team to lead Minnewaska Area to a runner-up finish at the Melrose Invitational last Tuesday night

Song ran a time of 21:00 to finish sixth overall out of 90 runners, while Deutsch had a time of 21:24 and Larson finished in 21:25.

NLS earned the team title with 40 points, keyed mostly by the top two finishers in Kyla Vick (19:46) and Stella Moline (20:30.

The Lakers were second with 66 points, while Section 6A nemesis Wadena-DC was third with 72 points.

Lauryn Ankeny was fourth for her team with a time of 21:49 to place 20th, while Piper Citrowske-Lee finished 30th (22:46), Sydney Ankeny was 35th (23:09) and Ella Larson placed 37th (23:19).

In the boys competition, Sauk Centre and Jacob Drevlow continued their great fall season with the team and individual title.

SC had 42 points to easily win the 13-team boys field, while WDC was second with 103 points, NLS was third with 114 and Minnewaska Area was fourth with 126.  Drevlow had a time of 16:42 to earn first place by 14 seconds over a runner from WCA.

Ian Mills paced the Laker boys with a time of 17:53 to place sixth, while Zach Palmer ran to a time of 18:41 to earn 13th and Luke Hoffman also went under 19 minutes with a time of 18:53 to place 18th.

Next up for Minnewaska Area was Dietrich Reidenbach in 34th (19:58), Rylan Tank in 56th (21:05), Jase Ritter in 64th place (21:20) and Ryan Koehntop in 67th place (21:47) out of 90 total racers.

•  In the boys JV meet, Sev Anderson, of Sauk Centre, won the meet with a time of 19:56, one of three racers who went under 20 minutes.  Chase Wacker placed 41st for the Lakers with a time of 23:36, while Tate Wasiloski was 56th (26:53) out of 64 JV runners.

In the girls JV race, Aubrey Stark placed first for the Lakers with a time of 23:38, beating out 25 other runners.  Sophia Wallin was next for the Lakers in third place with a time of 23:48, while Grace Herfindahl placed 19th (30:14).

•  In the boys junior high race, Caden Hawkins placed ninth for the Lakers out of 68 runners with a time of 14:01, while Colton Watson-Essary was 44th (16:32) and Ilo Hasskamp was 53rd (18:10) in a race won by NLS’ Soren Selander in 12:41.  In the girls’ junior high race, Minnewaska didn’t have any racers.

at Melrose Invite

Girls varsity team results:  (1) NLS 40  (2) Minnewaska 66  (3) WDC 72  (4) Brecken-Wahp 103  (5) Litchfield 151, Melrose 203, WCA 205, Paynes 206, Sauk Centre 220, Morris Area 269, Alex Community 290, LPGE 311

Girls top five:  (1) Kyla Vick, NLS 19:46  (2) Stella Moline, NLS 20:30  (3) Elsa Helstrom, Litch 20:35  (4) Katie Holzner, Hillcrest 20:43  (5) Amber Collins, WDC 20:47  (6) Nori Song, Minnewaska 21:00

Minnewaska Area times:   (6) Nori Song 21:00  (8) Jillian Deutsch 21:24  (9) Maia Larson 21:25  (20) Lauryn Ankeny 21:49  (30) Piper Citrowske-Lee 22:46  (35) Sydney Ankeny 23:09  (37) Ella Larson 23:19   . . . (90 total runners)

Boys varsity team results:     (1) Sauk Centre 42  (2) WDC 103  (3) NLS 114  (4) Minnewaska 126 (5) Melrose 156, Litchfield 162, WCA 167, BKMS 213, Brecken-Wahp 251, LPGE 276, Morris Area 283, Paynes 286, ABE 286

Boys top five:  (1) Jacob Drevlow, SC 16:42  (2) Carter Kjesbo, WCA 16:56  (3) Logan Wiehoff, SC 17:15  (4) Grant Nelson, WDC 17:28  (5) Alex Zurn, BKMS 17:37  (6) Ian Mills, Minnewaska 17:53

Minnewaska Area times:       (6) Ian Mills 17:53  (13) Zach Palmer 18:41 (18) Luke Hoffmann 18:53  (34) Dietrich Reidenbach 19:58  (56) Rylan Tank 21:05  (64) Jase Ritter 21:20  (67) Ryan Koehntop 21:47. . . (90 total runners)