The Minnewaska Area Lakers moved up to fifth place in the state Class A girls rankings recently.  Just behind them is sixth-ranked Wadena-DC, which is also a member of Section 6A.

The Lakers raced at the Paynesville-BBE Invitational last Tuesday night, placing third in both the boys and girls races out of 11 full teams.

Jillian Deutsch was eighth and Maia Larson was ninth to lead the Lakers girls, while Zach Palmer placed 11th and Ian Mills was 14th for the Minnewaska boys.

This week, the Lakers were set to race at the Sauk Centre Invitational, Tuesday, Oct. 1 before getting ready to host the Laker Invitational at the Minnewaska Golf Course, Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Paynesville-BBE Invite

Despite racing without one of their top athletes (Nori Song), who was out for undisclosed reasons, the Laker girls still place third out of 11 teams at the Paynesville-BBE Invitational last Tuesday night.

Jillian Deutsch led the Lakers with a time of 21:51 to place sixth overall out of 77 total girls, while Maia Larson was right behind in ninth with a time of 21:59.

Rocori’s Izzy Kraemer won the girls’ title with a time of 20:48 while NLS had the second and fourth-best runners on the way to winning the team title with 34 points.

Little Falls was second with 46 points, while the Lakers were third with 76 points.

Lauryn Ankeny was the third-fastest runner for the Lakers with a time of 22:47 to earn 19th, while Piper Citrowske-Lee was 20th (22:49), Sydney Ankeny placed 23rd (23:00), Sophie Wallin was 34th (24:02) and Ella Larson placed 36th (24:34).

For the Minnewaska boys, Zach Palmer and Ian Mills led the way in 11th and 14th place, respectively, out of 79 total runners.

Palmer had a time of 18:58 to earn 11th while Mills was 14th with a time of 19:29 and Luke Hoffman was right behind in 22nd place with a time of 19:51.

Sauk Centre had little problem winning the team title with 35 points, while NLS edged the Lakers for second with 99 points compared to 109 for Minnewaska Area.

EVW’s Henry Lemke won the individual title out of 79 boys with a time of 17:02, while Jacob Drevlow, of Sauk Centre, was second in 17:17.

Dietrich Reidenbach earned 26th for the Lakers with a time of 20:10, while Rylan Tank was 47th (21:28),  Jase Ritter was 50th (21:37) and Ryan Koehntop earned 56th (22:16).

•  Tate Wasilowski placed 56th for the Lakers in the boys JV meet with a time of 26:25  There were 75 runners and the winner was Sauk Centre sophomore Jackson Moritz in 20:47.

In the girls’ JV race, Aubrey Stark placed seventh overall with a time of 25:08 and Grace Herfindahl was 33rd (29:33) out of 44 racers. The winner was Miley Kuechle, an eighth-grader from EVW-Kimball (23:04).

•  In the boys junior high race, Ilo Hasskamp placed 16th (11:16), Caden Hawkins was 17th (11:19) and Colton Watson-Essary was 23rd (11:55) out of  62 racers in a race of 2,500 meters won by Melrose’ Cooper Wolff with a time of 9:37.  There were no Lakers running in the girls’ junior high race.

at Paynesville-BBE Invitational

Girls varsity team results:  (1) NLS 34  (2) Little Falls 46  (3) Minnewaska 76  (4) Rocori 101  (5) Paynesville 159, Sauk Centre 172, WCA 197, Melrose Area 219, EVW-Kimball 222, ACGC 266, Maple Lake 281

Girls top five:  (1) Izzy Kraemer, Rocori 20:48  (2) Kyla Vick, NLS 20:53  (3) Malin Youngberg, LF 21:25  (4) Stella Moline, NLS 21:32  (5) Leah Couture, LF 21:40  (6) Jillian Deutsch, Min 21:51

Minnewaska Area times:   (6) Jillian Deutsch 21:51  (9) Maia Larson 21:59  (19) Lauryn Ankeny 22:47  (20) Piper Citrowske-Lee 22:49  (23) Sydney Ankeny 23:00   (34) Sophia Wallin 24:02  (36) Ella Larson 24:34 . . . (77 total runners)

Boys varsity team results:    (1) Sauk Centre 35  (2) NLS 99  (3) Minnewaska 109  (4) St. Cloud Christian 131  (5) Melrose Area 137, Rocori 149, EVW-Kimball 150, Benson-KMS 182, Little Falls 195, ACGC 197, Paynesville 223

Boys top five:  (1) Henry Lemke, EVW 17:02  (2) Jacob Drevlow, SC 17:17  (3) Carter Kjesbo, WCA 17:39  (4) Logan Wiehoff, SC 17:47  (5) Hunter Rademacher, SCC 17:53

Minnewaska Area times:   (11) Zach Palmer 18:58  (14) Ian Mills 19:29  (22) Luke Hoffmann 19:51  (26) Dietrich Reidenbach 20:10  (47) Rylan Tank 21:28  (50) Jase Ritter 21:37  (56) Ryan Koehntop 22:16 . . . (79 total runners)

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!