The Minnewaska Area girls cross-country team won its third meet of the season during the WCC Cross-Country Championships last Tuesday at Melrose.

The Lakers had six of the top nine racers on the way to winning the title with 25 points, while Melrose was a distant second with 82  points.

Winning the meet was Nori Song with a time of 20:07, but the Lakers also had Lauryn Ankeny place fourth, Piper Citrowske-Lee was fifth, Jillian Deutsch earned seventh, Maia Larson was eighth and Sydney Ankeny placed ninth.

All six of those runners earned All-Conference as the top nine finishers earned All-Conference.

In the boys race, Sauk Centre won easily with 33 points, while Montevideo edged Minnewaska Area for second.

Carter Kjesbo, of West Central Area, won a tight race for the boys title with a time of 16:24.99, while Jacob Drevlow, of Sauk Centre, was second with a time less than a second behind (16:25.76).

For the Lakers, Zach Palmer placed seventh and Ian Mills was ninth to earn All-Conference.

Both teams seem to be peaking at the right time and that’s a good thing because next up for the teams is the Section 6A Cross-Country Meet, set for Thursday, Oct. 24 at Wadena-DC.

The Lakers girls have placed third at the last two section meets after advancing to state as a team in 2021.  During the last two seasons, Lauryn Ankeny and Maeson Tank have also qualified to state for their respective teams.

WCC Meet at Melrose

It was a banner day for the Laker girls cross-country team, which won the WCC title and also had six runners earn All-Conference.

Nori Song led the way for the Lakers with a personal-best time of 20:07 to place first overall, while Lauryn Ankeny placed fourth (20:26) and Piper Citrowske-Lee earned fifth (20:28).

In addition, Jillian Deutsch placed seventh (20:46), Maia Larson was eighth (20:50) and Sydney Ankeny earned ninth (20:54) to also earn All-Conference, while Ella Larson was 17th (22:29) and was named to the WCC honorable mention team.

The battle for second place in the team competition was tight as Melrose placed second with 82 points, West Central Area was third with 83 and Sauk Centre was fourth with 85 points.

•  In the boys competition, Carter Kjesbo, of WCA, edged Sauk Centre’s Jacob Drevlow by less than a second for the individual title (16:24 to 16:25).

Sauk Centre easily won the team title with 33 points, followed by Montevideo in second with 60 points and Minnewaska Area in third with 85 points out of six full teams.

Zach Palmer led the Lakers with a time of 17:24 to place seventh and Ian Mills was right behind in ninth with a time of 17:30 to also earn All-Conference.

Next up for Minnewaska Area was Luke Hoffmann in 14th (17:52) to earn WCC honorable mention, while Carter Dinsmore placed 26th (18:56), Dietrich Reidenbach was 29th (18:59), Rylan Tank placed 40th (19:53) and Ryan Koehntop was 42nd (20:12).

•  Aubrey Stark won the 25-person JV girls race with a time of 22:22, just three seconds faster than runner-up Sophia Wallin of Minnewaska Area (22:25).  Also running for the Lakers was Grace Herfindahl in 17th place (28:18).

In the boys JV race, won by Sauk Centre’s Evan Peterson in 18:41, Tayte Wasilowski was 30th (21:42) and Chase Wacker placed 40th (23:04).

•  There were 32 runners in the boys junior high race won by Benson-KMS’ Levi Pappadakis in 12:22.  Caden Hawkins placed third for the Lakers with a time of 12:36, followed by Ilo Hasskamp in 13th (13:30) and Colton Watson-Essary in 18th place (13:53). There were no Lakers racing in the girls junior high race.

WCC Championships

Girls varsity team results:  (1) Minnewaska 25  (2) Melrose 82  (3) WCA 83  (4) Sauk Centre 85  (5) Morris Area-CA 119  (6) Monte 121

Girls top five:  (1) Nori Song, Min 20:07  (2) Victoria Linscheid, SC 20:13  (3) Kahlen Suelflow, SC 20:16  (4) Lauryn Ankeny, Min 20:26  (5) Piper Citrowske-Lee 20:28

Minnewaska Area times:   (1) Nori Song 20:07  (4) Lauryn Ankeny 20:26  (5) Piper Citrowske-Lee 20:28  (7) Jillian Deutsch 20:47  (8) Maia Larson 20:50  (9) Sydney Ankeny 20:54  (17) Ella Larson 22:29 . . . (45 total runners)

Boys varsity team results:    (1) Sauk Centre 33  (2) Montevideo 60  (3) Minnewaska 85  (4) Melrose 93  (5) WCA 107  (6) Benson-KMS 119

Boys top five:  (1) Carter Kjesbo, WCA 16:24  (2) Jacob Drevlow, SC 16:25  (3) Logan Wiehoff, SC 16:54  (4) Neal Stadsvold, SC 17:07  (5) Alex Zurn, BKMS 17:09

Minnewaska Area times:   (7) Zach Palmer 17:24  (9) Ian Mills 17:30  (14) Luke Hoffmann 17:52  (26) Carter Dinsmore 18:56  (29) Dietrich Reidenbach 18:59  (40) Rylan Tank 19:53  (42) Ryan Koehntop 20:12 . . . (49 total runners)

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!