It’s been awhile since Matt Kingsbury’s L-A/R-P cross country has had a team win a meet. An individual winning a meet has been a different story. Top male runner Luke O’Hare entered the Pine Island Invite a two-time meet champion this year already. He added a third top finish while LARP (35 > 1-2-8-11-13) bested Stewartville (49 > 3-7-9-14-16) and Pine Island (58 > 4-5-12-15-22) at the seven-complete team 5-kilometer Panther Invite. It’s their first team #1 since the 2013 L-A Invite (unofficially). O’Hare (17:08) and teammate Aidan Ellinghuysen (17:21.5) went 1-2, the later just edging Stewie’s Alex Lawrence (3rd > 17:21.6). It was Ellinghuysen’s highest varsity finish ever. Tyler Rislov (8th), Mitchell Ledebuhr (11th), and Aleric Frick (13th) had the entire LARP scoring team finish top 13. Andrew McLellan (24th) and Brad Colbenson (33rd) also finished well into the top half of a 93-man field. Kingsland competed, taking seventh (of 7). Their top runner was Wesley Dean (43rd). Stewartville’s girls took first (28) behind meet champ Kailee Malone (19:59.2). The Tigers had seven runners in the top 12. LARP was incomplete while Kingsland finished 6th (of 6). Kingsland’s Renee Lechner (16th) and Susan Mettler (17th) finished top 20. LARP’s Grace Buchanon (20th) and Hannah Linder (23rd) finished top 25. Fifty-five girls competed in that 5-K race. The meet was ran on 9/24, having been re-scheduled from 9/20 (rain/water). That meant, just days later, teams were back at it running the St. Charles Invite. O’Hare rattled off his fourth meet victory in as many tries (17:16.9), besting nearest foes, PEM runners Austin Dawley (17:19.6) and Samson Hagen (17:20.5), Stewie’s Lawrence (18:00.7). Ellinghuysen (9th), Rislov (16th), Ledebuhr (21st), and Ricky Buchanon (24th) gave LARP five guys in the top 25 (of 70). Kingsbury’s group took third (71 > 1, 9, 16, 21, 24) just behind second-place La Crescent (70 > 10, 11, 13, 17, 19). PEM (39 > 2, 3, 8, 12, 14) took first. Kingsland finished 10th and LFC 11th. Neither had a top 25 runner. On the girl’s side, LFC took 5th and Kingsland 8th (of 8). LARP was incomplete. Burros Brielle Ruen (18th), Katie Prinsen (20th), Addie Miner (22nd), and Emily Snyder (24th) finished top 25. LARP’s Buchanon and Linder finished 25th and 26th. Kingsland’s Mettler and Lechner took 31st and 32nd overall (of 76). Stewie’s Malone (20:23.6) took first, leading the Tigers to another team title (24) over PEM (67)
Another Big Week for O’Hare, LARP Boys CC
