LARPH Boys Top Cotter at TRC Meet
The Section 1A boy’s cross-country rivalry between Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson/Houston’s boys and Cotter/Hope Lutheran was again on full display at the Three Rivers Conference Meet. Last year’s state Section 1A representatives dueled to the end with a narrow gap separating the two. The Ramblers motus-operandi held true. Their top three runners all galloped strong. Freshman Erik Semling (16:15.2), sophomore Ryan Littlefield (16:29.3), and junior Kellen Groth (16:43.2) were the first three to cross the finish line. But LARPH’s motus-operandi held true too. They had more depth. Six of Matt Kingsbury’s runners then finished before another Rambler. Junior Aaron Ploetz (17:00.9) led LARPH for a first time this year and took fifth place. Junior Trey Hegland (17:11.1) and sophomore Brennan Kunst (17:18.4) were right behind him in sixth and seventh places. The trio of senior Wyatt Kreidermacher (17:29.4), junior Isaac Rasmussen (17:31.4), and freshman Grayson Speltz (17:32.3) then also clustered, taking ninth, tenth, and eleventh. Cotter/HL had to wait until runner 14, Jonah Hatanpa (17:42.3), and runner 20, Logan Granseth (17:54.8) to complete their scoring runners. Going 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10, LARPH scored 37 team points. Going 1, 2 ,3, 13, and 20, Cotter scored 40 team points. The Card-Tro-Canes grabbed the TRC title, their second straight. They downed Cotter/HL 51 to 57 last year (while the Ramblers took first and LARPH second in 2022). St. Charles (105) took a distance third behind Ivan Daood’s fourth place finish (16:54.8). L/FC (155) took sixth, Chatfield (168) seventh, and GMLOS (227) ninth of 10 complete teams. Sophomore Riley Grant (17:44.8) finished 15th to lead the Burros. Junior Carter Glynn (17:46.5) finished 17th to lead GMLOS. All the above runners made All-TRC. Just missing the cut were two more LARPH guys, Hunter Rislov (18:09.1) and Will Jewison (18:18.1) in 22nd and 25th place respectively. L/FC’s Andy Brown (26th > 18:19.5), Chatfield’s top runner Maddex Lanning (28th > 18:26.8), and LARPH’s Matthew Sprague (29th > 18:31.0) finished in the top 30. One-hundred-twenty-four runners competed. Kunst and Glynn notably notched their third All-TRC honors. Ploetz, Rasmussen, and Hegland each repeated. On the gal’s side, it was far less close, both team-wise and individually. Cotter/Hope Lutheran placed six runners in the top seven, a group headed by Sonja Semling. The senior crossed the finish line nearly a minute (18:57.5) ahead of second place Hope Docan-Morgan (19:51.5) of La Crescent/Hokah. Semling’s top section competitor, Autumn Rakosnik of L/FC, did not run. The Ramblers thus took first handily (19) over the second place Burros (100) and third place Lancers (102). Chatfield (118) took fourth, GMLOS (168) fifth, LARPH (173) sixth, and Kingsland (230) 11th of 11 complete. All five Journal-covered schools had at least one runner in the top 21, and thus one All-TRC performer. Chatfield sophomore Lexi Kivimagi (20:44.2) took seventh place just ahead of L/FC junior Lillyan Kiehne (20:44.3) in eighth place. Gopher senior Charlotte Oeltjen (21:02.8) took 11th place. Kiehne made All-TRC a fifth time while Kivimagi and Oeltjen earned their fourth honors. Freshman Caitlin Bauer (20:59.9) took 10th place and sophomore teammate Vada Larson 14th place (21:24.8) to also give LARPH two in the top 15. L/FC had three total All-TRC picks. Twin freshman sisters Charity Kingsley (21:45.6) and Grace Kingsley (21:48.4) took 19th and 20th place to join Kiehne. Kingsland senior Kylie Meyer (21:28.6) took 15th place and GMLOS junior Naomi Warmka (21:41.1) 17th place. Meyer earned her third All-TRC nod. Just missing the All-TRC cut were Chatfield’s Adeline Schild (22:04.7) in 23rd place, and L/FC’s Olivia Rindels (22:15.4) in 24th place. GMLOS’ Sadie Bustad (22:28.9) and Audrey Main (22:35.1), L/FC’s Eliza Cullen (22:40.7), and Kingsland’s Anna Imm (22:44.6) finished in 27th thru 30th places to crack to the top 30. One-hundred-six gals competed. The 5,000-meter events were held at Adams Cedar River Golf Course.
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