Boys Cross Country: #1 LARPH Wins Third Straight 1A Title
It is undoubtedly their best team in their seven-year state run. Despite their main adversary Cotter/Hope Lutheran being ranked #3 in state, top-ranked LARPH boys cross country was a cut above. They posted their lowest team score, and largest margin of victory, of their four section titles the past five seasons. Of their top 15 individual times at the 1A Meet dating back to 2018 (when Luke O’Hare won a section title), six came this year including the three fastest. Matt Kingsbury’s group (36) topped Cotter/HL (44) in a two-team race at the top at the 5,000-meter run held at Rochester’s Northern Hills Golf Course. RAACHE (140) took a distance third, St. Charles (181) fourth. Rambler Erik Semling (15:38.9) won his third straight section title. Teammates Ryan Littlefield (16:00.4) and Kellen Groth (16:24.4) took second and third. LARPH then placed their entire seven-man team from fourth thru 16th places. In fourth, Brennan Kunst ran his second-fastest 5,000-meter time (16:32.5) of the year to lead the team for a first time this year. Grayson Speltz (16:36.2) and Isaac Rassmuseen (16:39.4) were right behind in fifth and sixth. Finishing ninth, 12th, and 13th, and 16th respectively were Aaron Ploetz (16:57), Trey Hegland (17:11.4), Will Jewison (17:14.7), and Hunter Rislov (17:33). Kunst, Speltz and Rasmussen ran the three fastest 1A Meet times for LARPH since 2018. Ploetz, Hegland, and Jewison made the top 15 of said list. Seven Card-Tro-Cane runners finished before Cotter got its fourth, Jonah Alexander (17:42.9), and fifth, Jonah Hatanpa (17:42.9), across the line in 18th and 20th places. It was fabulous showing for LARPH. Rasmussen, Ploetz, Hegland and Rislov are credentialled seniors. Journal-covered teams LFC (210), Chatfield (245), and GMLOS (538) took sixth, tenth, and 20th (of 21) respectively. In 25th place, LFC’s Riley Grant led his team (17:58.7) while Andy Brown (18:10.1) took 28th. In 26th place, Ben Peeters led Chatfield (18:04.9). Gopher Max Hoover (34th > 18:21.5), Burro Cooper Pickett (35th > 18:24.9), and Gopher Ivar Stavlund (45th > 18:50.7) finished in the top 50 (of 143 total runners). St. Charles’ Ivan Daood (7th), Pacelli’s Zemecha McManus (8th) and Isaac Johnson (10th), RAACHE’s Luke Dirks (11th), LC/H’s Archie Wolcott (14th), and D-E’s Nolan Ward (15th) were the individual state qualifiers.
Girls Cross Country: Rakosnik Grabs 1A Title
On the girls side, it was the Autumn Rakosnik show. The LFC sophomore entered the meet having already made state the last two years. She was 1A runner-up in 2023 and 2024 (behind Chatfield’s Lexi Kivimagi and Cotter/Hope Lutheran’s Sonja Semling). Topping Lake City’s Olivia Yotter (19:16.7), Rakosnik (19:06.6) was no longer a bridesmaid but the 1A individual champ. She ran much faster than last year (19:32.2) and in 2023 (19:56.30). Dominant, Rakosnik has won seven of her last nine races, including the last six. One of her non-first-place finishes was a second, the other a ninth at the large and esteemed Luther All-American Invite. Her Burro team was hoping to make state. They came in the highest state-ranked 1A squad, #6, but fell short. Behind runner-up Olivia Yotter and Clara Yotter (eighth place), #9 Lake City won the girls team 1A title (87). The spread between second and fourth place teams Rochester-Lourdes (104), Goodhue (112), and LFC (113) was just nine points. The Eagles thus grabbed the second state spot. LFC posted a lower score than last year’s third place (134) but Lake City (164) and Goodhue (190) improved massively from 2024. Joining Rakosnik in scoring for the Burros were Stella Charlebois (26th place > 21:46), Lillyan Kiehne (29th > 22.00.9), Charity Kingsley (30th > 22:01.1), and Eliza Cullen (31st > 22:02.9). Grace Kingsley (47th) also made the top 50. The girls individual top 10 had someone from nine different teams, save Lake City’s Yotters. Cotter/HL’s Emma Hatanpa (3rd > 19:35), Hayfield’s Hadley Doman (4th > 19:40.3), La Crescent/Hokah’s Hope Docan-Morgan (5th > 19:41.6), Goodhue’s Mari O’Connor (6th > 19:41.8), and BP’s Gloria Hernandez (7th > 19:44.4) also made state. LARPH’s Caitlin Bauer (9th > 20:11.3) just missed doing so. She finished seventh of the girls not from a state qualifying team. The top six move on. Bauer also missed by one spot last year. Journal-covered teams Chatfield (199), LARPH (321), GMLOS (323), and Kingsland (407) took sixth, 12th, 13th, and 16th (of 18 complete). Lexi Kivimagi (21:16.7), Adeline Schild (21:23.6), and Autumn Norsten (39th > 22:11.4) took 18th, 20th, and 39th to lead Chatfield. Kivimagi was a four-time former state qualifier (2023 1A Meet champion), but injuries hampered her season a bit. Leading GMLOS was Naomi Warmka (22:19.2) in 41st place and Sadie Bustad (22:27.3) in 45th place. Leading Kingsland was Reeyin Lanning (22:19.8) in 42nd place. One-hundred-thirty-two girls completed the 5,000-meter run at Rochester’s Northern Hills Golf Course.
Leave a Reply