The area’s top cross-country runners took on their last event of the year, the state meet at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights. LARPH’s boys team, LFC’s Autumn Rakosnik, and Chatfield’s Lexi Kivimagi all had solid showings. Rakosnik competed in her first state meet. She took a very impressive 28th place (19:59.4), the third best 8th grader in the field. It was her third straight sub-20-minute run. Rakosnik notably topped Gopher Kivimagi, who finished similarly strong in 31st place (20:00.9). Kivimagi beat Rakosnik for the 1A individual title. For the former, it was her third state meet. Kivimagi improved on a 65th place (20:53.45) as a 7th grader in 2022 and 38th place (20:07.29) last year. She entered having ran three straight sub-20-minute races but just missed a fourth. St. Cloud Cathedral (68) topped Staples-Motley (125) for the team crown with Cotter (151) taking third (of 16 total teams). St. Johns Prep senior Olivia Pauly (18:20.5) beat Staples-Motley’s Audrey Brownell (18:31.6) for the individual crown. Cotter’s Sonja Semling (19:10.6), after not finishing the 1A Meet, took ninth to lead all 1A runners. On the guy’s side, the LARPH group posted their best state finish in their five-year run (albeit they only competed four years per COVID in 2020). Matt Kingsbury’s guys took 8th place (215). Their previous best finish was 13th and previous team low-score was 230 both done in 2021.
Senior Ryan Prinsen capped his excellent career by leading the way with his highest state finish in three competitions. He took 46th place in a season-best time (17:04.5). Prinsen took 63rd (17:16.9) and 101st (18:04.37) the last two years. Brennan Kunst was LARPH’s next finisher. The frosh took 52nd place (17:10.8). He too ran a season best time and improved upon last year’s 111th place finish (17:56.9). Junior Tyler Kreidermacher (17:39.7) and sophomore Trey Heyland (17:52.7) took 82nd and 97th place respectively. Heyland ran a season-best time. Finishing fourth was his best amongst his team all year. Sophomore Isaac Rasmussen (113th > 18:09.3), senior Tyler Betthauser (114th > 18:12), and sophomore Aaron Ploetz (117th > 18:16.6) rounded out LARPH’s runners. Heritage Christian Academy (106) downed 1A runner-up Cotter (114) for the team title. Mounds Park Academy’s Eddie Snider (15:40) topped Redwood Valley’s William Ahrens (15:41) for the individual title. Cotter’s Erik Semling (6th > 15:59.1) and W-K’s Cole Arens (7th > 15:59.6) led all 1A runners. One-hundred-sixty girls and guys competed at each 5,000-meter race.
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