In their first cross country event of the year, Chatfield went to Lake City and ran a triangular with the Tigers and Dover-Eyota. On the girls side, the Tigers were the defending Section 1A Champs. Jayna Harstad’s Lady Gophers made a big impression, narrowly winning that triangular 27 to 29. In hosting their first triple of the year with PEM and LFC, Chatfield’s girls again had a super close team run. It took a sixth runner to determine the winner. The Gophers got second (Tessa McMahon > 22:01), fourth (Abbi Gillespie > 22:40), sixth (Aletta Strande > 23:00), eighth (Belle Carr > 23:32), and 15th place finishes (Savannah Thompson > 24:57) to post a five-girl team score of 35. PEM got first (MollyKate Hagen > 21:51), third (Macy Wozney > 22:23), ninth (Cecily Snyder > 23:42), tenth (Ezmae Severson > 24:19), and 12th place finishes (Alyx Doughty > 24:30) for a 35 as well. The Bulldogs won on the tie-breaking sixth runner. PEM’s girl finished 13th while Chatfield’s took 17th. LFC’s girls took third by scoring 58 points. Their top runners were Brielle Ruen (fifth > 22:58) and Lilyan Kiehne (seventh > 23:22). Twenty-four girls competed. The boys side was closer yet, with all three teams in the running. PEM (36) edged Chatfield (40) and LFC (46). The Gophers were still down top runner from last year, Evan Wright. Burro junior Carson Ruen won his first race ever (18:45). Gopher Treyton Lanning (19:42) took second. The two runners led the field most of the race before Ruen pulled away in the latter half. PEM had places three, four, and five. Jeremy O’Connor took sixth (20:22*) and Riley Serfling (20:52) ninth for LFC. Logan Thompson (20:21*) took seventh and Alex Wright (20:44) eighth for Chatfield. Twenty-three guys competed. Both 5,000-meters were ran up and down the fairways at Chosen Valley Golf Course.
