he week of Monday, September 21 featured area cross country teams taking part in four total meets. Three were hosted by Journal-covered squads. LFC hosted Monday, LARP Tuesday, and GMLOS Friday. The Burros triangular in Preston (LFC’s third of the year) also included Chatfield and W-K. It was the second time in less than a week that LFC and the Gophers competed in the same race. On September 15, the Gopher girls narrowly took second to PEM, with LFC finishing third, while Chatfield’s boys took second to PEM, with LFC taking third. On LFC’s much flatter course in a re-match, the Chatfield versus LFC girls’ battle wasn’t any different. Jayna Harstad’s Gophers had the top three finishers in Tessa McMahon (21:12), Abbi Gillespie (22:33), and Aletta Strande (22:45), then finishers six through eight in Belle Carr (23:27), Katelyn Dornack (23:36) and Alissa Frank (23:52). LFC had finishers four and five in Brielle Ruen (22:45) and Lilyan Kiehne (23:02), then finishers nine and ten in Addie Miner (24:46) and Morgan Pickett (25:30). W-K, the third team in the field, had only one runner in the top 17. Chatfield’s girls (19) won the meet over LFC (40) and W-K (81). Twenty-nine girls competed. On the guys’ side of things, LFC pulled a turnabout. After falling to the Gophers in the earlier meet by six points, Ellen Cullen’s Burros (31) beat Chatfield (36) with W-K (56) taking third. Junior Carson Ruen (18:35) won his third race. For a second straight meet, he bested Gopher Treyton Lanning (19:30), who took second. LFC’s Jeremy O’Connor (19:44) and Riley Serfling (20:00) took third and fourth. In joining with Ruen, the trio were plus-five points on Chatfield’s top three runners. LFC’s fourth and fifth runners, Logan Jensson (21:05) and Isaac Snyder (21:05), took 11th and 12th. After Lanning, Chatfield got three more guys in the top ten. Logan Thompson (20:20) took fifth, Cody Guenther (20:07) sixth, and Gabe Erding eighth (20:24). Colton Guenther (21:54) took 15th to round out Chatfield’s scoring runners. W-K had a pair of runners in the top ten. Forty total guys competed in the 5-kilometer run at Fillmore County Fairgrounds.
A day later, LARP hosted PEM and D-E at Ferndale Golf Course. LARP senior Luke O’Hare went 16:54.5 to take first place. It was his fourth win in as many tries. It was Matt Kingsbury’s boys teams’ fourth win in as many races. Tyler Rislov (17:04.4) took second, Andrew Hoiness (17:57.2) third, Ryan Prinsen (18:51.3) sixth, and Tyler Betthauser (19:04.2) seventh to give team Tro-Card a 19. PEM’s Baylor Hagen (18:42.1) and Nick Wozney (18:50.9) took fourth and fifth to help PEM to a 41 score. Dover-Eyota was incomplete. On the girls’ side, only PEM (15) had a complete team. D-E’s Malia Nelson (20:57.4) took first with Bulldogs taking second thru sixth places. Molly Kate Hagen (21:07.6) and Macy Wozney (21:37.3) took second and third. LARP’s top runners were Ellie Ekern (23:39.2) and Grace Buchanan (24:08), who took sixth and seventh. Thirty-nine boys and 26 girls competed at the two 5-kilometer races.
On Friday, LARP and Chatfield ran at Cedar River Country Club in Adams in a meet hosted by GMLOS. LARP’s boys had no problem showing their dominance. They made it five-for-five in race wins via posting a score of 19. Chatfield scored 51 and GMLOS 64. Luke O’Hare ran 16:47.7 for his fifth race win of the year, his second sub 17-minute time of the year and week. Tyler Rislov (17:06.4) and Andrew Hoiness (17:51.5) took second and third. Ryan Prinsen (19:12.7), Aaron Prinsen (19:20.6), and Tyler Betthauser (19:21.5) took sixth, seventh, and eighth. Chatfield’s Treyton Lanning (18:47.3) and GMLOS’ Christian Hjelman (18:50.4) took fourth and fifth in the 5,000-meter race. Not only was it LARP’s fifth win and O’Hare’s fifth win, but it was also the fifth time O’Hare and Rislov went 1-2. It was the fourth time that O’Hare, Rislov, and Hoiness went 1-2-3. Twenty-one boys competed. On the girls’ side, Chatfield easily ran to team glory. Jayna Harstad’s girls scored 25 points to best LARP’s 46 and GMLOS’ 49. Tessa McMahon (21:21.3), Aletta Strande (22:02.2), Abbi Gillepsie (22:15.6), and Belle Carr (22:33.5) went 1-2-3-4. It was McMahon’s third first place finish. Strande (a state entrant last year) posted her best finish and time this year. Lauren Honken (22:42.9) and Ellie Ekern (23:25.9) took fifth and seventh for LARP while McKenna Hendrickson (23:05.2) and Lauren Queensland (23:34.6) took sixth and eighth for GMLOS. Twenty-one girls competed in the 5,000-meter race.
