MILACA - Several southwestern Minnesota high school cross country runners placed among the leaders at the huge Milaca Mega Meet Saturday at the Stones Throw Golf Course.
Montevideo junior Kurt TeBeest ran the 5,000-meter distance in 16:46.73 and finished fourth in the Class A boys’ race, while Fairmont junior Jenna Pavich’s fifth-place time of 20:12.04 in the Class AA girls’ event was the next-best performance.
Five others who placed in the top 25 - among a field of 152 finishers in the AA girls’ race - were Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd junior Sadie Thompson (10th, 20:35.7), Canby/Minneota junior Natalie Dinius (13, 20:46.1), LQPV/D-B sophomore Jordyn Sterud (14, 20:47.43), Fairmont sophomore Lizzy Subbert (23, 21:12.34) and Fairmont junior Molly Hawkins (25, 21:21.09).
LQPV/D-B (121) edged Fairmont (124) and Holy Family Catholic (124) for the team title in a field of 20 complete teams. Eden-Valley-Watkins junior Anna Donnay won the individual crown by 57 seconds with a sizzling time of 18:08.93.
Redwood Valley freshman Lauren Karnitz (18, 21:01.44) and Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet junior Brittany Kelley (23, 21:21.44) were the only two area girls who placed in the top 25 of the Class A varsity girls’ race, which had a total of 224 finishers.
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LC-WM/N senior John Roth, the state’s third-ranked Class A runner, claimed second in the 262-finisher Class A boy’ race with a time 16:37.66, behind Minnesota’s top-ranked Class A boy Connor Schank, a senior from Howard Lake-Waverly, who was clocked at 16:19.63.
RV junior Carter Menz (16, 17:34.13) paced the Cardinals to a ninth-place team finish (318 points) among a field of 37 complete squads.
In the AA boys’ race, C/M sophomore Anthony Wollum (eighth, 17:14.23), Fairmont senior Josh Sundblad (ninth, 17:15.25) and a trio of LQPV/D-B runners --- sophomore Keiser Freetly (13, 17:26.66), senior John Wagner (23, 17:55.98) and eighth-grader Mikey Kvaal (25, 18:03.91) --- all finished in the top 25 among 153 total finishers, leading the Eagles to a third-place team finish (22 complete teams) with a score of 150.
Salentiny, Schaffer finish high among 10th-grade girls
Heron Lake-Okabena sophomores Rachel Salentiny (sixth, 21:23.39) and Cheyenne Schaffer (23, 22:23.47) both placed among the top 25 in the 10th-grade girls’ race, which featured 209 finishers from all four classes.
Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Brianna Poleskey (seventh, 21:23.84), St. James’s Mackinzee Meist (ninth, 21:25.84) and Montevideo’s Emma Stueck (17, 22:08.73) also earned top-25 places. Park Center’s Elizabeth Mattson posted a winning time of 20:00.13.
Blue Earth Area’s Grant Strukel won the eighth-grade boys’ 3,200-meter race with a time of 11:05.85, while teammate Brady Olsen placed 14th (11:42.21) in a large field of 329 finishers.
