SLAYTON -- With Madison Schandelmeier and Makayla Hohn finishing one-two individually, the well-balanced Luverne Cardinals claimed the varsity girls' team title of the Rebel Invitational high school cross country meet at the Slayton Country Club Tuesday.
Schandelmeier won big, clocking an impressive time of 15 minutes and 46 seconds over the challenging 4,000-meter course, which includes several hills.
Hohn (16:33) finished second, eight seconds ahead of Martin County West's Morgan Larson (16:41).
Luverne received stellar performances from each of its top seven runners "as they all placed among the top 19 in the 47-finisher field.
Mariah Aukes (17:02) finished seventh overall and sixth in the team scoring as the third Cardinals' runner, while Anna Tofteland (10, nine, 17:14) and Zayna Hustoft (15, 14, 17:48) clinched Luverne's victory with a low score of 32 points (1-2-6-9-14).
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Madilyn Oye (18, 17, 18:25) and Bergin Flom (19, 18, 18:31) also ran well for the Cardinals.
MCW was a solid second with 39 points (3-4-7-12-13), while Tracy-Milroy-Balaton won a tie-breaker over Worthington -- which did not have a sixth varsity runner Tuesday -- for third, as both the Panthers (11-19-22-26-28) and Trojans (5-8-24-30-39) tallied 106 points through their top five.
Pipestone Area (113) and Murray County Central (117) also registered complete team scores, while Hills-Beaver Creek and Southwest Christian were both incomplete.
Whitney Smith of MCW was fourth individually with a time of 16:48, followed by H-BC's Jenna Wilgenburg (16:53).
Worthington freshman Meredith Moore ran a fine race to lead the Trojans, finishing sixth overall (fifth team scoring) with a time of 17:02, just edging Aukes and MCW's Brooke Anderson (17:03).
Trojan sophomore Alicia Darling was ninth, clocked at 17:04.
"Meredith and Alicia each had good races with strong finishes," praised WHS head coach Ken Henkels. "They both earned meet T-shirts by placing among the top 10."
Worthington ran without senior Stephanie Jaycox (ill), who has been a strong third runner for the Trojans all season.
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Seventh-grader Jessica Darling made her varsity debut Tuesday and was the third Trojan to enter the chute, clocking a fine time of 18:58 (25, 24).
"She ran really well for her first varsity race," praised Henkels. "She helped us get a good team score."
Completing the scoring for the Trojans were Rachel Koller (33, 30, 20:14) and Hope Reeves (45, 39, 22:54).
Livia Wallace (11, 10, 17:18) was PA's top runner, while Elodie Tholen (12, 11, 17:30) was first for T-M-B and Melissa Gehl (16, 15, 18:04) was MCC's lead runner.
MCW runners Emily Bettin (19:53) and Sara Carlson (20:03) finished one-two in the girls' junior varsity 4,000-meter race, while Emilie Baartman (20:16) and Hailey Sommers (20:19) placed third and fourth, respectively, and T-M-B's Harlie Kelderman finished fifth (20:30).
Southwest Christian runners Elise Ver Hey (7:20), Emily Nerem (7:33) and Carli Vander Top (7:47) took the top three spots in the girls' 1,600-meter junior high race, while Luverne's Megan Rogers (7:58) and SWC's Annika Brands (8:04) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Worthington, paced by Brianna Newman's seventh-place finish (8:10), won the girls' junior high team title.
