The top single A finisher and second overall, the Crusader varsity girls had a solid day at Norwood-Young America’s Baylor Park on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Crusader varsity boys were ninth overall but were the third-place Class A team, behind Sibley East and ERA/ISM/CA (charter schools in Minnetonka).
Besides that, 15 of the Crusaders’ 26 varsity and JV runners and five of their six junior high runners set PRs, and the rest ran a season best, said head coach Casey Olson.
“Norwood is always a tough course, and the focus of the race today wasn't so much on time, but rather on competing intelligently and reframing negative thoughts. I thought that every athlete did that very well, and that focus resulted in incredibly fast times.”
Charlotte Meyer finished the course in 18:20.42 for second place in the girls varsity race. She was 25 seconds behind St. Peter’s senior speedster Keira Friedrich. The two had never competed together before this race.
In third with a 19:00.82 finish was Meyer’s teammate Valerie Quast. Rounding out the Crusader top five were Lila Quast in 27th place with a 21:11.95, Maddy Seiwert in 29th place with a 21:21.77 and Gisele McCabe in 58th place with a 22:19.39.
Molly Koester came in 64th with a 22:36.51, and Charlotte Kerschner was 75th with a 23:11.33.
There were 136 girls competing. Among the 17 teams, St. Peter ran away with the race with 40 points. The Crusaders had 110 points. Mankato West was third with 115 points. Mount-Westonka was fourth with 121 points, Belle Plaine was fifth with 130 points, and Jordan was sixth with 154 points.
In the varsity boys race, Soren Kelly finished in second place wit a 15:54.37. The winning time was 15:47.83. There were 163 competing.
Mitchel Buboltz was second for the Crusaders and 25th overall with a 17:27.35. Andrw Tieva was 78th with a 19:06.44. Rollie Matejcek was 92nd with a 19:25.29, and Reece Nelson was 95th with a 19:29.76.
Jackson Bilitz was 116th with a 20:11.64, and Jack Green was 138 with a 21:09.36.
The Crusaders beat out four other teams to win the girls JV 5K race,. Crusader seventh grader Riley Quigley took the top spot with a PR 21:51.00 while her teammate Kate Daley was second with a 22:10.01.
Brooks Waagner was fifth with a PR 22:31.93, and Lily Phillips was seventh with a 23:29.87. Back from a foot injury, Harper Rutz was 57th with a 28:49.89. Ella Holub was 70th with a PR 32:16.94. There were 73 competing.
The Crusaders were fourth of 15 teams in the boys JV 5K race. Francis Bierer was sixth with a PR 18:47.94. Griffin Rutz was seventh with a PR 19:06.11, Luke Kortuem was 43rd with a PR 20:52.38, Grayson Fenske-Deichman was 44th with a 20:54.76, and Elijah Mons was 96th with a 23:13.26. Jax Leagjeld was 144th with a 25:56.38.
In the 1600 girls junior high race, Eden Koester was 36th of 75 runners with a PR 7:26.72. In the 1600 boys junior high race, Luke Phillips was 12th with a PR 6:00.49. Ethan Beenken was 13th with a PR 6:02.11. Andrew Bales was 43rd with a 6:36.09, Jase Blaschko was 51st with a PR 6:46.17. Bryce Monson was 94th with a PR 7:37.58. The JH boys were eighth of the 13 teams.
“We saw some really encouraging things from young athletes too,” Olson said. “It's always fun when you can go toe-to-toe with bigger schools and beat them, like our girls did by winning JV and finishing 2nd in varsity.
This week, the Crusaders run on the Riverview Golf Course in New Richland.
“The next step is building off this meet and learning from racing this high-level competition to benefit us later in the season,” Olson said. “I know I always say this, but I'm really excited about the potential this team has and to see where it leads us this year. We've challenged the athletes with higher intensity in workouts and different focuses in races, and they continue to meet those challenges head-on and embrace them, and they're really going to benefit from that in October and November.”
Above: The top 10 junior high runners, top 15 JV runners and top 25 varsity runners all took home medals. For the Crusaders they were, from L-R Charlotte Meyer, Mitchell Buboltz, Soren Kelly, Griffin Rutz, Francis Bierer, Riley Quigley, Brooks Waagner and Lily Phillips. Missing are Kate Daly from JV and Valerie Quast from varsity.
Varsity girl runners with one JV runner mixed in with the JV trophy are, from L-R, Charlotte Meyer, Gisele McCabe, Lily Phillips (JV), Charlotte Kirshner, Molly Koester, Maddy Seiwert. Varsity girls missing are Valerie Quast and Lila Quast.
Charlotte Meyer competed against St. Peter speedster Keira Friedrich for the first time.
Photos courtesy of Bree Meyer.