Just 7.1 seconds behind the winner, Charlotte Meyer had to settle for second place at the NRHEG Cross Country Invitational on September 16, but nine days later in Janesville, Meyer flipped her placing around, this time beating sophomore Sophie Stencel by 8.4 seconds.
Head coach Casey Olson said the Mankato Loyola/Cleveland/Mankato Christian Academy Crusaders approached NRHEG differently than normal, and at Janesville, he wanted Meyer to be more aggressive early.
“Given the heat and the race plan for attacking the NRHEG course, I wanted the team to pack up and run together for more of the race than they typically do. I also told them to go out a touch slower than they otherwise might as a precaution against the heat. I think those factors made a difference in the race results at NRHEG. At Janesville, we had a very similar race plan to attack the hills, but I told Charlotte to attack the first mile a little more than she did at NRHEG.”
But Olson said the game plan at Janesville wasn't so much dictated by the competition.
“Charlotte was certainly motivated by the loss, but the strategy was more determined by the course and what we wanted to get out of each race, which led to different race results. As a young athlete, having a variety of different ways that you're comfortable racing can make a big difference at championship events like sections or state, so our race plans are hopefully building confidence in our athletes to have multiple different ways to succeed in any given race.”
As teams, both the Crusader boys and girls teams won both of the meets.
The Crusaders lace up their racing shoes again tonight (Thursday) when they run on the Allison Park/Bike Trail in Sleepy Eye.
Grizzly Pie Invitational, Prairie Ridge Golf Course in Janesville, September 26
“Janesville is a new course for us, so we didn't really know what to expect going in,” said head coach Casey Olson. “We knew it was moderately hilly, so we wanted to attack the hills and run strong. When the temp is in the mid 80s, it's tough to want to run that way, but the athletes persevered and ran really strong.”
Meyer turned in a 19:26.8 to top the other 57 runners. Valerie Quast was third with a 19:35. 2. Her sister Lila Quast took sixth with a 22:10.2.
Rounding out the Crusader top five, Riley Quigley was seventh with a 22:12.6, and Maddy Seiwert was ninth with a 22:21.1.
The Crusader girls took first in the team competition with 22 points, 44 fewer than second-place Blooming Prairie. WEM/JWE took bronze with 76 points. Martin Couty West/Butterfield-Odin had 91 points, NRHEG totaled 133 points, and Medford totaled 157 points.
Also for the Crusaders, Kate Daly was 12th with a 23:35.6, Brooks Waagner was 13th with a 23:40.5, Gisele McCabe was 15th with a 23:47.1, Charlotte Kirschner was 16th with a 23:50.0, Molly Koester was 18th with a 24:05.4, and Harper Rutz was 50th with a 30:01.4.
With a 17:03.9 finish, a minute and 7 seconds ahead of the silver finisher, Soren Kelly easily won the boys race. Mitchell Bulbultz was sixth with a 18:33.7, Franis Bierer was seventh with a PR 18:46.6, Grifin Rutz was eighth with a 19:29.0, and Luke Kortuem cracked his way into the front five with a 20:19.7 PR finish for 14th place.
With 27 points, 40 better than second place WEM/JWP, the Crusader boys won the team competition. Blooming Prairie was third with 75 points, Randolph was fourth with 88 points, Medford was fifth with 122 points, and Blue Earth Area was sixth with 142 points.
Completing a party of five, Reece Nelson was 15th with a 20:23.4, Jack Green was 16th with a 20:26.8, Jackson Bilitz was 17th with a 20:35.3, and Andrew Tieva was 18th with a 20:48.3.
Grayson Fenske-Deichman was 29th with a 22:01.6, Elijah Mons was 38th with a 23:21.3, and Jax Leagjeld was 55th with a 25:50.8.
In the 2.5 K boys race, Luke Phillips was fourth with a PR 10:14.0, Ethan Beenken was sixth with a PR 10:24.0, Andrew Bales was 10th with a 11:05.4, and Bryce Monson was 13th with a PR 11:34.4. The winning time was 9:547, and there were 26 competing.
In the 2.5 K girls race, Eden Kester took seventh among the 10 runners with a PR 13:45.0. The winner completed the course I 12:12.5
“The times didn't mean much given the hilly nature of the course plus the high heat, but we placed really well in a field with several individual state contenders,” Olson said. “Despite that, we still had five PRs and two season bests. It was a nice meet for us to get to see that competition and to get a hillier course in us since Sstate will be like that as well. It was another chance for us to get stronger and to work on different aspects of our race strategy, and I thought we executed well, so we're happy with where we're at and we're continuing to look to improve each week.”
NRHEG Invitational, Riverview Country Club on September 16
“New Richland is a tough course, and it's one of the hilliest courses that we run,” Olson said. Combine that with how it always seems to be blazing hot, and we typically run slower times, but we competed hard and attacked the course and ultimately came away with two PRs, two season bests, and several others within 10 seconds of a PR. It’s nice to see that spirit when we come back to smaller meets against section competition after having big meets against big schools the last couple of weeks.”
Meyer finished the course in 19:02.1 for second place in the field of 55. Valerie Quast was third with a 19.13.9. Lila Quast was sixth with a 21:15.6
Rounding out the Crusader top five, Quigley finished eighth with a 21:57.5, and Siewert was directly behind her with a 22:09.4.
As a team, the Crusader girls easily won the race, finishing with 21 points, 40 better than Blooming Prairie. WEM/JWP had 70 points, host NRHEG had 106 points, and Medford had 126 points.
Also for the Crusaders, Daly was 10th with a 22:19.7, Waagner was 12th with a 22:41.4, Koester was 14th with a 22:59.4, McCabe was 15th with a 23:08.7. Lily Philips was 16th with a 23:25.0, Kirshner was 18th with a 23:48.4, and Rutz was 48th with a 31:39.1
Kelly ran away with the boys 5K. His 16:29 finish was over 37 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Buboltz was fifth with a 17:37.4, Bierer was 12th with an 18:55.6, Rutz was 13th with a 19:05.3, and Matejcek was 15th with a 19:24.4.
Teamwise, the boys won the race. Their 48 points were eight better than second-place Austin Pacelli. TCU totaled 89 points, WEM/JWP had 109 points, Randolph had 120 points, Blooming Prairie had 141 points, and Medford had 164 points.
Also for the Crusaders, Nelson was 21st with a 19:46.6, Tieva was 22nd with a 19:56.6, Green was 25th with a PR 20:24.4, Phillips was 33rd with a PR 21:00.5, Mons was 38th with a season-best 21:38.2, Bilitz was 52nd with a 23:18.9, and Leagjeld was 68th with a 27:42.3. There were 76 competing.
With a 7:31.2 finish in the boys 1.25-mile race, Beenken finished first of the 21 runners. A step or two behind, Phillips was second with a 7:31.7. Bales was sixth with a 8:11.1, Jase Blaschko was seventh with an 8:16.8, and Monson was 14th with a 9:31.4.
In the girls 1.25-mile race, Ella Holub was second of the three runners with a 10:30.5. The winning time was 9:56.7.
Above: Harper Rutz runs in the heat on the Janesville Golf course. (Photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Charlotte Meyer avenged her second-place in New Richland with a first-place in Janesville. (Photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Griffin Rutz was the Crusader’s fourth-place finisher at Janesville to contribute to the team win. (Photo courtesy of Bree Meyer)
Luke Kortuem made it into the Crusader first five at Janesville for a time counted in the team score. (Photo courtesy of Bree Meyer) 
Instead of medals, the winners at the Janesville meet got baked goods: a jumbo cookie for the members of the winning teams, and, for the first-place finishers, an apple pie. Crusaders here are from left to right: Luke Phillips, Reece Nelson, Griffin Rutz, Riley Quigley, Brooks Waagner, Soren Kelly, Charlotte Meyer, Maddy Seiwert, Ethan Beenken, Andrew Bales, Mitchell Buboltz and Francis Bierer. Missing are Eden Koester, Valerie Quast, Lila Quast, Kate Daly, Gisele McCabe and Luke Kortuem. (Photo courtesy of Casey Olson’s mother)