With a first place for the Cleveland/Mankato Loyola/St. Clair girls and a second place for the boys, the Crusaders were off on the right foot at start this year’s cross country season.
The meet was held at the Springfield Golf Club.
“We had a great day to open the season,” said head coach Casey Olson. “It was a pretty hilly course and a pretty warm day, and they persevered and hopefully had some fun while doing it. The focus was just on pushing through when it gets tough, and we weren’t too worried about the times, but the athletes delivered both.”
With 19 points, the Crusaders girls ran away with the meet. Springfield/Cedar Mountain was second with 60 points, Wabasso was third with 73 points, and Minnesota Valley Lutheran was fourth with 88 points.
With 42 points, the boys were two points behind first-place MVL. Martin County West Butterfield-Odin was third with 79 points, Sleepy Eye Schools was fourth with 80 points, and Springfield/Cedar Mountain was fifth with 128 points.
No one was within shouting distance of Charlotte Meyer (sixth from left above), whose 19:08.3 bested all 49 runners.
“Charlotte had a great season opener and will again be among the fastest in the state,” Olson said. “She’s been working hard and isn’t backing down from the challenges we’re throwing at her and we’ll see how that translates at the end of the year.”
Teammate Lila Quast was third (21:18.6), Gisele McCabe was fifth (22:12.9), Kaitlyn Anderson was sixth (22:25.5), and Riley Quigley was seventh (22:26.3).
Rounding out the Crusader field, Brooks Waagner was 16th (24:11.7), Maddy Siewert was 17th (24:15.1), Lily Phillips was 21st (25:53.9), Lea Taylor was 26th (27:14.3), Harper Rutz (fourth from right above) was 32nd (29:41.4), Ella Holub was 46th (36:13.1) and Aubryn Siebert was 49th (42.15.0).
“Harper embraced the mindset of being tougher than the course and found a lot of success in the second half of the race,” Olson said. “She had a great start to the season, and I’m expecting her to find a lot of success with the attitude she’s bringing to every day.”
With a 17:47 finish, Rollie Matejcek won the boys meet. Griffin Rutz took fifth among the 53 runners with a 19:20.9.
“It’s easy to forget that Griffin is only in 8th grade with how maturely he approaches things,” Olson said. “He’ll be one of the top finishers throughout the season and, along with Reece Nelson, could find himself towards the top of the section at the end of the year.”
With a 19:34.0, Nelson, a sophomore, was eighth.
“Reece worked really hard this summer and it’s already paying off,” Olson said. “He started his season within 5 seconds of a PR, and he’ll be a big factor for us throughout the season.”
Rounding out the Loyola-Cleveland-St. Clair top five were Carson Fahrforth in eighth place (20:16.3) and Jack Green in 19th (20:58.3).
Sophomore Luke Kortuem was 23rd (21:39.4), Jackson Bilitz was 24th (21:42.1), Ethan Beekken was 27th (22:25.8), Andrew Bales was 50th (27:00.9) and Anthony McCabe was 51st.
“Luke has been a great presence at practice, and he could see a lot of time dropping off this year,” Olson said. “I’m excited to see where he finishes this season. Anthony joined this year and has already proven to be a positive presence on the team. This was his first 5K after only a week of practice, but he didn’t show fear and just attacked the course. He’s been a great addition.”
Nine competed in the girls junior high 2K race. Quinn Vidden was fifth with an 11:04.5.
Among the 16 competitors in the boys junior high race, Luke Phillips took second (8:42.8), eighth grader Jase Blaschko was fourth (9:26.1), Jennings Hatanpa was eighth (10:00.7), and freshman Reid Johnson was ninth (10:08.8).
“Jase has really brought hard work to practice this year,” Olson said. “He’s taking everything we’re giving him, and he had a great race today, so I’m looking forward to big things for him this year. Reid has really taken to cross country in the first two weeks of the season and showed no fear in his first race. It seems like he’s been around for a year or two with the way he’s fit right into the team, and I’m expecting to see big growth athletically throughout the season.”
Olson said the effort at Springfield made for an encouraging start.
“We’re going to build off of it and see where the season takes us. All in all, we have some great people who also happen to be fast runners, and that usually makes for a great experience and a successful team. It should be a great year for Crusaders cross country.”
The Crusaders return to action on Monday, September 10 when they will be among the 37 teams competing in the Tri-City United Invitational at the Montgomery National Golf Course.
Photo courtesy of Casey Olson