For Loyola/Cleveland/St. Clair cross country coach Casey Olson, the Crusader girls first-place finish at the state cross country meet, held at the Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake on Saturday, didn’t come as a huge surprise.
The Clippers came in ranked third, but for Olson, the math wasn’t quite mathing.
“I don’t think it was disrespect, but we knew if we ran what we were capable of, we were going to be tough to beat. There were five or six teams that could be the champions, so we still needed to have a good day, but I knew we had a team that could be state champions.”
But the Crusader girls first place finish, the first in its history, was not only a win, it was a convincing win. With 96 points, 51 better than second place Barnesville, the Crusaders ran away with the meet. In third place was St. Cloud Cathedral with a 153.
With a sixth place 18:27.60 finish, Charlotte Meyer was first for the Crusaders. The winner among the 160 runners, the same as last year, crossed the finish line in 17:25.20.
Meyer, a sophomore, was also confident in her team’s ability to take home gold medals. As for herself, she was not fully back to racing form after an injury kept her sidelined in mid October. She was disappointed with her placing, two spots behind from where she was ranked, but not with the meet.
“The team win means more.”
Lila Quast, a sophomore in her second state meet, was second for the Crusaders and 25th overall with a 19:29.29. Directly behind Quast with a PR 19:30 was eighth grader Riley Quigley, who was also running in her second state meet. Kaitlyn Anderson, a freshman, was 63rd with a PR 20:14.70. Gisele McCabe, a sophomore, who also competed at state in 2024 and 2025, was 88th with a 20:47.50.
Nudging the Crusader top quintet were eighth grader Brooks Waagner in 93rd place with a 20:54.5 and Lily Philips, a junior who ran at state las year, in 121st place with a 21:36.3.
Sophie Stencel of Maple River, who bested Meyer by 12 seconds to win the section meet, finished in ninth place with an 18:50.20.
Competing against members of the other 14 teams, the Crusaders finished 2, 8, 9, 31, 46, (50), (73). Each of the eight sections brought six unattached runners: the top six not on the first or second-place teams.
Eighth grader Griffin Rutz will be a footnote in the meet, but he finished with a respectable 17:24.8 for 74th place among the 157 runners in the Class A boys meet. The winning time was a blazing 15:16.6.
Olson said the training strategy was to get him to state.
“That’s a good time for him. We tapered him (up) for the section meet, so it is always going to be really tough to come back and run another PR a week later. The effort was there. It’s a narrow course, and if you don’t get out, you’re going to get stuck. He was doing everything he could. Just like everything for him this year, it was a learning experience. He’ll be back next year, and I am excited to see it.”
Last year, Rutz was 125th at state with an 18:09.6 finish.
This is the first year that the race was at Majestic Oaks. It moved there because the University of Minnesota sold its golf course, where the meet was held since it moved away from St. Olaf College in Northfield after the 2022 state meet.
Conditions on the track were really good, Olson said. The temperature, low 50s, was ideal. There were some low spots on the course that, with the rain, made it a little bit wet, but it was not too sloppy or too muddy. Although the route had sharp turns, it had only one steep hill; unlike the U of M course, it was relatively flat.
“We just had to make sure we had the right lengths of spikes in,” Olson said.
As a seventh grader, Meyer was 29th at the state meet, and the Crusader girls placed 12th. A year later, in 2024, making huge strides, Meyer took home a silver medal while the Crusaders were 15th. Last year, Meyer was third while the Crusaders jumped 12 slots to third place.
Above: The Crusader state championship team on the winners podium, from L-R, front row: Riley Quigley, Gisele McCabe, Charlotte Meyer, Lila Quast and Kaitlyn Anderson. Back row; Assistant coach Sean Pickle, Brooks Waagner, Lily Phillips, Charlotte Kirschner, Reese Mueller, head coach Casey Olson and assistant coach Landon Javens.
Charlotte Meyer runs alongside of a sand trap with about a mile left in the race.
Griffin Rutz finished in the top half of the boy runners.
Among the top 10, Charlotte Meyer made the trip to the medalist podium.
As she one of the top 25 in the Class-A race, Charlotte Meyer, front and center, earned an All-State award as did her teammate Lila Quast, back row left.
Charlotte Meyer earned a pair of medals.
The Crusader girls with their trophy.
Girls team members at the state meet and Griffin Rutz. At left are coaches Sean Pickle and Landon Javens. On the right is Casey Olson. In front, second from left is Harper Rutz.
Charlotte Meyer and Casey Olson with the State Champions trophy.
Charlotte Meyer’s dad, Bob Meyer, was a bit in disbelief when he heard the Crusaders took first place, but a walk to the leaderboard proved it. (photo courtesy of Bob Meyer)
Reaching the state meet and winning it too requires a large support system. Here, the Crusaders pose with family members.
The Crusaders got a fire truck escort through Cleveland. Since it was Legion bingo to support school activities night, a large crowd was on hand downtown to witness the reception.