Above: James Younge, Jordan Rossow and Nathan Strobel run neck and neck on the Sleepy Eye golf course on Thursday (photo courtesy of Dale Compton).
On a roll, the Loyola/Cleveland boys team won the Sleepy Invitational Meet on the Sleepy Eye golf course on October 6.
The Crusaders have now won five of their six meets this season with the only loss coming at the TCU invitational week two when they raced against some tough AA schools.
“We have been getting stronger all season and our times are continuing to drop,” said head coach Dale Compton. “With the end of the season approaching, it's nice to see us getting healthy and finishing strong at the right time.”
Soren Kelly ran very well at Sleepy Eye, leading the way for the Crusaders with his best time of 17:19 for 4th place overall and 19 seconds behind the winner of 100 runners.
Not far behind was Nathan Strobel running a strong race to finish in ninth place with a 17:31 completion.
The rest of the top five, James Younge, Sam Vetter and Corbin Deichman, were packed together right behind Strobel in 12th (17:49), 13th (17:54) and 15th (18:02) place respectively.
The Crusaders had 53 points, 18 better than second place LCWM/Nicollet. Also competing were Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey, Springfield, Sibley East, Sleepy Eye Public/Sleepy Eye St. Mary’/New Ulm Cathedral, NYA, MVL, Wabasso and Watertown Mayer.
Other Crusaders in the race were Jorden Rossow (24th, 18:49), Carter Zimmerman (30th, 19:10), TJ Waldron (32nd, 19:16), Mitchell Buboltz (40th, 19:56), Nick Huisken (41st, 19:57), Andrew Buboltz (46th, 20:04), Matthew Soupir (52nd, 20:30), Andrew Tieva (62nd, 21:03), Thayne Remiger (84th, 23:13), Elijah Mons (92nd, 24:36) and Isaac Coudron (97th, 26:51).
On the girls side, the Crusaders ran a complete team for the second time this season. Led by freshman Molly Koester (7th place, 21:57), the girls team finished in 8th place. The best time of 81 runners was 20:12.
Compton moved up all three seventh graders up to field a full varsity team: Charlotte Kirschner (15th, 22:59), Lily Phillips (38th, 24:32) and Hannah Coudron (63rd, 27:15).
“Charlotte, Lily and Hannah ran really well in their varsity debuts,” Compton said.
Cora Koester (54th, 25:58) and Jewel Factor (55th, 25:58) continued to push each other and cut time each meet.
With a 7th place, 6:28 finish, Charlie Maxfield led the Crusader junior high boys in the mile and a quarter. Nelson Reece was 16th with a 7:00 finish. Gavin Waagner was 19th with a 7:13, Jax Leagjeld was 21st with a 7:17, Brian Buboltz was 27th with an 8:01, Gave Speckel was 28th with an 8:02, and Emmett Endres was 31st with an 8:56.
For the junior high girls, Izzly Endres took 5th with a 6:53, and Gisele McCabe was 13th with an 8:05.
The cross-country runners return to action on Thursday with a meet on the Madelia golf course.
NRHEG Invitational
At the NRHEG Invitational held at Riverview Golf Course in New Richland on September 20th, conditions were hot and humid, affecting the times. But the Loyola/Cleveland boys put together another nice team effort to win their fourth meet of the season.
Boys team scores were 1st: Loyola/Cleveland 33; 2nd: Maple River 91; 3rd: Tri City United 100; 4th Blooming Prairie 104; 5th NRHEG 113; 6th Medford 141; 7th WEM/JWP 155; and 8th Austin Pacelli 177.
Among the 65 runners, the winning time was 17:02.60. Loyola/Cleveland finishers were as follows: 3rd Vetter 19:04; 4th Kelly 19:13; 6th Younge 19:15; 8th Deichman 19:43 and 12th Strobel 20:02.
Girls team scores were 1st: Maple River 44; 2nd: Austin Pacelli 50; 3rd: TCU 76; 4th: BP 91; and 5th: WEM/JWP 95; and 6th: Medford 133.
With 42 competing, the winning time was 21:46.30. Crusaders came in as follows: 6th Molly Koester 23:53; 26th Cora Koester 29:59; and 27th Factor 30:00.
In the boys junior high 1.25-mile race, Crusaders finished as follows: 9th Nelson 8:49.60; 10th Maxfield 8:54.70; 17th Leagjeld 10:01.80; 21st Buboltz 10:36.30; 26th Speckel 11:28.50; and 27th Endres 15:14.20.
Kirschner was 1st in the girls junior high race with an 8:31.40. Other crusaders finished as follows: 7th Phillips 9:29.00; 8th Endres 9:37.00; 12th Coudron 11:17.50; and 16th McCabe 12:19.00.
Crusader Invite
Running their course on the Loyola hill on September 16th, the varsity boys were 1st of six teams. Martin Luther/GHEC/Truman was 2nd. TCU was 3rd. NYA was fourth, MCW was 5th, and St. Peter took 6th.
A minute and 14 seconds behind the winner, Strobel finished 3rd overall among the 64 runners and best for the Crusaders with a 17:48.6.
The Crusaders owned the next two slots as well when Younge finished in 17:50.1, and Kelly crossed the finish line in 17:57.3. Sam Vetter (8th, 18:39.2) and Carter Zimmerman (9th, 18:45.7) rounded out the Loyola/Cleveland front five.
Pushing the quintet along, Chase Kijenski was 10th with a 18:51.6 finish, and Rossow was 12th with a 19:26.9.
Waldron was 15th with a 19:26.9, Deichman was 22nd with a 20:26.4, Huisken was 24th with a 20:43.7, Mons was 27th with a 21:10.3, Mitchell Buboltz was 28th with a 21:11.9, Andrew Buboltz was 30th with a 21:17.0, Soupir was 31st with a 21:31.5, Tieva was 33rd with a 21:43.6, and Remiger was 43rd with a 22:11.7.
The varsity girls finished last of five teams. Molly Koester was 10th among the 39 runners (22:47.0), Kirschner was 20th (24:41.7), Cora Koester was 27th (26:24.2), Factor was 28th (26:24.1) and Kathryn Cooney was 33rd (27:37).
Among the 22 runners in the junior high boys race, Nelson was seventh (15:51.4), Waagner was 14th (16:54.2), Brian Buboltz was 15th (17:10.0), Leagjeld was 17th (17:37.5), and Speckel was 20th (18:39.2).
For the junior high girls, Endres took eighth of a dozen runners with a 17:09.0, McCabe was 10th with a 19:27.8, and Hannah Coudron was 11th with a 19:36.6.
NYA Lions Invite
The Loyola/Cleveland boys won the Class A portion of the NYA Lions Invitational on September 13 and took fifth overall against some tough AA schools.
“Race conditions were good and our team ran well on a beautiful course at Baylor Park,” Compton said. “We were down one runner tonight on varsity but the rest of the guys stepped up.”
With an 18:01.8 finish, Younge was first for the Crusaders and 23rd overall. The rest in the top five were Kelly (27th, 18:13.8), Vetter (31st, 18:20.8), Strobel (47th, 18:50.2) and Kijenski (62nd, 19:35.5).
Kyle Zimmerman was 76th with a 19:58.3, and Carter Zimmerman was 92nd with a 20:14.0.
For the varsity girls, Molly Koester was 44th with a 23:10.56, Cora Koester was 107th with a 27:43.34, and Factor was 112th with a 28:29.16
“Our girls had good races today despite our small numbers,” Compton said. “We have yet to field a complete girls team but are hoping to get a few of our injured athletes back soon.”
It was another solid performance for the Crusader JV and junior high runners. Rossow and Waldron led the way for our JV boys and their 4th place finish.
TCU Invite
It was a hot one on the Montgomery National golf course for the Gerry Smith Invite on September 8, and host TCU changed the start time to accommodate for the high temps.
The Crusader boys finished a respectable 6th of 28 teams. There were 180 runners, and the winning time was 15:36.9
“Our team put forth some good efforts against some very tough competition tonight,” Compton said. “We were happy with all of our efforts and are looking forward to next week when we host the Crusader Invitational.”
Young (18:30.8) was first for the Crusaders and 31st overall. Kelly was two places back with a 18:35.9. Vetter was 42nd with an 18:50.7. Deichman was 47th with a 18:58.7. Strobel was 61st with a 19:14.9.
At the heels of the top five, Carter Zimmerman was 71st with a 19:27.2, and Kijenski was 84th with a 19:51.6.
For the girls, Molly Koester was 54th of 144 runners with a 23:34.06 finish. Factor was 119th with a time of 28:04.10. Cooney was 123rd with a 28:33.09. Cora Koester was 129th with a 20:06.65. The leader finished in 18:41.38.
For the junior high boys, Kyle Zimmerman was 3rd with a 19:42.3. Waldron was 9th with a 20:11.1. Rossow was 12th with a 20:22.9. Huiskin was 26th with a 21:30.1. Mitchell Buboltz was 34th with a 22:12.8, Tiea was 45th with a 23:09.8, and Soupir was 49th with a 23:28.9.
Jewell Factor and Cora Koester on the Sleepy Eye course.
TJ Wadron at Sleepy Eye.
Jewell Factor and Cora Koester run side by side on the Baylor Park course near Norwood.
Jorden Rossow at Norwood.
Jax Leagjeld on the course near Norwood.
Thayne Remiger on a path at Norwood’s Baylor Park.
TJ Waldron at Northwood’s Baylor Park.
All photos courtesy of Dale Compton.