The Murray County Central/ Fulda Warriors cross country teams recorded several top finishes, strong team performances and three individual victories at the BOLD/KLHS meet in Olivia on Thursday, Oct. 8, and the Adrian/Ellsworth Invite on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
BOLD/KLHS
The MCC/F Warriors earned several top finishes and strong team results across five races at the BOLD/KLHS cross country meet.
In the junior high girls’ 2,500-meter race, Halana Grogan led the Warriors with a fourth-place finish in 10:47. Maggie Keller placed 10th in 11:28, followed by Cassie Scandrett in 11th with 11:31. Sophia Hamersma placed 17th (12:28) and Morgan Beek placed 24th (14:12). Benson/ KMS won the team competition with 23 points, while MCC/F placed second with 48 points.
Kole Appel led Warriors in the junior high boys’ race, finishing third in 9:20. Camden Walker placed 17th (10:35), followed by Casper Harms in 18th (10:36), Easton Hoffman in 32nd (12:17), Jack Stelter in 35th (12:29), and Garrit Bergman in 36th (12:45). Redwood Valley placed first as a team with 23 points while MCC/F earned second place with 55 points.
Wesley Hause was the first Warrior to cross the finish line in the boys’ junior varsity race. Hause placed seventh in 20:11. Bobby Keller placed 12th (21:20), Allen Ahrens placed 16th (22:04), Garret Reith finished 19th (22:16), and Ashton Reese crossed the finish line in 25th (23:37). MCC/F placed second as a team with 53 points, behind Redwood Valley’s 17 points.
The girls’ varsity team also placed second, behind Redwood Valley, with 73 points in the very competitive varsity race. Laike Farris led the girls’ team placing sixth in 20:20. The second top Warrior for the girls’ team was Isabela Schreier in tenth place in 22:22. Close to Schreier was Holland Vogel in 12th place with a time of 22:30. Mara Clarke finished 16th with a time of 23:13, followed by Clarisse Vigouroux in 38th place (32:19) and Estelle Steiner in 39th place (37:26).
With the state’s top-ranked Class A cross country team and several elite runners in the varsity boys’ race, the competition was intense. Aiden Appel finished strong in fourth place with a time of 16:42. Teammate Micah Janssen finished in 11th with a time of 17:32, while Alez Betz placed 14th with a time of 17:52. Rounding out the seven MCC/F varsity runners was Connor Pieske in 24th place (19:03), Tyler Reith in 25th place (19:14), Carter Larson in 26th place (19:15) and Beckett Stelter in 39th place (20:27). Top-ranked Redwood Valley came out victorious in the team competition with only 29 points while Sibley East was second with 41 points. MCC/F placed a respectable third with 76 points.
Adrian/Ellsworth Invite The Warriors continued their strong season at the Adrian/ Ellsworth Invite, earning three individual victories and two team titles.
Leading the way for the varsity boys’ team, junior Aiden Appel placed first overall with a time of 17:03, pacing the Warriors team to victory over Windom. Sophomore Micah Janssen (17:32) and senior Alex Betz (17:34) were close behind in third and fourth place. Freshman Connor Pieske finished in 14th place with a time of 19:18 while fellow freshman Carter Larson placed 17th in 19:34. Rounding out the varsity team was junior Tyler Reith in 20th place (19:48) and freshman Bobby Keller in 25th place (20:14). Senior Wesley Hause in 27th place (20:25), freshman Allen Ahrens in 52nd place (22:30), freshman Garret Reith in 57th (22:53) and freshman Ashton Reese in 58th (23:05) also contributed solid runs.
Kole Appel won the junior high boys’ race with an impressive time of 8:57. Following Appel was Camden Walker in 10th place with a time of 10:09 and Casper Harms in 12th place with 10:13. Adding to the fourth-place team placing was Easton Hoffman in 33rd place (13:37.1) and Garrit Bergman in 34th place (13:39.2).
On the girls’ side, senior Laiken Farris led the varsity team with a fourth-place finish in 21:01, while freshman Isabela Schreier ran a personal best 22:04.3 to place 16th. Sophomore Mara Clarke followed Schreier with a 17th place finish in 22:21.7 and junior Holland Vogel finished in 22nd place with a time of 22:41.6.
In the junior high girls’ 2,400-meter race, Halana Grogan ran a personal best first place finish with a time of 10:56.6. Maggie Keller followed Grogan closely with a third place finish in 11:20.5 while Cassie Scandrett came in at sixth place with a time of 11:47.1. Sophia Hamersma finished in eighth with a time of 12:21.5 and Morgan Beek placed 13th with 13:47.8. As a team, the junior high girls won the contest.
The Warriors will look to build on their success next week as they compete at the conference meet on Monday, Oct. 19 in Mt. Lake.
