By Allie Paulzine, Student Reporter The MCC/F Warriors competed in their first cross country meet this past Friday September 2nd, in Mountain Lake. It’s safe to say that the warm temperatures added to the difficulty of the already challenging course. Not surprisingly, the Overgauuw twins dominated the girls 5k race. Amanda Overgauuw ran a personal best (17:36) winning the girls race. Twin sister Ashley was not far behind also running a personal best (18:47) earning second place. Junior Brylei Schreier also ran an impressive race (21:45) and placed seventh. Not far behind Brylei, promising sophomore Sophia Nelson came in ninth (22:08) making her varsity debut. Nelson battled down the homestretch against Jackson County Central’s Elese Paplow (22:07). Having four runners in the top ten gave the Warriors quite an advantage. Senior Megan Bakke finished the race in 23:07 placing 16th and junior Lindsey Hause was not far behind, running 23:40 and placing 20th. Lily Daniels (27:42) placed 46th with freshman Allie Paulzine (27:58) close behind her. Allie Paulzine and Emma Riasacher (30:14) both ran their first varsity races on this warm Friday morning. Only two seconds behind Riasacher, junior Braelyn Damm ran a 30:16. Junior Molly Clarke (33:14) had an incredibly strong finish placing 68th. With four runners in the top ten and two runners right behind them, the girls Warriors team did very well and won the Paul Metcalf Invitational with 33 points!
Following the girls race, the boys varsity had some fierce competition themselves. Luverne’s Camden Janiseski (16:29) won the boys race with teammate Owen Janiseski (16:53) not far behind him, placing fourth. As for the Warriors, sophomore Evan Bumgardner (17:22.50) placed ninth. Bumgardner fought hard down the homestretch against Mountain Lake Area-Comfrey’s Cody Wassman who snuck in front and beat Evan by only half a second. Bumgardner’s sidekick, junior Jon Olsem ran a great race finishing in 17:59 placing thirteenth.
Fourteen seconds behind Olsem was freshman Mathew Stapek (18:13) who has quite a bright future ahead of him in cross country. Mathew’s older brother Silas placed 22nd with a time of 18:24, only thirteen seconds behind his younger brother. Only four seconds behind Silas was junior Caleb Appel (18:28) who took 24th after Jackson County Central’s Alvaro Gonzalez Garcia (18:25) snuck between the two teammates and placed 23rd. Promising sophomore Zach Kirchner (20:43) placed 54th. Senior Wyatt Biren (21:00) ran an impressive race despite the less than stellar running conditions. Fifteen seconds behind Biren was junior Caleb Ethridge (20:15) who placed 65th. Blaine Braun, who is a sophomore this year, placed 85th with a time of 24:20. Trailing Blaine was teammate Carter Knakmuhs (24:36) who is also a sophomore this year. Rounding out the boys 5k race for the Warriors was freshman Walker Biren who ran a time of 26:15 and placed 93rd. The boys MCC/F Warriors placed second as a team with 81 points, losing to Luverne (54) but beating Windom Area (122).
After the boys race, the junior highers were ready to run a shorter 2,000 meter race. The boys team did extremely well, winning the meet with 25 points. Eighth grader Bryce Green of Windom won the race with a time of 7:08. Behind Green was eighth grader Alexander Betz (7:30) placing second. Eighth grader Wesley Hause (7:46) placed third and battled throughout the race with teammate eighth grader Trystan Behrends (7:46) who placed fourth. Five seconds behind Behrends was eighth grader Beckett Stelter who placed seventh. Seventh grader Aiden Appel ran his first ever cross country meet and did exceptionally well placing ninth with a time of 7:58. Dugan Kluis (8:08) who is an eighth grader this year was behind Appel and placed 11th. Eleven seconds behind Kluis was seventh grader Tyler Reith running his first race ever and placing 13th. The boys team has a bright future ahead of them with a great deal of potential. On the girls side, there was only one Warrior competing. Seventh grader Holland Vogel completed her first race with a time of 9:08 and placed eleventh. Vogel was determined throughout the entire race to do as well as she could despite poor running conditions.
The Warriors are excited to compete next Thursday September 8th at the Tracy Country Club.
Girls Team Standings: 1st MCC/F-33, 2nd Luverne-49, 3rd Windom Area-98, 4th Fairmont-119, 5th Adrian/ Ellsworth-136, 6th Mountain Lake Area- Comfrey-145, 7th Glencoe- Silver Lake-171, 9th United South Central-220, 10th LCWM-Nicollet-237 Boys Team Standings: 1st Luverne- 54, 2nd MCC/F- 81, 3rd WIndom Area-122, 4th Fairmont- 124, 5th Jackson County Central- 172, 6th St. James Area- 174, 7th LCWMNicollet- 176, 8th Mountain Lake Area- Comfrey-185, 9th Glencoe Silver Lake- 192, 10th Butterfield- Odin- 243, 11th M/T/GHEC/ML- 244, 12th Adrian Ellsworth- 248, 13th Blue Earth Area- 370
