Lopping an eternity 35.56 seconds off her previous PR, Charlotte Meyer won the girls varsity race at the first ever Tomahawk-Valley Conference cross country championship.
The meet was held on the Loyola Hill on Tuesday
While the Loyola/Cleveland/St. Clair girls took second place, the boys team, led by Soren Kelly earned gold.
Crossing the finish line in17:49.6, Meyer was over 75 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. The mid-50s degree weather made for ideal running conditions, she said.
“When it is hot out, my spikes feel like they are on fire.”
With a 19:43.4 finish, Valerie Quast was second for the Crusaders and fourth overall. Rounding out the Crusader top five were Gisele McCabe, who finished 12th with a 12:36.3, Kate Daley, who finished 13th with a 21:38.8, and Izzy Endres, who finished fifth with a 22:36.9.
Pushing the top five along were Molly Koester (21st, 22:46.2) and Teya Waagner (24th, 23:19.5). Four dozen girls competed.
Springfield/Cedar Mountain won the team competition with a 48. GFW was third with a 75. Rounding out the field were Wabasso (109), Lester Prairie (110) and Martin County West/Butterfield-Odin (115)
Kelly was first among the 65 runners with a 16:16.5. The second-place competitor was 21.3 seconds behind. Sam Vetter came in fourth with a 16:49.1. Cutting about 9 seconds off his best time, TJ Waldron was fifth with a 17:05.2.
“You just feel better when you are running in the cold,” said Waldron, who put in 30 to 40 miles a week last summer, including a couple of runs each week with his teammates.
Kyle Zimmerman was seventh with a 17:16.2. Mitchell Buboltz was ninth with a 17:25.6. Prodding at the front five, Chase Kijenski was 12th with a 17:46.3, and Rollie Matejcek was 21st with an 18:58.5
Andrew Tieva was 27th, George Crimmins was 37th, Grayson Fenske-Deichmann was 41st, Elijah Mons was 46th, and Jax Leagjeld was 56th.
The Clippers totaled 26 points, 30 better than second-place Madelia. Springfield/Cedar Mountain was third (78), Sleepy Eye St Mary’s, Public was fourth (93), Lester Prairie was fifth (134), Wabasso was sixth (162), and Martin County West/Butterfield-Odin was seventh (184).
The junior high boys 2-mile race was made up of 18 runners, all but seven of them were Crusaders. Seventh grader Francis Bierer was first with an 11:52.3. Griffin Rutz was second with an 11:55.4, and Reece Nelson was fourth with a 12:28.8. Ethan Beenken was seventh with a 13:19.3, and Andrew Bales was eighth with a 132:22.0. Andrew Giebel finished in 16th place.
Just six runners ran in the junior high girls 2-miler. The top four were Crusaders. Riley Quickly won the race. Brooks Waagner was second, Harper Rutz was third, and Eden Koester was fourth.
Quast and Meyer were named to the girls All-Conference team. Meyer was the conference MVP. Zimmerman, Waldron, Vetter, Buboltz and Kelly were named to the boys All-Conference team with Kelly the conference MVP. Crusader head coach Landon Javens was named the Conference Coach of the Year.
The Clippers were coming off the Hawk Invitational meet at Lake Crystal five days earlier. There, Meyer was first and Quast was second while the boys team took first.
On Thursday, the Crusaders are running in the Section meet, once again at Baylor Park near Norwood Young America. The top two teams and the top six who are not on a qualifying team move on to the state meet.
It is a hilly course, but Meyer likes it and hopes to improve on her third-place finish in 2023. Quast was first last year. Both went on to the state meet as did Kelly, who was fifth for the boys and Zimmerman who was sixth.
The boys team took third place and missed a state appearance for the first time since 2015. They are working hard trying to make it back, Waldron said.
Above: The conference champion boys team, from L-R, Elijah Mons, Andrew Tieva, George Crimmins, Grayson Fenske-Deichmann, Sam Vetter, Rollie Matejcek, Mitchell Buboltz, Chase Kijenski, TJ Waldron, Kyle Zimmerman and Soren Kelly. Missing is Jax Leagjeld.
