The boys’ junior high cross country team is having a great season! This photo was taken at the Pincushion Mountain Classic earlier this month and shows off the kids’ teamwork. Leading the Viking pack here is Noah Smith followed by Will Surbaugh, Brendan Siepke, Andy Kern, Doran Acero, Caleb Phillips and J.C. Holman close behind.
September 20, 2014 marked the Milaca Mega Meet in Milaca, Minnesota. Over 6,000 runners participated and over 148 teams were there. The 7th grade boys from Cook County/ Two Harbors represented us well by finishing in 6th place beating out large school districts such as Maple Grove, Osseo, Hutchinson, White Bear Lake and many others. In front of our team was Sartell-St. Stephen, winning the team division, Bemidji, St. Cloud Cathedral, Perham and in 4th place, Rogers. Many of these teams currently have state and/or national rankings and our boys demonstrated that we may not be currently in that hunt but there is potential lurking with our youngsters.
These 7th grade boys started an exciting day of races. They went out looking tough and the pack of Noah Smith, Brenden Seipke and Will Surbaugh ran tough and worked together. They eventually split with Noah coming in 15th; Brenden in 24th; and Will in 46th place. Our depth and other runners helped our team score. Charles Seipke and JC Holman rounded out our points but they were followed by a pack of other young boys who had great races while learning to navigate the mob of people. This pack included Henry DeArruda-Weaver, Lynden Blomberg, Doran Acero, Trent Spry and Ian Parker.
Above left: Running hard, Ruby Walsberg was the 4th varsity runner for the Vikings at Milaca. Above right: Morgan Weyrens-Welch was the 3rd Viking across the line with a 4K time of 18:44.
Our young girls participated in the 8th grade race and came in 14th place overall. Kate Walsberg and Sophie Eliasen set out to lead our girls. After a mile into the two-mile race, Kate charged ahead coming in 85th place. She was followed by a pack of two, Robin Henrikson and Amelia Roth, who worked together and finished their races nice and strong in the middle. Our team was rounded out by Ellen Callender and Chloe Blackburn who have come a long way in the season and should be proud of their performances.
The day continued to warm and our North Shore runners felt a bit hot in the upper 70 degree weather since they have been practicing in the mid 50s and low 60s. The start of the boys’ varsity race went out really slowly and our boys began too far in the back. Once they got going they all worked hard to make up for lost time and ground. You could watch them from a distance madly passing groups of runners. This charge was led by Jake Paron and Kiviok Hight who crossed the line together with 18:05 and 18:06. Of this bunch, Leif Anderson and Roman Schnobrich had the best races improving their time and maintaining a great race focus throughout. They kept pushing each other forward and finished in 21:39 for a 5k.
Our girls’ varsity had a better start than the boys. Matea Acero is back and continues to shave off time. She came in 50th with a time of 17:09. She was followed by Abigale Seipke and Morgan Weyrens- Welch who ran 18:44 and 18:53. Ruby Walsberg had a great race and was our 4th runner taking off some time from where she has been running on other 4k courses. Our girls’ team came in 18th place.
The JV races were the largest of the day with over 500 runners in each the boys’ and the girls’ races. It is amazing to watch all of these runners go by from over 100 different schools. Our boys (Will Ramberg, David Blackburn, Caleb Phillips, Andy Kern, Jake Bilben, and Harvey Parker) finished in 48th place. With illness on our girls’ team we didn’t field a complete JV team but we were impressed with Molly Thomas who led the way for them with a 4k time of 18:11.
The final race of the day was the “Old Timers” race! We had a great turn out. Kudos to Mandy Dye, Dan Hebl, Jeff Stoddard, Kathryn Ramberg, Cathy Holman, and Maria Carlson for completing the 2-mile adventure. It was fun to have the kids warm us up and cheer for us out on the course.
Our next race will be on Thursday, September 25 at the Hibbing Municipal Golf Course at 4 p.m. Come and cheer on the Vikings!
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