Sean MacDonell finished his two-mile race at Milaca in 13:18, a two-minute improvement over last year. The Milaca Mega Meet is the largest high school cross country race in America, drawing 150 teams and 4,500 runners from Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Iowa. Most of the kids from Cook County and Two Harbors who competed here last year showed a marked improvement this year.
Right after school on Friday, September 23, our caravan of two school vans and seven parent vehicles headed to Hinckley for an overnight before the huge, 150-team, 4,500 runner Milaca MegaMeet. Milaca runs all day Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with 19 races. To keep costs down and fun high, we stop for a dinner in Two Harbors hosted by our Two Harbors teammates. We reach Hinckley in time to try out the pool, check out the movies, and run all over the hotel, like only junior high kids can.
Sometimes at Milaca we split up the kids, having them run the seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, JV and/or varsity races. This time, we decided to group them together, running the younger kids in the eighth grade race and the older ones in the varsity race. Not only do we have a lot of new runners, we are also developing our varsity teams after losing 10 of 14 from last years’ varsity. This would be a great chance for them to work together and test themselves against some of the best in the state, as well as 10 of 20 teams from Section 7A.
Sarissa Falk ran tough at Milaca, finishing the 2.5-mile girls’ varsity race in 21:26.
We got to Milaca about an hour before the first race and set up our tent in the sprawling tent city. It was overcast and 50, clearing off and warming up by afternoon. A great day for racing and watching.
First up were our young boys. With Lars Scannell out with a foot problem, Pete Summers, Will Seaton, and Sean MacDonell took over the leadership role. All three have had varsity race experience this season.
Over 200 racers took off at the gun, with the Viking leaders in the top half of the field. We had our last glimpse of them at about halfway through the race, before they went out on the last big loop. Our top three had moved up about 20 places and were still close together, with Roman Schnobrich in the main pack and newcomer Rusty Day working hard just behind them. Pete finished 48th in 12:53, a 22-second improvement from last year on the 2-mile course. Will was very close behind, 53rd in 12:59, a big 1:30 improvement, with Sean a little farther back in 13:18, an even bigger 2:00 improvement. Roman finished 139th in 14:38, while Rusty worked hard and steady the whole way, running 17:05. Overall, the young boys were 18th in the team standings.
Sophomore Drew Christiansen runs a very fast 100-meter dash in track, but in the fall he shows his versatility by running 3.1 (5k) miles at a very good pace. Drew ran 22:03 at Milaca.
Our young girls were next, all firstyear racers, and two – Molly Thomas and Morgan Welch – were in their first race. There wasn’t too much time to worry about it though, as the gun fired and 132 girls thundered off on the same 2-mile loop as the boys.
Abby Seipke led the girls on the first half of the race, running solidly in the middle of the pack. Molly looked very strong and smooth a little way back, while Lily Gruber-Schulz and Morgan worked together a little way back. Ruby Walsberg and Jasmine Swenson started out a little too far back, but a little encouragement from the coaches fired them up and got them back in the race. Abby finished 60th in 14:58, a time similar to our better runners in past years. Molly did an amazing job in her first race, finishing 73rd in 15:15. Lily was next, 103rd in 16:49, right ahead of Morgan in 16:58. Ruby had moved up to 112th in 17:23, as had Jasmine in 17:33. Overall, the girls finished 8th in the team standings.
With Audrey Summers out with a viral infection, eighth-grader Matea Acero took over the leadership role for our young girls’ varsity. All started out slowly, as the pace is always fast in Milaca. Matea gradually moved up throughout the 2.5-mile race, and finished 97th in 18:15, a very good varsity girls’ time for us at this tough meet. Sara Shield ran a very consistent race for us, finishing in 18:51, a 1:20 improvement from last year. First year runner Emma Olfson, a freshman, had her third straight personal best, running 20:11. Mara MacDonell and Sarissa Falk worked well together, finishing in 21:15 and 21:26 respectively. Cailan Carpenter survived her first big varsity race, running 23:44. Our varsity girls finished 21st in the team standings.
Ben Seaton and Joey Chmelik led our boys in the big, tough varsity race that included three state rated teams. They both got out pretty aggressively near the middle of the 160+ runner pack. Near the back of the pack, senior Alex Ditmanson led the rest of our young varsity boys. Ben held his position well, finishing 80th in 18:55, a 40-second improvement from last year. Joey faded a little to 19:19, still a big 1:11 improvement from last year. Sophomore Drew Christiansen paced himself well and finished with the best sprint in the field in 22:03, (Drew was a Section 7A finalist in the 100 meter dash last spring), a remarkable run for someone with so much fast twitch muscle. Alex was a short distance back in 22:58, just ahead of Nate Carlson and Everett Hommes who ran identical times of 23:21. Owen Cruikshank successfully completed his first varsity race in 24:10. The boys’ team placed 21st in the team standings.
The final race of the day at Milaca is always the “old timers” race, a chance for the kids to yell at their coaches and old teammates to “pick it up,” “catch the next runner,” and “keep going, you’re almost there.”
With our young Head Coach April out with a knee problem, the real oldtimer assistant coaches Beth Shield, Chris Hegg and Dave Seaton bravely toed the line with 150 runners in the 2-mile race. There was money riding on this race, as I have a standing offer of a DQ treat for any team runner in the seventh or eighth grade race that beats me. We all bolted off too fast, just like the kids. I got to the mile in 6:30, and knew I was going to be buying for a couple of the kids. Dave was pretty close behind, while Beth was recording a good 8:50 first mile. I sucked it up and hung on, finishing in 13:12, just nipping Sean but buying for Will and Pete (again). Dave just missed breaking 14:00, while Beth was a ways back. Next year…..
Leave a Reply