Photos courtesy of the team The Viking girls’ cross-country running team is making its way to state! The girls’ team finished second, right behind Esko at the Section 7A meet in Cloquet on Thursday, October 29, earning
We don’t believe there is such thing as a perfect race, and certainly not a perfect team race, but the Viking cross country team came about as close to perfect as they could at last week’s Section 7A meet in Cloquet. Thiswas the third time we went to the section meet with a legitimate chance of advancing an entire team to state: the boys’ team in 2005; the girls’ team last year; and the girls’ team this year. (We have advanced one or two individuals for each of the last seven years in a row.) We went to this year’s meet with high hopes, tempered by the memory of past year’s experiences.
Once we got the team tent pitched, just beating the rain, we headed out with the varsity boys to warm-up and inspect the course. The Cloquet course is pretty flat, and the boys’ race is notorious for starting fast, so we made sure we had a long, hard warm up.
Team leader Kieran Scannell was shooting for a top five position (top 10 individuals qualify for state), and hoping to be near the leaders. Knowing the pace would start unrealistically fast, Kieran planned to stay back a ways, but keep in touch, then move up on the second lap. Senior captain Drew Holmen was hoping to finish his career with a strong race, as a top 10 finish was not realistic. Therest of the team had similar aspirations. Based on prior meets, the boys should finish in the top third of the 20-team field, with a top five place being a reachable target.
110 boys were off at the crack of the starters’ pistol. As expected, team favorite Eveleth went out hard, in fact their entire seven-person team was clear of the field about half a mile into the 3.1-mile race. Thatcouldn’t last.
Kieran was comfortably in the chase pack, about 30th place. Drew, David Bergstrom and Josh Ensign were about a third of the way back, with Leif Gilsvik, Darren Waha and Ben Seaton about two-thirds of the way back in the pack.
As they came around completing the first lap, Kieran had moved up to tenth, while the rest of the team had also moved ahead. Stationed about a half mile out from the finish, we waited anxiously.
As they came into view, Kieran was hanging on to the back of a twosome that had separated themselves from the field. As we cut over to the finish, he had dropped back about 10 yards. As they came around the final corner, he had rejoined the leader (long time track and cross-country foe Jackson Lindquist of Esko) while the other boy had dropped off the lead.
We were treated to an outstanding finishing duel. Kieran gradually pulled up alongside of Jackson, Jackson picked it up, and Kieran found his top gear and pulled ahead for the win, setting a new personal best of 17:13. Not too far back, Drew had moved up to 20th, with an excellent time of 18:29. Josh Ensign was next, PR’ing in 37th with a 19:04. David Bergstrom was four places back in 19:16. Leif passed Ben at the line, finishing 2/10 of a second ahead in 20:44.6, good for 72nd place, while Darren ran a solid 21:03 for 79th. Overall the boys finished sixth, while Esko upset Eveleth for the win.
Meanwhile, the girls were completing their warm-ups. We had no major changes in our running plans, as we just wanted them to run their normal race. As usual, we wanted the team to start out at a comfortable pace, and then move up as the race progressed. They all seemed eager, but not overly nervous. At our preferred viewing spot about a third of a mile into the race, they were all pretty much on plan.
Team leader Signe Larson had Esko’s top girls right in sight, running in about 20th. Ailee Larson and Sonja Peterson were together a short way back, while Anna Schield, Mercedes Leininger, Michelle Weitz and Shelby Ahrendt were close behind, all in the top half of the field. Esko had a big on-course team lead as they completed the first mile.
It wasn’t clear which team was second at that point, but we were moving well and moving up.
As they came back in sight on the last lap, Signe had moved up to a top 10 spot, which she improved to sixth with a good sprint. Ailee uncorked what is probably the fastest finish on the girls’ team, and claimed 10th, the final individual qualifying spot – although we hoped it didn’t matter, as our goal was the team spot.
Sonja was right behind in 12th. As Mercedes and Anna came in with the next big pack, it was obvious the team was in. Mercedes finished 17th and Anna was 23rd. For good measure, Michelle closed with her best time ever, and finished 28th. Shelby closed our scoring in 56th place.
As we awaited the final results, we knew we were close to Esko for the title. Every one of our top five was right behind, or right ahead, of their top five. When the final score was released, they had beaten us 54-59.
Defending champion Crosby-Ironton was a distant third with 117 points. When we looked at our individual times, we realized we couldn’t have done much better. All of our top six girls either had all-time personal bests, or were within ten seconds of their best. Esko is just a little better team. Thenice thing about the rivalry is that it has pushed the level of performance in the section way up from last year. Signe’s time would have won last year, while Ailee’s would have been fourth.
Heading down to the state meet at St. Olaf in Northfield on Saturday November 7, both teams have a shot at a top half finish, compared to 14th and 16th in the 16-team field last year. Individually, Kieran and Signe both have a shot for a top 25 All State spot. Stayed tuned.
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