Girls’ cross country team headed to state, two boys qualify

State bound! The Cook County/Two Harbors cross country team qualified to run at the state meet. In front from L-R: Jocelyn Carr, Anna Hay, Lamar Gordon, London Smith, Sierra Geatz. Second row L-R: Olya Wright, Autumn Smith, Trinity Giddings, Amery Oberg, Brianna Monson.

A top two team finish at the Section 7A cross country meet would send The Cook County/Two Harbors girl’s cross country team to state but the competition was extremely tough and the girls would have to run a near perfect race to make it. But make it they did, placing second to the Hibbing Bluejackets in the Section 7A cross county meet held Thursday, October 29 at the Cloquet Country Club.

When the top five finishers’ places were added up Hibbing had 58 points to Cook County’s 70. Hot on the Vikings’ heels was Proctor and Rock Ridge, who each had 73 points. There were eleven schools entered in the big school class.

Sophomore Olya Wright led the way with a fourth-place finish. Olya ran 20:06 for the 5k distance. The race was won by Lexi Lamppa, an eighth grader from Rock Ridge. Lexi crossed the line in 19:10.

Finishing in eighth place for Cook County was Autumn Smith, who ran 20:21. Lamar Gordon placed tenth, finishing in 20:21. Anna Hay placed 22nd with a time of 21:22 and Jocelyn Carr placed 26th in 21:31. London Smith was the sixth Viking across the line with a 31st place finish and time of 21:52. Trinity Giddings was the team’s seventh runner with a 35th place and time of 22:07.

Boys

Two boys qualified for the state cross country meet which will be held at St. Olaf College on November 6.

The Cook County/ Two Harbors boys’ team placed fourth out of eleven schools. Rock Ridge won the meet with 47 points. The boys’ 5k race was won by Cameron Stocke of Rock Ridge. Cameron ran 16:13 to beat his teammate Aaron Nelson who finished second in 16:41.

Nate Bilben, a senior, led the way for CC/TH. Nate placed sixth, finishing with a time of 17:11. Ian Thorpe placed 11th in 17: 24. Both Nate and Ian qualified for state because once the top two team finishers places were taken away the next six individuals move on to state.

The Vikings’ next five finishers were: Clay Thorpe, 22nd, 18:22; Elijah Smith, 37th, 18:44; Brayden Schmidt, 46th, 19:11.8; Kyler Hansen, 47th, 19:11.9; and Cyrus Myers, 49th, 19:14.