Photo by Clara Weitz The Viking girls’ varsity cross-country running team won first place at the Eveleth Invite meet on Thursday, September 17. (L-R) Anna Schield, Signe Larson, Michelle Weitz, Amber Fletcher, Sonja Peterson, Shelby Ahrendt, Ailee Larson, Molly Rider.
The 41-athlete Viking cross-country team took off Thursday, September 17 for the Golden Bear Invitational in Eveleth. With 11 other Section 7A teams (a little more than half of the Section) it was a great chance to see where we stood early in the season.
It didn’t take long to find out, as our highly rated girls’ varsity team was up first. Unfortunately, our number three runner Anna Schield was out with a pulled abdominal muscle, as was number six runner Shelby Ahrendt with a bruised thigh, and number seven runner Mercedes Leininger with the flu.
With the team score determined by your top five places, we had to depend on our other girls to step up. Fortunately we are nine deep in girls’ varsity, a rare luxury for a small school team.
Still, we were giving up about 20 points, and we were facing International Falls who beat us at section finals last year. International Falls had everyone back. Ely, Proctor and Pequot Lakes were right behind us.
At the gun, Sonja Peterson took up the chase after defending section champ Lindsay Dahl-Holm of Carlton. Ailee Larson was tucked in the back of the chase pack, Michelle Weitz in the second pack and Signe Larson, Amber Fletcher and Molly Rider back a little in the top 1/3 of the field. I-Falls was in a very similar position with Proctor and Ely close. Our top two stayed in the lead group as it thinned out a little, while Signe cruised up to Michelle.
At the finish, Ailee sprinted to second, while Sonja held fourth, Signe was 14th and Michelle had one of her best races to earn the 15th place medal, a minute back of our leaders. Amber and Molly finished 34th and 35th in the 90-girl field. Meanwhile Anna “jogged” in at 53rd, followed by JV runners Amber Todd, Katrina Axtell, Sarah O’Phelan, New Srisittipoj and Cheyenne Sorlie. Amber 1 (Fletcher) and Katrina both posted major improvements from last year. I thought the scoring would be close, but it wasn’t. Thegirls won 62-79. We still haven’t faced Polar League foe Esko yet, the section favorite this year.
It was also an important meet for our varsity boys as they were facing six of the seven teams that beat them at section last year (except Esko, of course). We were aiming for a top half finish in the 12-team field. At the gun the boys literally sprinted for the first corner. Eveleth and Pequot are known for taking it out hard.
Our team leader, freshman Kieran Scannell, was back in about 30th at the half-mile mark. David Bergstrom and Drew Holmen were side by side a little ways back, Josh Ensign and Leif Gilsvik about mid-pack, with Darren Waha and Ben Seaton a little further back. With a mile to go, Kieran was still back in 12th, while David and Drew had moved up a little and Leif had faded back to Ben and Darren. With a big push at the finish, Kieran moved up to sixth. David got the better of Drew in the uphill sprint, as they finished 30th and 31st. Josh was 45 seconds back in 46th; Leif, Ben and Darren finished near each other in 60th, 64th and 67th.
JV runners Alex and Daniel Ditmanson ran very well in the combined varsity/JV race, finishing 89th and 99th, while Seb Schnobrich ran a steady race to finish his first race after only one practice. The boys finished fifth, the same as last year despite losing senior speedster Losha Senty.
The junior high race was a mob scene, with over 140 runners. Rose Ingebrigtsen led the girls, earning a medal for 13th place in 11:07 for the 1.5-mile race. Mara MacDonell led our next group, which included Audrey Summers, Kara Ramey and CC Schnobrich, all about 12:20, while Adrianna Berglund ran the entire race after only a week’s practice. The girls finished fifth in the 12-team field. Joey Chmelik again led our young boys, running 9:45 for 18th place. Sam Sworski was next 30 seconds back, with Daniel Ahrendt, Pete Summers, Luke Fenwick, Joe Rauzi, Lars Scannell, Ben Resek, Roman Schnobrich, Sean MacDonell and Will Seaton spread throughout the field. Our young boys were ninth in the huge field.
Next up for the Vikings is the 3,500-athlete Milaca Mega Meet. With over half of the top Class A teams in the state the event is always fun, always a zoo!
Come cheer our Vikes!
Saturday,September 26, 2009 9:00 AM ·
Away vs. Milaca Mega Meet
Saturday,October 3, 2009 10:00 AM ·
Away vs. Swain
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