Top: Leif Anderson (No. 3284) put everything into his sprint to the finish line at the Milaca Mega Meet held last Saturday on a soggy Milaca golf course. Anderson finished the 5K (3.1 miles) in 19 minutes and 56 seconds. (L-R) Aurora Schelmeske, Molly Thomas and Chloe Blackburn all ran well at Milaca, the largest high school cross country meet in America, if not the world.
North Shore Storm Head Coach April Wahlstrom brought her young team to the largest cross country meet in the country to compete against runners from throughout the Midwest in the Milaca Mega Meet on Saturday, September 24.
After the area had received a good dose of steady rain, Wahlstrom said, “The course was soggy at Milaca. It was a day filled with races that began at 10 a.m. and every 15 minutes there was another group of runners on the start line. Over 6,000 7th -12th grade students ran at this meet and the North Shore Storm was represented well.”
For those who don’t know the history of the cross country team, Two Harbors and Cook County run together, hence the new name “North Shore Storm.”
The Storm’s top boy is Jake Paron, a junior from Two Harbors who is one of the top 2A runners in the state. Paron didn’t disappoint at Milaca.
“Our boys’ varsity team finished in 11th place in the AA race,” said Wahlstrom. “Jake had a smart start and then settled into the first mile with Michael Mitchell from Blake who also had a top 10 finish last year at the state meet. They ran together and then Paron settled in behind Mitchell for a second place finish and a 5k time of 16:39.”
Jake averaged 5 minutes 21 seconds per mile.
“Following in 12th place was our Noah Smith with a time of 17:41 and a strong finish by Will Surbaugh in 36th in 18:16,” Wahlstrom said. “Other Storm finishers included Brenden Seipke in 19:40, Mikael Overby in 19:49, Leif Anderson in 19:56, and Thatcher Sunday in 21:31.”
Not to be outdone by the boys’ team, the girls’ team also had a great meet led by eighth-grade Cook County runner Louise Ramberg.
“Our girls’ varsity team finished in 11th place in the AA race as well,” said Wahlstrom.
“The winner of this race was Brynnan Covington from Perham in 18:57. From our section Proctor had a strong showing finishing in 4th place.
“Louise Ramberg was our first finisher on our team in 29th place with a time of 21:12. Our next group of girls is packing up more and more. Maya McHugh was our second runner in 67th with a time of 22:30. She was followed by Autumn Smith in 22:37, Cedar Gordon in 23:03, Kate Walsberg in 23:07, Isabel Schottenbauer in 23:32 and Molly Thomas in 24:55,” said Wahlstrom.
At press time, North Shore Storm was preparing to travel to Duluth to compete in the Swain Cross Country on Saturday, October 1 at the Enger Park golf course. In the 1970s Swain was the largest high school cross country meet in America and it is still one of the larger meets held in the state. It will be three trips up and down the large hill at Enger for the varsity runners. The hill will test their will, grind their glutes, shred their calves, steal their oxygen and furrow their brows as they march upward. It will be three trips up and down that they will remember for the rest of their lives and it will be great.
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