The boys’ North Shore Storm cross country team holds five fingers up to depict their fifth-place team finish at the Minnesota State cross country meet. From L-R: Noah Smith, Leif Anderson, Brenden Seipke on Anderson’s shoulders, Jake Paron, JRon Tamanaha, Issac Swanson, Will Surbaugh, J.C. Hollman and Kevin Viren.
North Shore Storm ran strong on November 4 at St. Olaf College. Perham won the girls’ race with 86 points followed by Cotter with 87 points. Tierney Wolfgram from Math and Science Academy won with a time of 17:31. She had a comfortable lead from the beginning. Second and third place were the Ping sisters from Cotter with times of 18:19 and 18:27.
Our girls are young, and there is no teammate with experience of competing at the state meet, so this was a great learning year for them.
The field went out fast, and our girls hung on.
Autumn Smith and Cedar Gordon took our team out, but they really made up a lot of time during the last 800 meters to finish in 58 and 62, finishing in 20:13 and 20:16. Claire LaVigne bounced back from a bloody nose at the start line to help teammate Louise Ramberg to a finishing time of 21:15 for this dynamic duo.
Isabel Schottenbauer stepped up her game today to be our fifth runner to finish in 21:39. She was followed by Kate Walsberg in 22:04 and Maya McHugh in 22:44. The pack racing strategy paid off in helping us finish in front of Proctor for a 13th-place finish.
The boys were a little more relaxed at the start of their race as they were led by Jake Paron and Noah Smith, who both have had state experience.
Matt Steiger from LaCrescent won with a time of 15:44 and in second place was Declan Dahlberg from Mounds Park Academy in 15:44.8. Geno Uhrborn ended up being the third-place finisher.
From the beginning there was a large pack at the front of the race, and Jake Paron was in the mix. Paron had a solid race for 15th place in 16:32. Noah Smith finished in 32 with a time of 16:54. Issac Swanson had a huge personal improvement; he was in 87th place with a time of 17:30. Will Surbaugh went out fast and hung on as long as he could. He had a strong finish with a time of 17:41. Leif Anderson cut off 40 seconds from his best time, crossing the finish line in18:36, finally running under the 19-minute mark. JRon Tamanaha finished in 19:25 and also rounded out his season with a new personal best time.
Together these boys pushed and pulled each other to a fifth-place finish with 175 points. Perham won with 118 points followed by St. James Area in 148 points. Greenway-Nashwauk- Keewatin finished in seventh place with 195 points.
I am already looking forward to next season and hoping that we can make a repeat visit with both teams to state. The kids learned a lot this year, and we can build on that. Maya McHugh and Jake Paron were phenomenal senior leaders to this varsity team. Together they passed on a great desire to be a team and to work hard. It is my hope that the remaining team will harness those lessons and work in the coming months and over the summer to be ready next fall for an even stronger cross country season.
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