Above: At this point in the race 10th grader Jake Paron (786) had company. At the finish he was alone in first place with a fine time of 16:38. Left: Running strong in the 8th grade girls’ race were (LR) Robin Henrikson (805), Malin Anderson (798) and Hazel Oberholtzer (811).
Once again the Vikings ventured down to Milaca to take part in the annual Mega Meet on Saturday, September 26 at Stone’s Throw Golf Course in Milaca. Some of the races during the day hosted over 500 runners. The weather was beautiful but a bit on the warm side for running. Despite the heat, the Vikings had many great performances.
The highlight of the day was Jake Paron, a 10th grader from Two Harbors, finishing in first place for the Class AA race. Going in, he knew that he needed to shoot for a top 10 finish. He went out in perfect position and kept moving up. With 1,000m left in his 5k race he made his move and started to pull away from Chris Schold from Minnehaha Academy, who ended up finishing in third place. Paron ran his 5k in 16:38, which is a personal best by almost 40 seconds. This was a great race for Paron, he looked strong, relaxed and remarkably comfortable. As we continue on through the season, there is no doubt that exciting things lie ahead for this hard-working and talented runner.
Paron led his varsity boys’ team to a top half finish and his team followed suit with each of them improving times greatly.
Noah Smith came in 22nd and had a big personal record (PR) with a time of 17:51. Will Surbaugh PRed by a minute and a half and finished in 19:16. Brenden Seipke PRed by 45 seconds with a time of 19:28. Leif Anderson PRed by 1 minute and ran 20:12. Thatcher Sunday PRed by 15 seconds and ran 21:33, and Sam Libby PRed by 1 minute and ran 22:02. It was a strong showing for the Vikings.
Our varsity girls also had big time PRs. Matea Acero finished in 24th place out of 154 runners with a time of 21:15. Isabel Schottenbauer PRed by 30seconds with a time of 21:57. Maya McHugh PRed by 55 seconds and ran 23:14. Louise Ramberg finished in 23:40, Kate Walsberg in 23:49 and Abi Seipke in 24:23. The winner of the girls’ race was Anna Donnay from EV-W-K with a time of 18:08; the second place finisher was one minute behind her.
Above: David Blackburn (774) and Caleb Phillips (787) were the top two Viking runners in the sophomore race at the Milaca Mega Meet.
The 10th grade boys finished one point behind Duluth East. All of these boys who have had 5k times for the season so far improved their times by at least one minute. David Blackburn led the group with 23:01 followed by Caleb Phillips in 23:08, Jake Bilben in 23:11 which was a three and a half minute improvement, then Jron Tamanaha in 23:37, Andy Kern in 23:53, Antonio Vespa in 23:57, Lynden Blomberg with a three-minute improvement in 26:27, and Isak Terrill with 30:33.
Our top two finishers in the 8th grade boys’ race were JC Holman and Tate Crawford working closely together finishing in 13:48 and 13:57 for their two-mile race. Trent Spry improved his time from last year by 3 minutes and Dorna Acero improved his time by 1 minute and 20 seconds from last year.
Our top two finishers in the 8th grade girls’ race were Robin Henrikson and Hazel Oberholtzer finishing their two-mile race in 15:17 and 15:18. Ellen Callender had a two and a half minute improvement from last year with a time of 17:25. Abbey Stoddard keeps shaving time off of her pace and ran her two-mile race in 18:50.
The last official race of the day was the girls’ junior varsity race and it was hot for these gals. They finished in 26th place ahead of big city schools like Chaska and Orono. Not too bad for a small town co-ed team. Alyssa Martinson is back from an injury and led this group, with a 98th place finish out of 500 racers. Molly Thomas who ran 24:37 was close behind Martinson. There were many great performances from this group of girls but Amelia Roth, who had a two and a half minute improvement finishing in 27 flat, stood out.
Our next meet will be the Swain Invitational at Enger Golf Course in Duluth on October 3. Races begin at 10 a.m.
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