Upper left: Rusty Day has shown great improvement this season. Rusty trained hard all summer and has taken 2-3 minutes off of his time from last year. Rusty was 12th in the JV race with a time of 22:15 at Proctor. Above: Audrey Summers placed 36th at Proctor with a time of 18:23 for 4K. She was the 5th girl finisher for the Vikings’ team and has steadily dropped her times this fall. Left: Ruby Walsberg had a breakthrough race at Proctor when she led the Vikings Junior Varsity with her 5th place finish with a time of 19:49. Just a ninth grader, the Vikings will be counting on her to move up and help the varsity next year.
As we approach the end of our cross country season, I begin to feel a void in my heart. The season goes by quickly but much happens. It is amazing to think about all of the heart, sole, and sweat that has been poured into each workout and into each race. For many of our racers their last race was Tuesday, October 16 in Proctor. This is a notoriously cold, windy, and rainy meet. However, this time we were greeted with 60 degrees and sunshine.
For those not running their last race, this was the final chance to be in race mode before heading the section meet on Thursday, October 25 in Cloquet. At the end of the season we like to see athletes get their times down, but more importantly they need to race hard and work on moving up. This was our focus at Proctor. Many of the runners executed beautiful races and others learned what they might want to try next time.
Cook County-Two Harbors girls finish 5th
The afternoon started off with the girls’ race. Our number one runner has consistently been Sarissa Falk and on this day she finished 7th overall – 16.28. She is running among ladies who have gone to state in previous years. Sarissa is focusing on what she may need to do during the Section meet.
The monster pack continued to be a force in this race but this time Maya McHugh took charge to move them forward. This has been an ever-changing leadership role for the ladies. Maya finished 25th with a time of 17:50. Abigale Seipke stayed with her during much of the race and finished 31st – 18:02. The next four came in consecutively – Sara Schield was 35th -18:23; Audrey Summers, who had a great race and moved up steadily, finished 36th – 18:23. Rounding out the varsity girls’ team was Morgan Weyrens- Welch, 37th -18:28 and Alyssa Martinson, 38th –18:29.
In the junior varsity race, Ruby Walsberg, a 9th grader from Two Harbors had a breakthrough race. Generally, Ruby likes to run behind someone she knows she could run with. On this day she took charge and trusted herself. She had a great race which was demonstrated by her great placement in 5th place with a time of 19:49. Following her was Meadow Adams 6th – 20:00; Mara MacDonell 7th -20:55 and Cailan Carpenter 8th – 20:55. These three are all seniors and have had a wonderful season.
Meadow was new to cross country this year as she was using it to get in shape for hurdling in track. It turns out she is a great distance runner too. We will be looking forward to working with her again in the spring. Mara MacDonell started as a junior high runner and has had a great high school career. She is a tough competitor and has always had a strong desire for improvement in her running. During this past season she ran a 4k under 20 minutes which is a great milestone. Although she didn’t have her fastest time today she had a great race. She looked relaxed and confident. Cailan Carpenter joined us last year and is a runner who has a desire to improve but also has a desire to help others improve. Last year she was like a big sister to many younger runners and this year she was back in that role and helped support many runners work toward improvement. We will miss these seniors but we are looking forward to see what they go on to do. They are a talented group.
Ben Seaton and Joey Chmelik once again led the boys’ varsity team and the team finished 4th place overall. Both of these runners continued to move up during the race and they finished 14th – 18:27 and 16th – 18:30 respectively. This time they were followed by Pete Summers who finished 21st with a time of 19:15. Pete has continued to move forward and he has consistently had strong races. He will be very instrumental to the team at sections and in the coming years.
Sean MacDonell is another young runner who has had a very consistent season. On this day he ran 4th for us and finished 36th with a time of 19:51. Will Seaton had a strong race and his summer running is helping his times continue to drop. Will finished 46th – 20:29 and he was followed by Nate Carlson in 47th place with a time of 20:31 and Owen Cruickshank 57th with a time of 21:49.
The junior varsity race followed with a 2nd place finish in their division. Collin Berglund led the JV race with a 3rd place finish and a time of 20:32. Following Collin was Drew Christensen who came in with a season’s best time and race. Drew passed many other runners, worked hard during the entire distance and had a strong finish. We are hoping he can have more of these races next year. He finished in 5th place with a time of 20:50. Everett Hommes closed out a nice season where he improved with each race. He finished in 11th – 22:08. Rusty Day had a nice close to his season as well. He is one of the most hard-working individuals on the team. Many of you have probably seen him running around town and his hard work paid off as during most races he shaved off 3-5 minutes of his times from last year. Rusty finished in 12th place with a time of 22:15. Coming in 17th place with a time of 23:15 was August Carpenter. He is new to running this year, however, he was able to experience the joy of hard work leading to improvement. August closed out his season with a race that allowed him to experience the fruit of his effort.
Our junior high racers closed out the event with some wonderful races. Their course was just slightly over one mile. Jake Paron finished 3rd place over all with a time of 6:36 (his pace was 6:13 minute for a mile). Following him was Finn Garry, a 7th grader, who finished 44th –7:45. Julia Larsen represented the girls with a great race coming in 33rd with a time of 10:37.
At press time we will be at the Section 7A meet in Cloquet on Thursday, October 25. This will be the race that will determine if we have any runners making it on to the State meet.
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