Ailee Larson and Kieran Scannell are heading to State! Kieran finished the Section race with a 30-second PB. Ailee’s sprint at the finish gave her a new PB as well.
We weren’t too stressed when the Section 7A meet was postponed from Thursday to Friday because of a 10-inch snowfall at the Cloquet Country Club on Wednesday. We were pretty surprised however, when we pulled up to the golf course and saw there was still a couple of inches on the ground. We checked, but the officials said no skis allowed. Fortunately, Coach April Wahlstrom had stopped and picked up a bunch of longer track spikes to deal with snow and ice, so we were prepared.
If fact, we have had such a good training build-up this year, that we were comfortable encouraging the kids to risk it at Sections more than usual this year. At its simplest, distance training is a pyramid, with a broad base of easy distance running, a layer of strength training from hill repeats, a layer of hard speed work and a peak of quick, short running. Most of the varsity kids had put in good summer training on their own, our base build-up early in the season was longer, our hill training phase was longer and harder, as was our speed work phase. As a result, we had everyone aimed at a career personal best (PB or PR) at this meet.
Viking cross country runners are accustomed to running in cold weather, but the Section 7A meet was postponed because of a 10-inch snowfall at the Cloquet Country Club. However, on Friday, October 29, Viking runners were ready and all finished with personal best times. Matea Acero, Sara Schield, and Audrey Summers hang together in the pack at the Section 7A race.
The boys’ race was first this year. With most of the rest of the JV and junior high team present, an amazing number of parents, and a surprising number of classmates at Cloquet, we had the biggest cheering group out of the 23 teams entered. Our strategy was pretty straightforward. Kieran was going to cover all the moves of his top two competitors, Jackson Lindquist of Esko and Matt Welch of Proctor, and look for an opportunity to get away or set-up the sprint.
Senior Josh Ensign was going for broke to try and secure a top 10 statequalifying place (he has been running at top 20 level). Junior David Bergstrom was going to keep him in sight. Sophomore Ben Seaton was going to lead out the rest of the boys – senior Darren Waha, freshman Joey Chmelik and eighth grader Daniel Ahrendt, at a faster than normal pace. The boys’ course had three loops, starting with a 1K (kilometer) loop, followed by two 2K loops.
After the first loop, there was still a group of about 10 leading, including the three contenders and a half dozen pretenders. Meanwhile Josh was hanging just behind, with David in sight. During the second loop, the top three separated from the field, with Matt doing most of the work. Josh struggled a little, dropping back to 13th. David continued to close, while Ben was setting a fast pace behind, and the rest of the boys were all in the top half. On the third lap, Jackson dropped off the lead, with Kieran hanging on to Matt. Just before the final turn, Kieran took the lead about 300 yards out. He started his sprint, and opened up a gap. It was a little too far from the finish however, and Matt gradually closed the gap and edged Kieran out at the tape, 16:19.3 to 16:20.2, a 30-second PB for Kieran.
Meanwhile, David had moved up and past Josh, who hung on. David ended up 16th, an improvement of 1:45 and 23 places from last year. Josh was two places and five seconds back, a 30-second PR. Ben was less than a minute back in 41st, his 18:30 a 1:00 PR. Darren was next in 19:15, almost two minutes faster than last year, followed by Joey in 19:34 and Daniel in 19:41; the first time under 20 minutes for the last two.
Section 7 was a lot stronger this year, as our young boys’ team ended up fifth overall with 133 points, behind state qualifiers Esko with 55 and Crosby-Ironton with 93. You can’t ask for anything more than all seven running career bests at the most important meet of the season. Wait ‘til next year!
After a short break, the girls moved to the starting line. Senior Ailee Larson has led the Vikings all season, and was looking to return to state this year, after qualifying in cross country and track last year. Her target was Esko’s Erika Shady the third runner of Esko’s outstanding team. Similar to Josh, senior Anna Schield, a top 20 runner all season was going to push the pace looking for that elusive top 10 position. Sophomore Shelby Ahrendt would provide the lead for the rest of the girls, freshman Audrey Summers, senior Cheyenne Sorlie, seventh grader Matea Acero and sophomore Sara Schield.
Right according to plan, Ailee kept close contact with Erika and Esko’s No. 2 runner. Anna pushed the pace in about 10th for the first lap, Shelby was out hard but in control, Audrey, Matea, and Cheyenne were all working hard, with Sara just behind. Completing the first of the two 2K laps, the Esko girls worked together and opened a little gap on Ailee, who decided to stay at a manageable pace, leading the chase group of six behind the four leaders. Anna struggled a little, running about 13th. Everyone stayed steady and in control.
Coming towards the finish, Ailee picked the pace up a little, spreading out the chasers. With 150 yards to go, she cut loose her best-of-section sprint and opened up a five-second lead, finishing fifth in a PR 15:51. Anna dropped a couple places finishing in 16:54, tying her best ever. Shelby ran a PR 17:35, a minute faster than last year. Matea continued to amaze us, finishing 52nd in 17:59, good for 21st on the Viking all time list. Audrey was just five seconds back in 18:04, Cheyenne ran 18:22, seven minutes better than her best time last year, and newcomer Sara 19:04 – all PR’s. Like the boys, the girls finished fifth overall, a great rebuilding season after losing six of the top nine from last year’s state meet team.
Now, for the ninth year in a row, it is down to St. Olaf in Northfield for the State cross country meet to cheer on Ailee and Kieran. Ailee is a top 50 contender, with an outside shot as a top 25 All State place. Not to put any pressure on him (smile) but Kieran is running at All State level right now.
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