The Viking varsity girls earned 4th place at the Eveleth meet on September 17. Left: Ruby Walsberg was the second Viking runner on the winning junior varsity cross country team. Above left: Just an eighth grader, Noah Smith finished 13th overall in the boys’ varsity cross country race at Eveleth. Above right: Kate Walsberg finished 39th for the Viking girls’ varsity team.
When the Cook County Vikings cross country team rolled up to Eveleth Golf Course on Thursday, September 17, we were instantly sweaty with the heavy humid air. There was a black cloud looming in the west and five minutes into the girls’ varsity and JV race it hit and forced down sheets of rain. As I stood cheering on our Vikings, I wondered how they could stay so focused as I felt as though I was in a shower being pounded by water cold enough to take my breath away. Several girls lost their contacts and were squinting to see as they ran. The varsity girls earned a respectable 4th place behind Proctor, South Ridge, and Ely and finishing in front of eight other teams. Our varsity boys finished in 6th place.
As the season progresses we are learning that our varsity girls are going to be quite strong. It became apparent on Thursday that we really have two nice packs of varsity girls. Our first pack includes Matea Acero who finished in 12, Isabel Schottenbauer who came in 17th and Abi Seipke who finished in 20th.
Our second pack consists of Maya McHugh (33rd), Emily Seipke (34th), Louise Ramberg (35th), and Kate Walsberg (39th).
It is always nicer to race with a teammate and these packs of girls will help the Vikings have a successful season. These girls raced tough through the downpour and they kept their focus.
Our JV girls finished in 1st place. They were led by Molly Thomas, Ruby Walsberg, and Paige Gries who went 1, 2, and 4. Amelia Roth had a really solid race with much determination on her face and she finished in 11th place in a time of 29:34. Daphne Lacina rounded out our JV gals, she looked relaxed and focused during her sopping wet 5k and finished in 34.28.
Leading our boys’ team was Jake Paron who ran 45 seconds faster than last year and came in first place with a time of 17:50. Eighth-grader Noah Smith followed Paron, running a minute faster than last year and finishing in 13th place. Will Surbaugh and Leif Anderson also had improvements despite the crazy weather and the course, which was now more like the Tofte Trek mud run.
In the junior varsity race, Mahatahn Jenkins finished 16th place with a time of 23:09 and led our JV boys. David Blackburn also had a solid race coming in 29th with a time of 24:48.
Our junior high team ran a 2.4 kilometer race. JC Holman led the group with 28th place finish with a time of 10:28 which was about two and a half minutes faster than last year. Tate Crawford, new to cross country, was looking strong and was right behind him in 34th place with a time of 10:50. Henry DeArruda- Weaver was also in this pack in 39th place with a time of 11:01. Ryan Bilben rounded out the crew with a quicker pace today and finished in 75th place with a time of 14:44.
Robin Henrikson and Hazel Oberholtzer worked hard to lead our pack. They finished in 10th and 11th place in 11:11 and 11:12. Ellen Callender was looking tough and was our 5th junior high runner coming in 35th with a time of 12:56.
The Vikings will next be racing at the Milaca Mega Meet on Saturday, September 26. This exciting event includes runners from all over the state of Minnesota as well as North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Leave a Reply