Left: Junior high girls in the gold! Signe Larson (left) ran a solid 11:24 for second in the girls’ race, working off some rust from a summer of relative inactivity. Rose Ingebrigtsen medaled in ninth place with a 12:17 in her first race at Pincushion Mountain on September 3. Above Left: Freshman Kieran Scannell led the Vikings with a sixth place finish, running 19:19 in the boys’ varsity 3.1 mile race. Above Right: Sonja Peterson was the first Viking across the finish line in the varsity girls’ race earning fifth place in 17:04 at the Viking Challenge Invitational on Thursday, September 3.
The Viking cross country team opened its season at home, hosting Duluth East, Hibbing, Proctor, Carlton and Albrook at the Pincushion Trail system on Thursday, September 3.
Although East and Hibbing compete in the big school, AA class, we ran a combined class at this meet, giving the “Davids” a chance to slay the “Goliaths.” We entered this meet excited and a little anxious. Of our 41 kids, 13 had never raced before. We also wanted to see where our varsity girls’ team was at, after their great season last year, and how our young varsity boys’ team would fare.
The day was sunny and warm, great for spectators, a little warm for the runners. The 200+ kids competing went through over 30 gallons of water – a sign of just how hot it was.
First up was the junior high race. Over 60 boys and girls were off and running the hilly, 1.5-mile race. Joey Chmelik led the young Vikings, finishing 12th in 10:59. Daniel Ahrendt had a very good race, improving a minute and a half from last year, running 11:36, and a second ahead of teammate Sam Sworski. Lars Scannell was less than 30 seconds behind, right ahead of Luke Fenwick, Joe Rauzi and Ben Resek. Roman Schnobrich and Will Seaton worked together a little further back, helping each other through their first race.
For our young girls, last years’ star varsity runner Signe Larson ran a solid 11:24 for second in the girls’ race, working off some rust from a summer of relative inactivity. Rose Ingebrigtsen medaled in ninth place with a 12:17 in her first race, while Audrey Summers and CC Schnobrich were together in the middle of the pack.
The Ditmanson brothers, Alex and Daniel, represented the Vikings in the junior varsity race, with Alex just missing medal in 11th place with a fine 18:07 time for the 2.5-mile race, while Daniel was three spots back, improving more than minute from last year.
Our junior varsity girls’ team was especially nervous at the start as only veteran Katrina Axtell had raced before, while the other four were brand new to the sport. Amber Todd ended up leading our girls with a varsity caliber time of 21:59, good for seventh. Katrina had her usual solid run, improving to 25:15, just ahead of Sarah O’Phelan. Cheyenne Sorlie and Thai exchange student Nuchada Srisittipoj (Nu to us) carefully paced each other through the race, finishing with big smiles at having completed the whole thing.
The varsity boys’ race featured the three top runners in the area, two from Hibbing and former teammate Guthrie Cunningham of Duluth East. They quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field, finishing in that order with a big sprint.
Freshman Kieran Scannell, rusty from a two week trip out East, led the Vikings with a sixth place finish running 19:19 for the 3.1 mile race. In his best race ever, sophomore David Bergstrom showed he is ready to move up among the leaders, running 19:43 for eighth. Two Harbors teammates Leif Gilsvik and Josh Ensign were 30 seconds back in 13th and 14th. Freshman Ben Seaton, running his first varsity race, rounded out the Viking scoring with a decent 23:54 time, filling in for missing team captain Drew Holmen and returning letterman Darren Waha. The Vikings were third behind Hibbing and East.
Varsity girls are our strongest team again this year. Last year they won three big invitational meets along with the Polar League meet, just missing qualifying for state. Everyone is back, with the addition of former Viking runner Ailee Larson and Two Harbors track runner Mercedes Leininger. Some of the girls had strong offseason Invitational
running programs, while others are “racing themselves back into shape.”
Hibbing is strong with the top rated area runner, and East is always very deep. In addition, Lindsey Dahl-Holm leads the Carlton team as the defending section 7A champion.
The big guns were out fast at the start with Viking Sonja Peterson, Ailee and Anna Schield in the first chase pack. Michelle Weitz, Shelby Ahrendt, and Mercedes with in the middle, with Amber Fletcher a short distance back. East was clearly the leading team, with Hibbing and the Vikings very close. Sonja hung on for a solid fifth place in 17:04, with Ailee a step behind in sixth. Anna Schield had a remarkable race, improving by 1:30 to 17:18 and eighth place.
We were the first team to have three finishers, with top five counting in your team scoring. Then six East runners poured in, cementing their win. Hibbing got their third and fourth runners in, giving them a slight lead over us. We anxiously awaited the next runners to emerge form the woods. And it was Shelby, Michelle and Mercedes, giving the Vikings a hard fought second place win over Hibbing by four points.
Now we are ready! Thegirls will be looking to defend their title in Eveleth on September 17th, the young boys’ team will look to improve from the middle of the pack, and the new runners should be a lot more confident. Plus that golf course is a lot flatter than the Pincushion trails.
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