Upper left: Just a seventh grader, Maya McHugh has improved enough to make the girls’ varsity cross country team. Above: Will Seaton led teammate Sean MacDonell by two steps at the Eveleth Invitational. Left: Joey Chmelik races a runner from Virginia to the finish line. The boys’ teams placed 6th out of 18 teams, while the girls’ team placed 4th out of 18 teams at Eveleth.
The Vikings headed to Eveleth for the big Eveleth Invitational on Thursday, September 13. All of the Section 7A teams, except Esko and Crosby-Ironton were there, plus Section 8 power Pequot Lakes. With a total of 18 teams present, we would get a very good early season picture of where we stood, both boys and girls.
Our girls were especially excited. As a team, they are much stronger than last year, beating Hibbing and pushing South Ridge at our meet. A change in the selection process for state (top 2 teams plus next 8 runners qualify in 2012 versus top 2 teams and top 10 runners overall in the past) opened the door a little wider for senior team leader Sarissa Falk and 9th grader Matea Acero. The girls were buzzing.
According to the plan, Sarissa was to go out behind the leaders, with Matea keeping her in sight. Senior Sara Schield would set the pace for the rest of our young varsity girls. At the gun, over 100 girls were off and running. The racecourse, laid out on the Eveleth golf course, is a bit unusual with a downhill start, a tight 90-degree turn at about 100 yards, and then over to a repeated figure 8 loop of 2 kilometers. It causes a lot of confusion, particularly when kids start getting lapped.
There was no confusion for the Viking leaders, as Sarissa and Matea were positioned just right, while Sara led a quartet including 9th graders Abby Seipke and Morgan Weyrens-Welch and surprising 7th grader Maya McHugh. Just behind, Audrey Summers paced 8th grader Alyssa Martinson and first year runner-senior Meadow Adams.
Halfway through the race Sarissa had moved up to the top 10, while the rest of the team made slow, steady progress. Although Sarissa couldn’t quite crack the top 6 as she hoped, she finished 9th in 16:48, 2 minutes faster than our best runner last year.
Matea was also in the medals, finishing 13th in 17:19, a minute and ½ faster than last year. Abi, Maya, Morgan and Sara finished in a pack together, placing 29th, 30th, 32nd and 33rd, between 18:08 and 18:16. All of them were faster than our top runner last year. Junior Audrey Summers was about 40 seconds back in 38th place. Alyssa, running about 15 seconds behind Audrey was the first to fall victim to the confusing course, as she repeated the final lap an extra time.
Seniors Meadow and Mara MacDonell figured out the course, finishing 48th and 63rd respectively in 19:38 and 20:46. Senior Cailan Carpenter was next for the Vikings in 23:17, while fellow senior Michaela Peterson was misled by an official and missed a lap. In the team standings, the Vikings finished 4th, behind International Falls, Pequot Lakes and South Ridge. It’s going to be an interesting season for these talented, motivated young ladies.
Soon after the girls finished, 13 Viking boys took the line. The Vikings, after a rebuilding year last year, are looking to move up the ladder from last year’s middle of the pack finishes. Led by senior Ben Seaton, who has an outside chance at getting to state, plus juniors Joey Chmelik and Levi Axtell, the Vikings have a large group of talented underclassmen.
Head Coach April Wahlstrom and I have a hard time structuring the boys’ strategy. Joey usually follows Ben out behind the leaders, Levi always runs hard, and the others usually move to a different drummer. But it will come!
True to form, Joey got behind Ben near the front; Levi hit it hard close behind. Talented, but erratic freshman Pete Summers was out hard, looking comfortable, similar to sophomore Nate Carlson. Hard-working freshmen Will Seaton and Sean MacDonell, trailed closely by first-year runner senior Collin Berglund rounded out the Viking leaders.
Then there was a bizarre turn of events. Local super star Matt Welch of Proctor, a favorite for a state title, was ahead by over a quarter of a mile, following the lead golf cart. Inexplicably, the officials took Matt, and most of the rest of the field, around the final loop an extra time. What a mess, runners being lapped, lots of upset runners being forced to run another ¾ of a mile when they knew the right course and were less than 200 yards from the finish. Oh well, you just have to finish the best you can.
Ben held on for 16th, one place out of the medals, with Joey three spots behind. Pete and Levi finished together in 42nd and 43rd respectively. Nate had a very good run in 51st, with Will and Sean together in 66th and 67th. Collin finished in the top half of the 160-runner field in 76th. Owen Cruikshank, Roman Schnobrich, Drew Christensen, Everett Hommes and August Carpenter completed the Viking JV squad. The boys had a great team finish, placing 6 of 18 teams, beating 4 teams that had placed ahead of them at last year’s Section 7A finals.
The meet wrapped up with the junior high race. Young 7th grader Jake Paron was our only boy, but he ran well and finished 26th in the 111-runner field at 9:41 for the 1.2 mile run. Ruby Walsberg led the girls, placing 20th in 11:03. Daphne Lucina ran 15:07 despite a dreaded side ache, while Julia Larsen had a solid run in 15:54.
Next up for the Vikings is the 4,000-runner Milaca Mega Meet, Saturday, September 22.
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