Viking cross country runners had some very good individual performances at the Hibbing Invitational on Thursday, October 7. Left: Ben Seaton (right, at Swain Meet) had a good race in the middle of the large pack of A and AA runners at the Hibbing Invite. Above left: Darren Waha fought his way through the field finishing in 20:29. Above right: Kara Ramey finished fifth in 20:41 in the JV girls’ race at Hibbing.
Coming off outstanding performances at the huge Milaca and Swain cross country meets, we went to the Hibbing Invitational with high expectations. Team leaders Kieran Scannell and Ailee Larson were rated 4th and 10th in the region by Duluth
News Tribune,
the boys were the number 2 Class A team in Section 7, and the girls were improving steadily, one of the top four teams in the Section. In addition, we had the motivation of trying to recapture Optimus Prime–our unusual playground turtle mascot, from Hibbing and Proctor. It didn’t quite work out like we hoped, but we still had a 100% effort and some very good individual performances. It’s just a little tough to fall short of your rising expectations.
With 15 class A teams, and eight AA teams, the meet is actually a pretty big one. Unlike our last few meets, AA & A run together, varsity combined with junior varsity. Unless you are first or last, you don’t ever know exactly where you are in the meet until the results are posted. The course is also pancake flat, the opposite of our recent races and training, and we had the warmest weather of the season, sunny and mid-70s.
We didn’t have long to wait, as the girls’ varsity/JV race went off first as scheduled. As planned, Ailee tucked in behind the leaders, keeping an eye on the action ahead, which was likely to be dictated by the Superior and Grand Rapids girls we hadn’t seen yet this year. Our number two runner, Anna Schield, planned to run her normal strong, even paced race, while Shelby Ahrendt and Audrey Summers, tired from a subsection 7 tennis playoff at Eveleth earlier in the afternoon, planned a cautious start.
After the first of three laps, everyone was pretty much as planned, although it was hard for everyone except Ailee to tell, as there were so many AA girls in front of the chase pack. Not a lot changed after the second lap, although Ailee was fighting the heat and a tough pace set by the AA girls. She had drawn clear of the Class A girls, however, and won the A race in a fine 15:56 time, just off her PR. Anna was a short ways back in 17:20, good for a medal winning ninth place. Shelby and Audrey put together solid performances despite their competition earlier in the afternoon, running 18:23 and 19:23 respectively, good for 22nd and 35th. Right behind Audrey, actually pulling her through most of the race was senior Cheyenne Sorlie, who ran another fine race in 19:24. Seventh grader Matea Acero stepped up to varsity again, running 19:35, while Rose Ingebrigtsen completed our varsity scoring, running 20:02, tantalizingly close to breaking the 20 minute barrier. The girls ended up third in the team standings, behind a strong International Falls team, and just behind the Virginia team we had beaten at Eveleth.
Photos by Hartley Acero
In the same race, but scored separately, our JV girls dominated the team scoring. Sara Schield led, placing second in 20:13. Kara Ramey was fifth in 20:41. Maggie McMillan, 21:24, led a big pack of Viking girls who finished seventh thru 11th including Katrina Axtell 21:34, Sarissa Falk 21:42, Mara MacDonell 21:51, and Rachel Todd 21:57. Just behind, Amber Todd ran a steady 22:19, while Bailey Morrison, hobbled with a bad ankle, toughed out a 25:47.
After a good warm-up, the varsity/JV boys toed the line for the next race. A section 7A co-favorite and top runner in the state, sophomore Kieran Scannell planned to employ a similar strategy to Ailee, especially with Class AAA Wisconsin all-state runner Shane Holmes of Superior in the field. After the first of three laps, Kieran was right in position, although obviously battling the heat. Near the front of the chase group, rapidly improving Josh Ensign paced a hardworking David Bergstrom. Ben Seaton was lurking mid-pack, as usual. Meanwhile Joey Chmelik was pacing Darren Waha and Daniel Ahrendt. Coming around for the second lap, Kieran was struggling to hang on, as the pack was fractured by the Superior runners. David had dropped a little off Josh, while Darren has fought his way back up in the field, dragging Daniel with him.
When Kieran tried to go to the well on the third lap, the bucket came up empty. It wasn’t until a couple boys from Eveleth and Virginia caught him that pride and the ability to ignore the pain allowed him to move back up to second in the A race, and sixth overall in 17:36, about 45 seconds off his normal pace. Josh came in 11th in a solid 18:35, while David faded to a 19:16, also about 45 seconds off his normal pace. Ben kept David in sight, finishing nine seconds back in 32nd place. Daniel and Darren worked together to finish in 20:28 and 20:29 respectively. Joey was in sight 12 seconds back. With three of our top five off form about 445 seconds each, we slid to fourth in the standings, allowing Virginia and Mesabi East, in addition to Section favorite Esko, to slip in front of us.
In the JV race, varsity runner Drew Christiansen struggled in the heat to a 21:38, Alex Ditmanson ran 22:34, and Sebastian Schnobrich ran a fine 24:36, leading Daniel Ditmanson in 24:39 and an improving Karl Ingebrigtsen in 25:02.
In the junior high races, Ava McMillan ran a nice 14:57 midpack run in the three kilometer (1.9 mile) run. Pete Summers again paced the boys in 12:47, just ahead of Nate Carlson in 13:03 and Will Seaton in 13:20. Sean MacDonell paced our second group in 14:27, ahead of Fletcher Kasell in 14:42, Roman Schnobrich in 15:05 and Owen Cruikshank in 17:29.
Worst of all, an outstanding performance by Hibbing’s boys’ and girls’ teams meant that Optimus would be trapped in Hibbing for another year. On the bus ride back, as I racked my brain for the reason for our off-peak performance, it became fairly obvious. Coming off the hard, tough runs at Milaca and Swain, we had switched to the speed work phase of running, with tough practices Monday and Tuesday before Thursday’s race. Although we would have liked to return Optimus and have a better showing in Hibbing, we are solidly focused on peak performances at Section 7 and State later in the month, plus a good performance in the Polar League meet at Pincushion October 13. Stay tuned.
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