Left: Meadow Adams ran a great race at Swain, finishing with a time of 20:10. Meadow is a senior who is new to cross country, but she is improving steadily throughout the season. Above left: Assistant cross-country coach Chris Hegg calls Collin Berglund the hardest working runner on the team. Above right: Owen Cruikshank is a sprinter in track who loves to test himself by running cross-country. Owen ran 22:13 on the extremely hilly Swain cross-country course, a good time even for non-sprinters.
We saw it coming. The kids asked if we really had to practice outside early last week, when our balmy fall suddenly turned to 40 degrees, windy and overcast. We answered, “Do they cancel races in this, or worse weather?” Never, of course! But that didn’t make the Swain any nicer, especially for the coaches, parents and fans who were at this classic race at Enger golf course in Duluth. With 80 teams and nearly 3,000 runners, the meet takes almost eight hours. Up on the golf course overlooking the lake, you can’t avoid the wind, the 30-degree cold, or the occasional snow flurries. At least the runners could roll up in blankets in the tent and come out just before their race. The rest of us would run around, get warm, stop, get cold – and repeat!
We split the team up a little differently this time. We ran our new, young runners in the junior high race, our 9th and 10th graders in the sophomore race, and our junior and seniors in the varsity race—despite the fact a number of our top varsity runners are underclassmen. With most of the best teams in the state at Swain, we weren’t a threat in the varsity races anyway, so we let our kids have fun and run with their peers.
First were our junior high girls, Daphne Lacina and Julia Larsen. The goal for the girls was to run this very hilly, 1.8- mile course at a steady pace, without walking. Both did, in 18:28 and 20:44 respectively.
We had two strong boys representing us, Jake Peron and Finn Garry. Since Jake beat me at Milaca, I was secretly hoping he would win (hate to think of all those young guys beating me). He didn’t, but his 12:05 run – 6:29 per mile, was good for 40th in the 185-runner field. Finn is progressing well in his first season, running 14:23.
Our sophomore teams were both solid. The competition is tough though, as they don’t separate AA and A schools, so we have to race against big Twin Cities teams, as well as local powers Duluth East and Denfeld. Five of our six girls have had significant varsity experience, so we expected to be competitive, and they were. Abi Seipke just missed a top 10 medal winning performance, finishing 12th and running 18:10 for the 4K-2.5 mile varsity distance race. Right behind in 16th and 17th were Maya McHugh and Morgan Weyrens- Welch in 18:23 and 18:24. Next was Matea Acero, our usual No. 2 varsity runner. She was out two weeks with a hip injury, but still ran a nice 19:01, running out of gas a little on the second hilly loop. With a knee injury taking promising 8th grader Alyssa Martinson out mid-race, Ruby Walsberg had to step in and complete our team scoring with a solid 21:41. Overall, the girls finished 4th in the team standing, just behind East. We’d have beaten East easily if we were all healthy!
Our sophomore boys’ team was cranked after the girls’ run. Nate Carlson and Pete Summers were especially planning to bring the heat—usually a formula for disaster in distance running where pace control is critical—although both are gifted runners. Up the first big hill, Nate was 10th and Pete in the top 20 of the 125-runner field. They faded a little, but made a great effort. Nate was about 24th in 15:50, but we’ll never know for sure as he forgot to put on his timing chip. No chip-no time-no score. Give him a hard time when you see him – I did. Meanwhile Sean MacDonell moved up steadily to finish 26th in 15:59, just ahead of Pete in 16:07. Will Seaton ran his normal solid race – 42nd in 16:30.
Our next three runners have all showed tremendous improvement this season, including at Swain. Roman Schnobrich ran 16:44, Everett Hommes 17:44 and Rusty Day 18:20. First-year runner August Carpenter completed our team with an 18:52. Overall, the boys finished 5th in the team scoring, right between Denfeld and East. The boys, most of whom will be eligible for this race next year, are already psyched to return.
Finally, with the weather at its worst, we were ready for the varsity races. The big story for the Vikings is Sarissa Falk’s push to get to state. After a couple of frustrating seasons of mostly unrealized potential, Sarissa declared her intention to get to state in her senior year, and put in the summer training. After the first four races of the season, my unofficial, but fairly object analysis, rated her 10th of the non-team qualifiers in 7A, just 2 spots short. With most of the Section here, this would be another good test. At the first hill, she was sitting back in about 60th. After that, every time we saw her she was confidently moving up. Eventually she finished 28th overall, beating two of the girls from 7A that had beaten her earlier. Up to 8th in my poll.
Back a little ways, senior Sara Schield, the youngest of four talented, hard working members of the Shield family who have run for the Vikings, ran 18:27, good for 95th in a 188 runner field. Audrey Summers, steadily getting into the form she had last year, ran 19:09. Senior Meadow Adams, a first-year runner with a great sense of pace, ran 20:10. Fellow seniors Mara MacDonell and Cailan Carpenter completed the Viking team, running 21:19 and 21:27 respectively.
Finally, our varsity boys took the line for the 189 runners Class A race. The trio of Ben Seaton, Joey Chmelik, and Levi Axtell lead our surprisingly successful boys’ team. And they didn’t disappoint. Ben moved steadily up through the field, finishing 60th in 18:14. Joey was close behind in 18:27, while Levi ran 19:04 for the 5K-3.1 mile race. Firstyear runner Collin Berglund, one of the hardest running guys in the field, finished in 20:47, and just behind was the rapidly improving Owen Cruikshank in 21:51 and sprinter-not-distance runner Drew Christensen in 22:13.
Then came the best part of the meet for the coaches who couldn’t curl up in the tent— getting on the nice warm bus!
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