| What a way to end the season for
those running their last meet and for the varsity to
tune-up for the section meet! A lot of exceptional races.
Dan Gapp ends his career with a great race, placing 6th
on JV. His finish ties the best we've had on JV at this
meet in the last 9 years. Not meaning to leave out
anyone, but Matt Reed had his best race of the year as
did Colton Arries. Matt has been plagued with injuries
for a couple of years and finished his season with his
best time of the year as his finish is the 7th best for
us on JV in the last 9 years. Colton placed ahead of 55
runners compared to 1 or 2 in his first few races! Eric
Glasson ran well, consistently one of our best JV runners
all year, and, like Dan and Matt, had one of the best JV
places in the last 9 years. Lukus Klawitter competed on
the JV for the first time and was the first 7th grader in
the race. Again, without leaving anyone out, it was a
great day! The JV team placed 5th of 18 without a couple
of top 5 runners. Our 2nd best finish in the last 9 years
at this meet. The JV team ended the year with a very nice
string of races. On varsity, the team avenged last week's
loss to Northfield by winning the meet! As usual with
this meet, some high powered teams didn't run their
varsity squads (Eden Prairie, Apple Valley, Rosemount,
Edina, Chaska), but it was an exceptional win
nonetheless. Even though it was close to ideal weather
and a course with no real hills, personal bests were hard
to come by as they lengthened the course slightly to make
it an accurate 5000 meter course. It's hard to run faster
on an accurate course after a much too short course like
St. Michael. Personal bests on JV by Justin Fain and
Lukus Klawitter while Peter Addington ran a personal best
on varsity with Nick Snitker tying his best. It is
exceptional when we place our 7th varsity runner (Nick)
just short of the top 1/3 of the race! Besides the
personal bests, 8 more ran within 30 seconds of
theirs. While times can't be compared to a
year ago, places can. Of those running JV both years, Dan
Gapp went from 83rd to 6th! Also cutting a lot of places
was Adam Wilke, moving from 135th to 41st. Four on
varsity ran JV a year ago and improved a tremendous
amount. Erik Griep went from 10th on JV to 27th on
varsity, Bryan Kegley went from 14th on JV to 6th on
varsity, Peter went from 19th on JV to 28th on varsity
and Nick went from 104th on JV to 38th on varsity! It was
surely Bryan's best race of the year. Erik competed in
his 30th varsity race today and he also earned a 1500
mile shirt for completing 1500 miles during cross
country. Zach Zimmermann follows his All-Conference
effort of last week with an impressive top 10 finish
today. It was only the second time in the last 9 years
with 3 varsity runners in the top 10. Drew Addington,
running in his 40th varsity race, was the top runner
again as he finished in the top 7 in this meet for the
third year in a row. The last meet of the year for all
but the varsity team. Again, a great finish to the season
for most of the team. The varsity hopes to continue their
exceptional running at the Section 2AA meet next Thursday
in Litchfield. The top 2 teams advance to the state meet
from the section along with the top 10 individuals.
Favored teams are Marshall (ranked #2 in the state) and
Mankato West (ranked #5). |