11/2/2009 6:52:00 PM Minnetonka girls surprise at sectional
On to state
The state cross country meet will be held Saturday, Nov. 7, at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
The boys' Class 2A race is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. The girls' Class 2A race is to begin at 11 a.m.
Nine days before the Section 6-2A cross country meet at Gale Woods Farm, the Minnetonka girls' cross country team finished in a distant third place behind the Hopkins Royals and Wayzata Trojans at the Classic Lake Conference championships on the exact same course.
So it was a bit of an upset on Wednesday, Oct. 28 when the Skippers qualified for the state meet by placing second behind Eden Prairie, but in front of both the Royals and the Trojans.
"We have a great young group of girls and unfortunately this season we had a couple of meets canceled and so we missed out on that experience for these young kids," Skippers head coach Jane Reimer-Morgan said. "When it came time for the conference meet we hadn't run in three weeks and five of our girls had the swine flu, but we knew that they had it in them."
Eden Prairie had three runners place in the top five on their way to the section championship with a total of 40 points.The Skippers came in second place with 65 points, just ahead of Hopkins with 70 and Wayzata with 78.
The second place finish means that the Skippers have qualified for the state meet for the eighth straight year.
"We had a lot of talks this week and a lot of visualizing," Morgan-Reimer said. "Eight years in a row and they didn't want to miss out on their tradition. I give them a ton of credit. These girls are awesome and they stepped up to the plate."
Junior Megan Bailey led the charge for the Skippers by placing fourth out of 77 runners in a time of 15:20.
"Megan was up where she normally is," Reimer-Morgan said. "She ran a great race."
While Bailey's solid performance may have been predictable, the Skippers' fate rested in the hands, or on the legs, of the rest of the team.
As it turned out, the rest of the team delivered.
Eighth grader Margaret Carruth was the second Skipper to cross the finish line in ninth place with a time of 15:52.
"Maggie Carruth made the top 10 and she really ran the race that we've been waiting for from her," Reimer-Morgan said. "She's an eighth grader and we knew she had it in her and she performed today."
Ninth grader Alexandria Forbes placed 11th in the time of 15:57. Junior Colette Celichowski placed 19th with a time of 16:07. Junior Kati Meiusi rounded out the top five by placing 22nd with a time of 16:08.
The Skippers were not ranked in the top 12 of the latest coaches association poll, but that won't keep Reimer-Morgan from setting some lofty goals for the state meet.
"Eden Prairie is ranked No. 1, and we were only twenty-some points behind them today," Reimer-Morgan said. "Certainly we're shooting for top three. They're getting more experience with each race and if we can stay healthy that's what we're shooting for."
While Hopkins just missed out on qualifying for the state meet as a team, the Royals will be represented by three individuals at state.
Senior Hannah Jocelyn and juniors Kayla Goeman and Selamawit Shannon-Tamrat all earned a spot at the state meet by placing in the top ten individually.
Jocelyn placed sixth with a time of 16:26. Goeman took seventh place with a time of 15:45. Shannon-Tamrat finished eighth with a time of 15:47.
Wayzata will be left out of the state meet as junior Dana Pralle and senior Maddie Lambert just missed out on qualifying individually by placing 11th and 12th respectively.
Wayzata boys take second
The Section 6-2A boys' race was billed as round one between the Eden Prairie Eagles and Wayzata Trojans with round two coming at the state meet.
Round one went to the Eagles on Wednesday, Oct. 28, as they had four runners place in the top five to finish with a team score of 25.
The Trojans did come in second place with 41 points and therefore ensured that round two would take place when the state meet convenes at St. Olaf College on Nov. 7.
"We raced well. It's a ticket to state and that's what we wanted," Trojans head coach Bill Miles said. "We think Eden Prairie and ourselves are clearly the two best teams in the state."
The Trojans had four runners place in the top 10 including senior Oliver Haugland who placed second with a time of 16:07.
"Oliver is seasoned. He had a stress fracture that cost him all of August and part of September," Miles said. "He trained really well during that period, going into the pool and working really hard and doing alternate things. It's nice to see a senior come through like that."
Seniors Landon Lozano and Maxwell Johnson also had strong races finishing in seventh and ninth places respectively. Lozano turned in a time of 16:21, while Johnson clipped the finish line in 16:33.
Juniors Adam Moline and Mark Harries rounded out the top five for Wayzata. Moline placed 10th with a time of 16:33 and Harries took 13th place with a time 16:43.
Sophomore Josh Thorson, who has consistently been the Trojans' top runner this fall, finished in a disappointing 19th place with a time of 17:15.
"Josh will have a better race at state, no doubt," Miles said. "We talked the other day and I encouraged him to go and see if he could race with [Aaron] Bartnik and today he couldn't and that cost him."
Bartnik is Eden Prairie's top runner who placed first individually with a time of 15:53.
Skaret qualifies
Minnetonka junior Christian Skaret qualified individually for the state meet by placing eighth at the section meet with a time of 16:27.
Hopkins will be left out of the state meet this year after their top runner, senior Besufekad Shannon-Tamrat, struggled down the backstretch and finished 15th with a time of 16:47.
Schultz qualifies
The Orono boys' cross country team just missed out on qualifying for the state meet with a third place finish in section 2-2A, but senior Alec Schultz did qualify individually. Schultz placed third at the section meet with a time of 17:12. Teammate and senior Wyatt Doop just missed qualifying individually with an 11th place finish in a time of 17:31.
