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  • Belle Plaine eighth-grader Janessa Mueleners was the class of the field Tuesday at the Mankato East cross country triangular. Pat Christman

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September 1, 2010

Belle Plaine dominates East triangular

Tigers eighth-grader takes first by more than a minute

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — Janessa Mueleners was the smallest girl in the varsity race on Tuesday.

She was also the best.

The eighth-grader from Belle Plaine turned in a time of 16:41 to top the 23-person field at the Mankato East Triangular. Mueleners literally ran away from the rest of the field, finishing 1:10 ahead of runner-up and teammate Jamie Read (17:51).

Mueleners burst onto the cross country scene last year as a seventh grader. She joined varsity about halfway through the season and wound up qualifying for state where she finished 31st.

“I prefer a more hilly course,” Mueleners said. “I like running downhill.”

When reminded that you have to run uphill before you run downhill, she shrugged that off.

“I like running uphill, too,” she said.

Mueleners’ goal for 2010 is to crack the 15:35 barrier. She estimates that might be good enough to earn All-State honors.              

“I tried cross country last year because my sister (Alecia) had done it,” Janessa said. “I loved it right away.”

The Tigers ended up winning Tuesday’s meet with 100 points, placing five runners among the top 10. Host Mankato East was second with 300 and Minnesota Valley Lutheran placed third with 400.

Mueleners and Read were followed by teammates Kelly Morrison (eighth, 18:21), Erika Schneider (ninth, 18:23) and Emilyn Siemon (10th, 18:43).

The Cougars were paced by senior Emily Ludwig who turned in a third-place time of 17:53. Teammate Maggie Burneske was fifth in 17:55 and foreign-exchange student Lisa Franke was sixth in 18:05. Rounding out the top for East were Judy Kamara (13th, 18:56) and Callyn Kozitza (14th, 19:21).

“We don’t have big numbers this year but I think this team has a lot of potential,” East coach Neil Paarmann said. “It was great to see our German exchange student place third for us. That could be a big help.”

MVL’s top five runners were Samantha Kowalke (fourth, 17:54), Cheyenne Bjorkland (16th, 20:47), Leah Boeder (17th, 20:50), Ky Grunst (18th, 21:57) and Triah Meyer (19th, 21:59).

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