By Jim Rueda
Free Press Sports Editor
MANKATO —
Belle Plaine’s Brandon Bast placed ninth in Tuesday’s Mankato East boys cross country triangular and that proved to be just high enough. Bast was the fifth Belle Plaine runner across the finish line, enabling the Tigers to eke out a 30-32 victory over host Mankato East.
The Cougars’ Ryan Erdman was the individual champion, turning in a time of 17:39 on the new course at the East campus. He bested runner-up Daniel Stelljes of Minnesota Valley Lutheran by almost a full minute.
“The course was pretty flat,” Erdman said. “That’s fine by me. I like flat.”
Erdman was a state qualifier last year where he placed 51st overall. His goal is to earn All-Big Nine Conference honors again and run well enough in Northfield to earn an all-state award.
“Our lineup is still in flux,” Erdman said. “Me and Adam (Lorentz) are the top two, but after that, it isn’t set.”
Lorentz finished second for the Cougars and fifth overall in 19:02. Rounding out the top five for East were Brad Kunz (7th, 19:09), Kent Esslinger (10th, 19:32) and Ryan Stark (11th, 19:56).
Belle Plaine’s top runner was Phillip Dvorak, who placed third in 18:44. He was followed by teammates Casey Mueller (4th, 18:44), Marty Walsh (6th, 19:07), Nolan Schroeder (8th, 19;14) and Bast (9th, 19:15).
Stelljes led MVL with a second-place time of 18:38. The Chargers finished third with 68 points.
“Today was a day to just come out and see what we could do,” Stelljes said. “I wasn’t keying on anybody. (Erdman) got out to fast start and nobody really challenged him.”
Following Stelljes for the Chargers were Ryan Steffl (14th, 19:59), Joshua Grefe (15th, 20:04), Phillip Biedenbender (18th, 20:59) and Caleb Grefe (19th, 21:25).
The Cougars are off until Saturday, Sept. 11, when they compete in the Benilde-St. Margaret’s Invitational.
