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November 8, 2009

Waseca girls win state cross country title

By Jim Rueda

NORTHFIELD — There’s depth, and then there’s Waseca depth.

The Bluejays’ top cross country runner may have struggled at the Class A girls state meet Saturday but the rest of the runners on the team were there to pick up the slack. The result was the first cross country title in school history as Waseca ended up with 81 points.

“I did terrible today, even though I’ve been here a few times before (as an individual),” Waseca’s Hannah McRaith said when it was over. “Fortunately, the team did well. The girls ran hard and we were able to pull it off.”

McRaith, who has been the team’s top runner throughout the season, slumped to a 60th-place finish overall (16:29.4), but was the fifth Waseca runner across the line and that was enough to best runner-up Perham by 11 points.

Senior Allison Streich, sophomore Morgan Larson and seventh-grader Sally O’Brien did their part by turning in All-State performances for the Jays. Streich finished 12th overall (15:40.4), Larson was 14th (15:44.0) and O’Brien was 24th (15:54.7).

“This was my first and last state meet so I wanted to do the best I could,” Streich said after the race. “When the season started I knew we were going to be young in some spots so I wasn’t sure how good we’d be.

“But we gradually improved from meet to meet. By the time we were done with the section I knew we had a good chance.”

Eighth-grader Sadie Novak-Klug placed 27th overall in 15:57.0. She was followed by McRaith, Mackenzie Burke (87th, 16;52.2), and Allie Hadley (93rd, 16:55.0).

Waseca assistant coach Josie Meurer, who graduated from Waseca in 2001, says the program has grown tremendously since then.

“When I ran we didn’t have a complete team for the boys or the girls,” she said. “The program nearly got cut in 2002 but now it’s beginning to flourish.

“We have a running club in Waseca that’s starting to take off, too. I think something like this shows the community that there are quality runners in their own home town.”

Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin also had a strong team meet Saturday. The Wolverines finished third with 121 points. Senior Petra Nelson led the MLBO effort with a 26th-place time of 15:56.0.

Nelson was followed on her team by senior Sierra Harder (38th, 16:06.5), junior Karina Fast (47th, 16:16.4), seventh-grader Lydia Hildebrandt (50th, 16:20.9), senior Karen Herrig (62nd, 16:31.8), seventh-grader Brianna Southirong (140th, 17;51.4) and senior Nadya Bucklin (148th, 18:13.5).

The area’s individual entrants included St. James sophomore Cheyanne Bowers, who finished 30th in 15:59.5. Belle Plaine’s Janessa Meulners was right behind in 31st place (16:00.7) and Blue Earth Area’s Marissa Hagedorn was 32nd in 16:01.1.

United South Central/Alden-Conger freshman Hannah Goemann rounded out the area runners with a 114th-place time of 17:14.5.

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