The Breckenridge Cowboy and Cowgirl Cross Country teams closed out their regular season on Tuesday at the Street Invite in Sauk Centre.  Both the boys and girls finished with respectable eighth place finishes. 

 

"After running on hills fro the last few meets, it was nice to get on a flatter course, where the runners could turn it loose," noted coach Randy Berndt. "Between the flatter terrain and the fast competition, it made for some season best times for several runners."

 

For the boys, Joel Niesche ran one of his best races of the year on his way to an eighth place finish.  "We were looking for Joel to crack eighteen minutes today, and he did, getting in just under the wire in 17:59," said Berndt. 

 

Nic Conzemius and Justin Wiertzema finished 29th and 44th, respectively, with Wiertzema running his best time of the  year.  Brendon Skoblik, Nick Stasko and Travis Wiertzema rounded out the scoring for the Cowboys, finishing 52nd, 62nd and 65th, respectively.

 

Kelsey Dahlgren led the way for the Cowgirls, blazing to an eighteenth place finish in a season best 16:39.  "We set a target for Kelsey of around 16:45 to 16:50 and she exceeded that with her 16:39," added coach Berndt.

 

Kacey herder ran one of her fastest times with a 17:25 on her way to a 33rd place finish.  Caitlin Gerdes and Megan Hansen were close behind, finishing 40th and 42nd.  Jacie Jawaski, Regan Whitney, and Hollie Crocker also came through with very respectable races to round out the scoring for the Cowgirls.

 

For the junior varsity, Leah Bettin, Josie Hoffman, Natasha Allard, and Blair Lindberg all ran season bests, with Lindberg running a new personal record. Amanda Lemke ran her way to a seventeenth place finish for the Junior High girls and Zack Rittenhouse ran well for the Junior High boys, on his way to a season best time.

 

Said coach Berndt, " This was a good meet to end our pre-season on.  The runners know that we need to step it up a notch for the conference meet next week and the sectin meet on the 23rd, and I am confident they will rise to the challenge.  The runners have made big strides over last years' times, as well as seeing steady improvement this year.  I feel we are on the right track heading into the Heart O' Lakes meet next week."