“With thirty two teams competing, many from our section, the results were a good indicator of where we stand among teams that we will need to beat to make it to state,” assessed Head Coach John Van Kempen.  “The boy’s team had a pretty amazing performance, narrowly beating 4th state ranked Staples-Motley by a score of 72 to 74.” 

The Knights had four of the top ten with Jacob Bright taking 2nd, Jack Van Kempen 6th, Kade Runge 7th and Kyle Schill in 10th. 

“Kyle has been coming off an illness but he looked strong today,” noted Coach Van Kempen.  “Our usual number five dropped out about half way into the race and our usual number six runner is injured, but Shad Swanson came through big time for us, holding off several runners down the stretch and finishing in 47th place.  Shad is just a relentless worker in practice and follows the lead of Jacob, Jack and Kyle.   Dane Anderson also filled in for the first time on varsity, finishing in 107th place. 

The girls’ team placed 8th, with Lexi Bright returning to her pre injury form and finished in 8th place followed by Teagan Nelson in 14th.  Brynn Fernholz was next in 37th, followed by Alexa Blume in 69th, Taylor Bennet in 82nd and Brooklyn Runge in 138th.  “To finish in 8th place was pretty good,” said Van Kempen.  “There were three state ranked teams ahead of us and we now know where we stand and what we can do to compete with them.”

The WCA Junior High boys had another good appearance, finishing in fourth place with Bryce Kjesbo leading the pack and finishing in 2nd.  Jack Courrier finished in 7th, followed by Camden Anderson in 16th, Ben Bye in 37th, Parker Mathews in 78th and Trent Lindquist in 90th.  The Junior High girls had two racers, Blair Reuter finished in 25th and Steph Reeves in 117th. 

The junior varsity boys had Peyton Hanson in 25th, Roman Mihailovschi in 51st, Eli Bergman in 58th and Tyler Biss in 75th.  For the girls JV, Quin Huntley finished in 63rd and Bella Hale in 107th.