Search
The Perham boys’ cross country team scored 46 points to take first place at the Moorhead Invitational on Friday. The Spuds were runners-up with 63 points, Hillsboro/Central Valley came in third with 92 and Staples-Motley was fourth with 97. The Yellowjackets were third in the girls’ race with 77 points. The race was won by Moorhead with 49 and Staples-Motley was second with 72.
“It was a hot one in Moorhead, but that was exactly how the boys and girls ran today - HOT! Perham boys win the team title and girls finished 3rd, just 5 points behind Staples,” exclaimed Head Coach Jeff Morris.
The girls were up first and leading the Jackets was Gracie Morris with a top 10 finishing 7th overall in a personal best of 20:00. Quincy Anderson had a season-best of 20:23 while Leelou Novotny continued to run strong for our team in the #3 spot with a 20:47. Liz Birkeland had a season-best of 21:04 while Kaia Starzl rounded out the scoring running 21:49.
“Super excited with how Kaia and Liz are running as they continue to close the gap to our front pack,” said Coach Morris. “Aspen Rohde and Lauryn Rustad (Lauryn's first race back) rounded out the top 7 both running solid for our team. The girls finished 3rd overall just 5 points behind #2 ranked Staples. We are excited for our girls because they are making jumps and you can see the confidence growing.”
Morris continued, “The boys were definitely excited tonight as this is the first time this season we ran with our full line up and it did not disappoint. Jakob McCleary in his first race of the season won by a 32-second margin. We are excited to have Jakob back in the lineup and he definitely was pretty hyped up as he went through the first mile in 4:51.”
Posting top 10 finishes were sophomore Caden Doll and freshman Bjorn Anderson finishing 6th and 7th both running personal bests of 17:06 and 17:08.
“Micah Thompson had a great race in the 4 spot running 17:40 and in the 5 spot was freshman Carter Flatau who has been battling sickness but still ran a great race,” noted Coach Morris. “The highlight of the race was first-year varsity runners, sophomore Brayden Glorvigen, freshman Blake Swenson, and 8th grader Dylan Guck ran 18:49, 18:50, and 18:52 finishing 35, 36, & 37 to round out our top 8 varsity lineup. The boys made a huge statement today winning the team title 17 points ahead of Moorhead and 51 points ahead of Staples. Today was a huge confidence boost for our boys in difficult heat. We raced extremely well and look forward to all the learning this group will do together.”
The boys and girls are up next in Little Falls at the Lucky Lindy on Thursday, September 16th.