The girls got things kicked off with a 4th place finish just 11 points behind #12AAA Hopkins and right behind #2AA Willmar & #3AA Marshal. The girls, however, outpaced #1A Luverne by 25 points. “Our girls ran really well coming off a hard week of training,” commented Perham Head Coach Jeff Morris. “Gracie Morris was 8th overall and just 14 seconds behind #5A Jenna Debates. She is consistently each week establishing herself at the front of the pack. Quincy Anderson finished 14th overall and continues to show amazing consistency. Our top 5 pack was rounded out by Varsity newcomer Avalee Brown 18th, Leelou Novotny 19th and Liz Birkeland 21st. Aspen Rohde ran a fantastic race today for us as our 6th runner just 1 second behind Luverne's #4 runner. Aspen is really starting to come on strong at the right time. Kaia Starzl rounds out the Top 7 finishing 33rd. Today's meet was awesome for our teams since it was the most difficult course we have run this season.”

In the JV race Ella Hendrickson was 1st, Caidyn Breid was 2nd and Myriah Tharaldson was 8th overall. In the Junior High race Jillian Bain was 3rd overall and Nora Rosenthal was 8th.

Perham Varsity Boys (64 Runners)
1. Jakob McCleary 16:06, 10. Caden Doll 17:10, 15. Bjorn Anderson 17:36, 19. Micah Thompson 17:52, 24. Carter Flatau 18:13, 35. Brayden Glorvigen 18:38, 36. Blake Swenson 18:38, 39. Dylan Guck 18:51

Boys Team Scores
1. Hopkins (#8AAA) 32, 2. Perham (#1A) 68, 3. Willmar (#7AA) 89

Perham Varsity Girls (72 Runners)
8. Gracie Morris 19:55, 14. Quincy Anderson 20:35, 18. Avalee Brown 20:51, 19. Leelou Novotny, 21. Liz Birkeland 20:53, 31. Aspen Rohde 21:50, 33. Kaia Starzl 21:58, 42. Mia Lung 22:31, 47. Stella Strong 22:43, 62. Olivia Rosenthal 23:38

Girls Team Scores
1. Hopkins (#12AAA) 69, 2. Willmar (#2AA) 72, 3. Marshall (#3AA) 77, 4. Perham (#4A) 80, 5. Luverne (#1A) 106

The boys were up after the girls and competed well against a great #8AAA Hopkins team. The boys ended up 2nd place 21 points ahead of #7AA Willmar. Jakob McClearly took home the individual title running at 16:06.  “This was a fantastic race for Jakob with great competition,” reported Coach Morris. “Once again Caden Doll ran a great race as our #2 runner running a 17:10 which was good enough for 10th place. Bjorn Anderson ended up 15th while Micah Thompson and Carter Flatau rounded out the Top 5 finishing 19th and 24th overall. Carter has closed the gap to our 4th runner and moving into the last month of the season this will make us even stronger. Our top 7 was finished out by Brayden Glorvigen and Blake Swenson both running personal best at 18:38. Our boys really ran tough today and continue to gain much needed experience. Our boys team is so young and with each race we gain so much confidence.”

In the Junior High race Perham had 6 runners finish in the Top 10 with Henry Mathiason, Nathan Rustad, Matt Jorgenson, and Lyam Schumacker taking the first 4 spots. Also finishing Top 10 was Mac Landor and Sam LaFond finishing 8th and 10th.

The Perham boys and girls will host 25 teams next Tuesday in Perham for the Perham Invite with Mighty Mite races starting at 3:45.

Full results from Willmar Invite can be found at https://www.gsetiming.com/results/cc_rslts/cc_rslts.asp?meet_id=973&race_id=4736&show_indiv=n&hide_team=n&hide_ind=n&sport=Cross-Country