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West Central Area Boys Qualify for Class A State Cross Country Meet

By Craig Olson, 10/31/21, 3:00PM CDT

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Staples-Motley took first place with 48 points and West Central Area was second with 58 points at the Section 6A Boys’ Cross Country Meet on Friday at Minnewaska Area High School in Glenwood.  Those two teams, along with the next six individual qualifiers, are now headed to St. Olaf College in Northfield for the Class A State Boys’ Cross Country Meet on Saturday, November 6.

West Central Area Individual Results:
2. Kade Runge 16:43.9, 3. Alex Salwasser 16:50.0, 11. Shad Swanson 17:37.3, 15. Roman Mihailovschi 18:00.4, 27. Eli Bergman 18:40.8, 28. Hanson Peyton 18:42.0, 85. Aaron Biss 21:06.2

Rounding out the team scoring were Sauk Centre (123), Bertha-Hewitt (124), Benson/KMS (189), Ottertail Central (211), Minnewaska Area (230), Morris Area/Chokio-Alberga 234), Breckenridge-Wahpeton (246), Osakis (266), Wadena-Deer Creek (274), Ashby-Brandon-Evansville (310), Border West (323), Parkers Prairie (347), Ortonville (350), Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (450) and Pillager (454).

Brandon Kampsen (16:26.6) of Sauk Centre was the individual champion.  Other runners joining him as individual state qualifiers include Brady Rach (17:23.7) of Bertha-Hewitt, Landon Thompson (17:31.7) of Benson/KMS, James Suchy (17:32.2) of Parkers Prairie, Lane Hoefs (17:37.6) and Bjorn Brunsberg (17:38.2) of Wadena-Deer Creek.

Complete results can be found at: https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/11545 

Ashby-Brandon-Evansville was led by Logan Froemming (18:51.4) in 34th place and Jayden Hoidahl (19:16.2) in 46th place. Kenneth Spielman (19:56.2) was 62nd, Kian Gackle (20:36.7) 78th, Donell Lee (21:40.2) 91st, August Bredberg (21:54.6) 93rd and Cohen Reiland (23:22.4) 107th.

“Logan continued his strong running by leading the team,” stated Ashby-Brandon-Evansville Head Coach Robert Bosma. “His focus has been great the last month and he ran with determination. I'm glad he's a junior because this season has really shown a change in his training and I look forward to what he can do next year.  Kenneth ran because we were missing a few guys due to being sick. He definitely gave a strong performance. Like Logan, he has been very determined and practicing really hard. I look forward to what the future holds for him.”

Boys’ Individual Results by team:
Ottertail Central
33. Isaac Scherfenberg 18:50.6, 37. Blake Alonzo 18:53.8, 41. Joseph Froslee 18:59.8, 49. Peter Newark 19:17.6, 51. Talyn Setterholm 19:20.8, 56. Jonas Hegemeister 19:29.9, 67. Kyle Tierney 20:12.9

Breckenridge-Wahpeton
18. Luke Baumgardner 18:08.3, 22. Aidan Ruddy 18:15.1, 61. Jaxon Hill 19:55.5, 71. Bryce Awender 20:25.1, 74. Troy Berndt 20:28.6, 87. Jonathan Hill 21:21.7, 89. Ethan Lauritsen 21:30.8

"The boys were able to place two runners in the top 25 of 119 racers," reported Head Coach Larry Lasch of Breckenridge-Wahpeton.  "Junior Luke Baumgartner had the race of his life to place 18th, in 18:08.  Aidan Ruddy placed 22nd in 18:15.   Aidan and Luke provided solid 1-2 punch all season.  This was the 1st time Luke surpassed Aiden in a race and it wasn’t because Aidan ran poorly, Luke ran very well.   To get to the state meet it took a 13th place finish and Aidan was on pace to do that, but he had a hiccup in the 2nd mile and fell off pace.   Hats off to Aiden as the senior wrapped up a tremendous cross country career. He first joined as sophomore and has been one of our top runners the past three years. Last year he was a state qualifier and has demonstrated the physical and mental toughness demanded by the sport.  Freshman Jaxon Hill completed a great 1st varsity season as the teams 3rd runner in 61st place in 19:56.  Junior Bryce Awender pulled along 7th grader Troy Berndt to places of 71st and 74th respectively, in 20:25 and 20:28.  Jonathon Hill was the teams’ 6th runner in 87th place, 21:22 and Ethan Lauritsen placed 89th in 21:30.  The boys’ team will lose Aiden Ruddy, but all the other competitors in the 6a race will we back next year.   Two other senior boys’ who wrapped up their cross country careers were Devan Diemert and Hayden Erdman.  Devan was just coming around this year until a mid-season illness set him back.  Hayden was positive influence on the team with his strong, no excuses work ethic and positive “I can” attitude."

Wadena-Deer Creek
12. Lane Hoefs 17:37.6, 13. Bjorn Brunsberg 17:38.2, 47. Phillip Ross 19:16.9, 98. Trevin Kern 22:17.8, 106. Eric Malone 23:20.2, 112. Cooper Damlo 23:53.2

Ortonville
16. Jacob Cloos 18:03.7, 20. Cadyn Vanderwal 18:12.2, 94. Trent Eastman 21:57.3, 113. Ashton Tollakson 24:07.1, 116. Robert Angelo 25:54.4, 117. James Conrad 26:19.3

Border West
52. Joe Arens 19:21.5, 58. Zach Rikimoto 19:36.0, 68. Derek Lupkes 20:20.2, 72. Conner Goodhart 20:26.0, 73. Brady Pederson 20:26.0, 76. Eli Larson 20:32.9, 102. Ian Swedlund 22:46.6

Border West Head Coach Brittany Erickson said, "The front half of the course was extremely hilly, but we still had 7 out of 14 runners run a seasonal best.  We had been working on pace work all week and I think it paid off.  Joe Arens was our number one runner and Zach Rikimoto wasn't too far behind him with his personal best of the season.  Rikimoto has been a wonderful addition to the team as a first-year runner.  He will definitely make us more competitive next year.  Derek Lupkes, who has been battling hip issues all season, came in as our #3 runner.  He ran with Conner, Brady, and Eli forming a 4-person wall that slowly chipped away at runners. Conner Goodhart, Brady Pederson, and Ian Swedlund also ran seasonal bests. Brady started the season running almost a 24:00 5K and to have him finish in under 20:30 is impressive.  It shows off his and grit and work ethic. Conner Goodhart has a very similar story as Brady but had not broken the 20s until this meet.  A part of me thinks that with those two being such good friends, they just really wanted to finish together and Brady pushed him on a very difficult course.  Ian started out the season strong but then had surgery and battled some illness midway through the season.  He was our alternate runner for the section.  One of our runners was out sick and our other alternate had an injury, so Ian stepped up and ran as our #7 runner. Eli Larson ran his second fastest race of the season."

Bertha-Hewitt
5. Brady Rach 17:23.7, 21. Zane Guderjahn 18:12.2, 29. Preston Miller 18:45.5, 31. Titus Eckel 18:48.3, 38. Aden Rach 18:55.3, 39. Isaac Blashack 18:56.2, 40. Zach Baumgartner 18:57.5

Parkers Prairie
7. James Suchy 17:32.2, 66. Riley Kortenbush 20:05.8, 84. Isaac Grabow 20:57.7, 96. Andrew Sansness 22:06.0, 97. Evan Washburn 22:10.7, 100. Ross Kortenbush 22:26.6, 104. Justin Koehn 23:04.4

Pillager
70. Braden Hoffer 20:24.0, 88. Jacob Hooge 21:23.9, 92. Micah Moyer 21:43.9, 103. Brooks Brichacek 23:00.1, 105. Ian Dickinson 23:17.5, 108. Jayde Jordahl 23:27.6, 110. Brenden Brichacek 23:46.7