Success at Eveleth Invite cross-country race

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The 41-athlete Two Harbors-Cook County cross-country team took off last week for the Golden Bear Invitational in Eveleth.

“With 11 other Section 7A teams [a little more than half of the Section] it was a great chance to see where we stood early in the season,” said Head Coach Chris Hegg.

On the girl’s side, No. 3 runner Anna Schield was out with a pulled abdominal muscle, as was No. 6 Shelby Ahrendt with a bruised thigh. No. 7 Mercedes Leininger was also out with the flu.

“With the team score determined by your top five places, we had to depend on our other girls to step up,” Hegg said. “Fortunately, we are nine-deep in girls’ varsity, a rare luxury for a small school team.”

At the gun, Sonja Peterson took up the chase after defending section champ Lindsey Dahl-Holm of Carlton. Ailee Larson was tucked in the back of the chase pack, Michelle Weitz in the second group and Signe Larson, Amber Fletcher and Molly Rider back a little in the top one-third of the field.

The team’s top two stayed in the lead group as it thinned out a little, while Signe cruised up to Weitz. At the finish, Ailee sprinted to second, while Peterson held fourth, Signe was 14th and Weitz had one of her best races to earn the 15th place medal, a minute back of the team’s leaders.

Fletcher and Rider finished 34th and 35th in the 90-girl field. The girls won the event 62-79.

The boys’ team also raced.

“We were aiming for a top-half finish in the 12-team field,” Hegg said.

The team leader, freshman Kieran Scannell, was back in about 30th at the half-mile mark. David Bergstrom and Drew Holmen were side-by-side a little ways back, Josh Ensign and Leif Gilsvik about mid-pack, with Darren Waha and Ben Seaton a little further back.

With a mile to go, Scannell was still back in 12th, while Bergstrom and Holmen had moved up a little and Gilsvik had faded back to Seaton and Waha. With a big push at the finish, Scannell moved up sixth. Bergstrom then got the better of Holmen in the uphill sprint, as they finished 30th and 31st. Ensign was 45 seconds back in 46th, Gilsvik, Seaton and Waha finished near each other in 60th, 64th and 67th.

Tags: two harbors, cross country, sports, running