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Friday, October 3, 2008
Cross Country
St. Paul, MN
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Photo(s) By: Tom Carothers
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Round up of the Applejack Invitational
More than 30 schools from around the metro area and Minnesota at large congregated amidst the softball and baseball fields of Aaronson Park in Lakeville Sept. 13 for this year’s running of the Applejack Invitational series of cross-country running races.
The afternoon plays out more like a festival as various colored encampments claimed their spots throughout the park as children from fifth through 12th-grade participated in one of six races held on the sun-soaked afternoon.
Competition kicked off with the junior high girls and boys “C” races on a 3200-meter course. A pair of Minnetonka runners claimed first place in the final results for both genders as freshman Kyle Anderson won the boys race in a time of 11 minutes, 13.6 seconds and Elise Byron prevailed in the girls run in 13:57.5. Meet host Lakeville North topped the C-girls team, while the Skippers took the boys crown.
The “Middle School Mile” followed as 91 boys and 85 girls ran together in the Invite’s second event of the day. The Eastview Athletic Association’s Joe Manders, a seventh-grader took the top spot for the boys in a time of 5:43.7, with teammate and sixth-grader Alex Hager only a second behind to take runner-up honors. Lakeville North won the team title.
Chaska eighth-graders Emily Larranga (9:54.2), Andrea Lilya (9:54.6), Morgan Herold (9:56.3) and Larissa Juelich (9:59.2) swept the top four spots to ensure a team victory in the girls run.
The course expanded to 4000-meters for the running of the girls junior varsity team competition next with Lakeville North adding another team victory to its stock for the afternoon as senior Megan Smith (16:02.4) and eighth-grader Amy Ferguson (16:04.8) finished 1-2 individually.
After the last of the 382 girls JV runners finished, the varsity boys left the starting line to circumnavigate the 5000-meter course. Sixteen minutes and 11.4 seconds later, Centennial senior Ryan Evans crossed the finish line with Coon Rapids junior Blayne Dulian taking second in 16:12.9. Edina placed six runners in the top-20 places of the 183-competitor field to finish first overall with Hornets’ junior Michael Ellenberger leading his team in 16:22.7. Minnetonka came in 53 points behind to take second, with White Bear Lake coming in third.
Another 177 girls followed the boys in their varsity race with the Panthers winning their fourth team title of the day. After their top five runners secured spots in the top 22, Lakeville North ran away with the varsity girls title by finishing 45 points better than second-place Minnetonka. Lakeville South took third in the final standings. A pair of White Bear Lake runners took second and third individually as Rachel Drake finished just ahead of teammate Katie Moraczewski.
The final, and much hyped race of the afternoon was the boys junior varsity run. Bedlam ensued as 494 runners competed in the concluding run of the Invite, with Edina junior Erik Kohn leading the Hornets to the team win with a first-place finish of 17:18.
Kohn led five Edina runners that finished in the top-10 as freshman Michael Murney (17:29.5) took third, followed by sophomore Ted McKlveen (17:29.8) in fourth, junior Matthew Huppert (17:37) in sixth and sophomore Joe O’Connell (17:58.6) in 10th.
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