Cross country: The best of the best

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Echo Press photo by Arlan Anderson More than 1,200 runners competed in the annual Lions “Meet of Champions” cross country event at Arrowwood Saturday. Drew Paradis competed in the boys’ varsity, finishing sixth.
• Hobbs

Echo Press photo by Arlan Anderson More than 1,200 runners competed in the annual Lions “Meet of Champions” cross country event at Arrowwood Saturday. Josh Hobbs helped his team finish fifth overall.
• Piepenburg, Boucher

Echo Press photo by Arlan Anderson More than 1,200 runners competed in the annual Lions “Meet of Champions” cross country event at Arrowwood Saturday. Jamie Piepenburg and Tess Boucher (center) paced the girls’ team.
• Canavati, Goetsch

Echo Press photo by Arlan Anderson Caitlin Canavati (left) and Alexa Goetsch (right) finished 160th and 162nd for the Cardinal girls’ cross country team, which earned a 15th place team finish. Canavati dropped more than 1:30 from her previous best time to be named the most improved runner in the meet.

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More than 1,200 runners and 27 schools competed at the annual Alexandria Lions “Meet of Champions” Saturday, including 171 varsity girls. Cardinal freshman Jamie Piepenburg proved to be the best of that bunch as she ran a 14:30 for first place.

“Jamie raced with a great deal of intensity against some of the top female runners in the state as well as her personal record,” said Cardinal head coach Mark Nelsen. “Her finish was huge as she outkicked Docherty from Cretin-Derham Hall in the final 100 meters.”

The Cardinals also had sophomore Tess Boucher finish 10th in 15:09 to help lead the Redbird girls to a 15th place finish.

The boys’ division also featured some stellar runners with all of the top six finishers in Saturday’s meet being state ranked.

Alexandria’s Drew Paradis, 10th in the state polls, finished sixth in the meet as his team claimed a fifth place finish.

“Our boys raced very well as a team and continue to improve,” said Nelsen. “We were led by Drew, who battled some of the top runners in the state and had to settle for a sixth place finish.

“We were pleased to have two runners breaking 17 minutes for a 5K for the first time this season, and a fourth runner knocking on the door.”

Austin McCoy ran 16:50, Mitch Evink 16:56 and Will Sieling 17:07.

“This was truly a meet of champions as many of the top runners and teams from around the state competed,” said Nelsen. “This was a great field with many great matchups individually as well as in the team competitions.”

Earning runner of the meet honors were Piepenburg, Chelsey Richardson, Caitlin Canavati, Evink and Dan Gorghuber.

“Canavati has to be the most improved runner of the meet,” Nelsen said, “dropping more than 1:30 off her previous best time.

“Boucher had an outstanding race, and battled into the top 10 of the best field of girl runners we have faced.

“The boys have great attitudes and work ethics, and we look forward to putting a great end to this season,” said the Cardinal coach. “The coaches are excited about the possibilities as we prepare for the CLC championship and the Section 8AA championship.”

2008 LIONS ‘MEET OF CHAMPIONS’

CROSS COUNTRY

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4

BOYS’ TEAM SCORES – 1. Moorhead 99, 2. Stillwater 105, 3. Chaska 117, 4. Roseville 139, 5. Alexandria 148, 6. Red Wing 191, 7. Willmar 194, 8. Bemidji 200, 9. Sartell 212, 10. Brainerd 288, 11. New Prague 324, 12. St. Michael-Albertville 329, 13. Cretin-Derham Hall 341, 14. St. Cloud Cathedral 348, 15. Staples-Motley 359, 16. Mounds View 425, 17. St. Louis Park 476, 18. Little Falls 519, 19. Rocori 583, 20. Fergus Falls 595, 21. Marshall 595, 22. Windom 676.

TOP 10 – 1. Mahad Hassan, Willmar, 15:45, 2. Lukas Gemar, Moorhead, 15:47, 3. John Holt, Roseville 15:55, 4. Erik Truedson, Bemidji, 15:58, 5. Jakob LIndaas, Moorhead, 16:03, 6. Drew Paradis, Alexandria, 16:05, 7. Sadam Abdi, Willmar, 16:16, 8. Thomas Ruttger, Brainerd, 16:18, 9. Jake Autio, St. Michael-Albertville, 16:21, 10. Ryan Nichols, Stillwater, 16:28.

ALEXANDRIA RESULTS – 5. Paradis, 24. Austin McCoy 16:50, 31. Mitch Evink 16:56, 35. Will Sieling 17:07, 52. Josh Hobbs 17:33, 69. Dan Gorghuber 17:52, 87. Sam Vinje 18:14.

GIRLS’ TEAM SCORES – 1. White Bear Lake 142, 2. Eastview 152, 3. Monticello 156, 4. Chaska 167, 5. Moorhead 171, 6. Stillwater 194, 7. Becker 199, 8. Roseville 243, 9. Mounds View 265, 10. Staples-Motley 280, 11. Sartell 286, 12. New Prague 307, 13. Brainerd 341, 14. Little Falls 370, 15. Alexandria 374, 16. Cretin-Derham Hall 396, 17. Willmar 421, 18. Wahpeton 448, 19. Rocori 498, 20. St. Michael-Albertville 514, 21. Marshall 522, 22. Bemidji 579, 23. St. Louis Park 595, 24. Fergus Falls 755, 25. Red Wing 782.

TOP 10 – 1. Jamie Piepenburg, Alexandria, 14:30, 2. Laura Docherty, Cretin-Derham Hall 14:34, 3. Katie Moraczewski, White Bear Lake, 14:51, 4. Erica Seidenkranz, Monticello, 14:56, 5. Naomi Landecker, Staples-Motley, 14:57, 6. Rachel Drake, White Bear Lake, 15:00, 7. Hanah Kellerman, Sartell, 15:04, 8. Caitlin Hewes, Stillwater, 15:06, 9. Kaila Urick, Chaska, 15:08, 10. Tess Boucher, Alexandria, 15:09.

ALEXANDRIA RESULTS – 1. Piepenburg, 10. Boucher, 50. Chelsey Richardson 16:08, 153. Randee O’Brien 18:22, 160. Caitlin Canavati 18:44, 162. Alexa Goetsch 18:50, 163. Maxine Carlson 19:08.

Tags: sports, cross, country, alexandria, lions, meet, of, champions