Card girls' cross country: Redbirds race to second in CLC

• Egenes

Eric Morken, Echo Press Kristen Egenes ran to a 34th place finish in the Central Lakes Conference championships at Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center in Alexandria Tuesday afternoon. The girls finished second to Brainerd in the meet.

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The Cardinal girls’ cross country team showed what it could do once all its top runners got healthy at the Central Lakes Conference meet out at Arrowwood on Tuesday evening.

Alexandria had four girls finish in the top 12 and came in second, just six points behind Brainerd for first place. Jamie Piepenburg once again led the way by blowing away the field for an individual CLC championship. Shelby Iverson was seventh for Alexandria, while Katie Iverson and Karly Betterman finished 11th and 12th, respectively.

“We have not had our top eight girls on the line once this season,” head coach Mark Nelsen said. “Today we did. We had everybody healthy enough to be competing and it was by far our best team effort. I think every girl but Jamie had their best times, and Jamie was right about at her best time. So we are pretty excited about our girls’ performance. That was our best team effort.”

Betterman and Julia Sieling, both freshmen, ran their fastest 4K races at the high school level. Betterman crossed the finish line in 16:15.91 with Iverson right behind her at 16:16.22. Sieling’s time of 16:19.08 was good for 17th overall. Tess Boucher and Emily Thul were 22nd and 27th, respectively, while Kristin Egenes rounded out the Cardinal runners in 34th place.

The Cardinals placed four of their runners on the all-conference team in Piepenburg, Shelby and Katie Iverson and Betterman. Sieling and Boucher were honorable mention All-CLC. The fact that the girls are finally healthy throughout their lineup has the team excited about the Section 8AA meet, set for October 28 in Fergus Falls.

“Monticello is ranked like No. 3 in the state,” Nelsen said about that section meet. “They’re almost an untouchable. I just can’t imagine anybody beating them, but Brainerd is looking like the No. 2 team and with our performance today, we look like we are maybe a three or four team in the section. We’ve got a little time to work on some things and hopefully get a little bit better.”

CLC CROSS COUNTRY MEET

TEAM RESULTS – 1. Brainerd – 42; 2. Alexandria – 48; 3. Willmar – 102; 4. Sartell – 119; 5. Little Falls – 123; 6. Fergus Falls – 152; 7. Rocori – 156; 8. St. Cloud Apollo – 255; 9. St. Cloud Tech – 278; 10. Sauk Rapids – 282

ALEXANDRIA RESULTS – Jamie Piepenburg – first place, 14:23.07, 5:48 pace; Shelby Iverson – seventh place, 15:51.29, 6:23 pace; Karly Betterman – 11th place, 16:15.91, 6:33 pace; Katie Iverson – 12th place, 16:16.22, 6:33 place; Julia Sieling – 17th place, 16:19.08, 6:34 pace; Tess Boucher – 22nd place, 16:36.40, 6:41 pace; Emily Thul – 27th place, 16:45.32, 6:45 pace; Kristin Egenes – 34th place, 17:00.94, 6:51 pace

Tags: alexandria sports, cross country, sports, home, team, cardinals, girls, central, lakes, conference