The Perham cross country teams finished on top of the Heart O’Lakes Conference again this season after both the boys and girls won the conference championship on Tuesday.

The West Central Area girls finished third in the 6-team field, while the WCA boys were second behind the Yellowjackets.

The Knights’ Alex Salwasser was second (16:27.65) in the 5K, while Kade Runge was third (16:29.09). Perham had four finishers in the top 10, including winner Jakob McCleary who finished in a blistering time of 15:55.71.

Shad Swanson gave WCA a third top-10 finisher as he took ninth in 17:30.09. Peyton Hanson (22nd, 18:21.69) and Eli Bergman (23rd, 18:26.86) finished off WCA’s top five, and Roman Mihailovschi (31st, 18:54.45) and Tyler Biss (33rd, 18:55.07) rounded out the lineup.

WCA senior Lexi Bright was second in the girls’ race in 19:36.01. Perham won the team title by 5 points over Hawley, and Perham 8th-grader Gracie Morris had a lot to do with that as she won the individual 5K in 19:18.22.

Terina Blascyk was next in line for the Knights as she finished 12th in 20:50.73. Seventh-grader Kyra Beyer was 22nd in 22:02.79, while Victoria Junker (25th, 22:25.91), Alexa Blume (31st, 23:25.42), and Ava Lohse (41st, 25:04.56) ran for the Knights.

HEART O’ LAKES CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP

GIRLS TEAM SCORES - Perham - 30; Hawley - 35; WCA - 80; Breckenridge-Wahpeton - 112; Pelican Rapids - 118; Frazee - 153

BOYS TEAM SCORES - Perham - 34; WCA - 59; Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton - 95; Hawley - 116; Lake Park-Audubon - 127; Pelican Rapids - 147; Breckenridge-Wahpeton - 156; Frazee - 190

Osakis boys fourth in Perham

Osakis was at the Royalton Invite on Tuesday as the boys came back with a fourth-place team finish from the 8-team event.

The Silverstreaks scored 110 total points. St. John’s Prep won the meet with 39.

Sophomore Jacob Taplin (8th, 19:13.24) and freshman Zackery Bruder (10th, 19:18.21) led the way for Osakis. Junior Kale Drevlow was 18th in 20:09.16. Sophomore Brennen Gustafson (35th, 21:42.24), junior Marcus Wolf (44th, 22:31.20), sophomore Issac Ruegemer (55th, 25:04.75) and junior Issac Loverink (57th, 25:58.16) rounded out the Silverstreaks’ lineup.

Freshman Stephy Marthaler was the lone girls’ varsity runner for Osakis. She finished the 5K 44th in 31:41.16.

ROYALTON INVITE

BOYS TEAM SCORES - St. John’s Prep - 39; Pierz - 65; Royalton - 90; Osakis - 110; Rush City - 118; Howard Lake-Waverly - 124; St. Cloud Christian - 137; Hinckley-Finlayson - 211

GIRLS TEAM SCORES - Howard Lake-Waverly - 28; Pierz - 56; Hinckley-Finlayson - 70; East Central - 101; Royalton - 141; Rush City - 151

Lakers win in Benson

The Minnewaska girls keep piling up wins this season as the 6th-ranked Lakers won at the Benson-Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Invite with 42 total points.

Wadena-Deer Creek was second with 50 points, and New London-Spicer was third with 76.

The Lakers had four top-11 finishers in Olivia Danielson (1st, 20:32), Lauryn Ankeny (2nd, 21:22), Sydney Chevalier (6th, 21:48) and Kiearra Wilmes (11th, 22:39). Emma Kovarik (23rd, 23:42) was Minnewaska’s fifth scorer, while Ava Chevalier finished 28th (23:53) and Elsey Hagen (38th, 25:08) also ran for the Lakers.

The Minnewaska boys were seventh as a team with 165 points.

Maeson Tank had another good day for the Lakers as he finished fourth in 18:21. Zachary Palmer (38th, 20:08) and Nick Ankeny (39th, 20:11) finished right next to each other, while Jayce Kovarik (48th, 20:52), James Ward (52nd, 21:21), Ian Mills (57th, 21:35) and Jaden Anderson (62nd, 22:38) ran for the Lakers as well.

BENSON-KMS INVITE

GIRLS TEAM SCORES - Minnewaska - 42; Wadena-DC - 50; New London-Spicer - 76; Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta - 81; Benson KMS - 118; Lac qui Parle Valley - 139; Sauk Centre - 209; Border West - 221; Montevideo - 240

BOYS TEAM SCORES - LQPV - 49; Sauk Centre - 60; New London-Spicer - 85; Benson-KMS - 89; Montevideo - 139; Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta - 149; Minnewaska - 165; Border West - 184