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The Osakis cross country teams traveled to Sauk Centre for a meet on Tuesday where the boys finished fifth in a 10-team field.
“Finishing fifth of 10 in that race is solid considering the level of competition and that our kids are still gaining experience,” Osakis head coach Justin Dahlheimer said. “This meet featured a smaller field, but a lot of quality in the races. It's not often you get kids that will likely be contending for the state championship in both the boys and girls varsity races, so that raises the bar for everyone else, and our kids really responded.”
Osakis finished with 144 points. Rocori won the meet with 48 points. Sauk Centre senior Brandon Kampsen won the boys 5k with a time of 15:53.96.
Sophomore Zackery Bruder led the way for the Silverstreaks with a seventh-place finish (17:45.60), while junior Jacob Taplin finished 11th (18:15.72).
“Zack Bruder continued improving his all-time best, running well under 18 minutes and competing with some really good boys that I'm sure he hopes to see later in the year,” Dahlheimer said. “It was really inspiring to see Jacob Taplin stick with Zack for most of the race and run through some pain to finish near the top 10.”
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Senior Kale Drevlow cracked the top 20 with a 19th-place finish (18:45.32), while freshman Jaxon Christner finished in 52nd (20:35.57).
“We challenged our kids to explore their limits today and the boys in the varsity races did with Jacob Taplin and Kale Drevlow getting all-time bests at 5,000m, and Jaxon Christner stepping up to the varsity distance and coming in as our No. 4 runner,” Dahlheimer said.
Junior Brennen Gustafson finished with a time of 20:40.65 (55th), while senior Marcus Wolf clocked in at 20:42.32 (57th) and junior Raphael Paquay finished at 22:45.60 (65th).
The Osakis girls team competed in Sauk Centre but didn’t yield a full varsity team.
8th-grader Kaia Fiskness earned a fifth-place finish in the girls 5K with a time of 20:38.72.
“Kaia Fiskness just missed the school record for the girls 5k race in just her second 5k ever,” Dahlheimer said. “She has great composure and a natural sense of pacing that allowed her to build over the last two miles of the race and catch all of the girls that were within her reach.”
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle junior Caroline Kuehne won the race with a time of 19:22.27.
Osakis 8th-grader Kathryn Collins ran a time of 23:20.33 (30th), while sophomore Stephy Marthaler ran a time of 33:37.80 (55th).
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“Katie Collins ran a huge personal best. She continues to show maturity beyond her years in the way she approaches her races, which made us confident in moving her up to this distance,” Dahlheimer said. “Stephy Marthaler did such a great job mentoring these young runners and helping them adjust to the varsity stage.”
Osakis’ next meet is in Royalton on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
BOYS TEAM SCORES - 1. Rocori, 48; 2. St. John’s Prep, 62; 3. Sauk Centre, 76; 4. New London-Spicer, 128; 5. Osakis, 144; 6. Melrose Area, 150; 7. Pierz, 163; 8. Royalton, 180; 9. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta, 203; 10. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, 276
