Girls cross-country: Ponies place eighth in Rocori Invitational

COLD SPRING — The Stillwater girls cross-country team finished eighth in the 10-team Rocori Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 18 at River Oaks Golf Course.

Alexandria cruised to the team title with 33 points, well ahead of runner-up Wayzata (126) and third-place Willmar (126).

The gap wasn’t too large with Stillwater (158) finishing just 32 points behind the runner-up.

Greta Shockey finished 11th with a time of 20:51.4 to lead the Ponies, followed by Amelia Bonestroo (21:30.2) and Emma Hamond (21:42.4) in 19th and 27th place.

Kathryn Wiens (23:28.3) and Jaclyn Jurek (24:03.5) completed the scoring in 52nd and 63rd. Rachel Malmgren (24:12.3) and Casey Johnston (25:13.2) also placed 64th and 78th for Stillwater.

This was the first time the girls have run in this event and the hilly course was a challenging one, but the preparation was impacted with several runners dealing with injuries and/or illness leading into the race.

“We weren’t sure what to expect,” Ponies coach Rob Greer said. “It was not ideal going into, but the varsity did pretty well. I’m pleased with that transitional group in those 5-10 spots where we have a lot of girls leaping back and forth each week and a lot of hard effort going in.”

Team standings

1. Alexandria 33; 2. Wayzata 126; 3. Willmar 126; 4. Perham 130; 5. Cambridge-Isanti 134; 6. Davies 137; 7. Fergus Falls 142; 8. Stillwater 158; 9. Rocori 225; 10. St. Francis 226.

Top 5

1. Cassie Wellman (FF) 18:58.4; 2. Greta Layton (BL) 19:56.4; 3. Anniston Rolf (SF) 20:01.9; 4. Citori Halbe (Al) 20:04.9; 5. Bobbi Nichols (Al) 20:17.7.

Stillwater results

11. Greta Shockey 20:51.4; 19. Amelia Bonestroo 21:30.2; 27. Emma Hamond 21:42.4; 52. Kathryn Wiens 23:28.6; 63. Jaclyn Jurek 24:03.5; 64. Rachel Malmgren 24:12.3; 78. Casey Johnston 25:13.2.