Top runners for Panthers finish in 6th and 7th place at Waseca invite

The Gopher Conference NRHEG Panthers don’t usually see opponents in bigger conferences that often, but Thursday was an exception, as they competed at the Waseca Invitational at the Lakeside Golf Course.

The Panthers’ cross country team competed against two schools from bigger cities that it usually does not face: Waseca and Faribault. The two schools placed in first and second in both the boys and girls races at the invite, but the Panthers still held their own as they had a runner in both races place in the top ten.

The Panthers’ girls cross country team usually has enough runners to qualify for the official team scores at invites this year, but they did not on Thursday as they only had four runners compete.

8th-grader Julieann Wobbrock led the girls runners with a time of 20:40.8 which had her finish in seventh place at the invite out of 39 runners. Senior Sierra Misgen (35th), sophomore Amelia Dyryee (37th), and junior Holly Bartness (39th) were the three other finishers for NRHEG.

Junior Jacob Karl has been the one-man band for the Panthers’ boys cross country team, and he has been putting out quality finishes for the team’s only competitor. This week he finished just outside the top five in sixth place, with neighbor school Waseca’s Isaac Feldkamp taking the top spot followed by three runners from Faribault and a runner from Maple River. Karl had a time of 18:10.1.

The Waseca Invitational was the first invite NRHEG had this season without competing with fellow Steele County schools Medford and Blooming Prairie. They will rejoin with the two schools on Tuesday at an invite at Oak View Golf Course in Alden.

OFFICIAL TEAM SCORES

Girls:

1. Faribault (27)

2. Waseca (40)

3. Tri-City United (83)

4 WEM/JWP (94)

Boys:

1. Faribault (34)

2. Waseca (35)

3. Tri-City United (64)

4. United South Central/Alden-Conger (91)