Cross country: Rosemount boys 9th at Griak Invitational

Irish keep pace with Minnesota’s top teams

If anybody needed proof that Rosemount was one of the top boys cross country teams in the Midwest, the Roy Griak Invitational provided it.

Rosemount ran in the Championship division at the Sept. 20 meet in Falcon Heights with highly-ranked teams from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and elsewhere. The Irish were ninth in the 44-team boys top division and the third-best team from Minnesota. Dowling Catholic of West Des Moines, Iowa, won the meet with 162 points, 10 fewer than Sioux Falls Lincoln of South Dakota.

Edina (sixth), Minnetonka (seventh), Rosemount (ninth) and Wayzata (10th) were the Minnesota teams in the top 10 of the Championship division. Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata and Rosemount are the top four teams in this week’s state Class 3A rankings.

Defending Class 3A individual champion Robert Mechura of Roseville was medalist in 15 minutes, 35 seconds on the 5,000-meter course at the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course, also the site of the Minnesota State High School League championships Nov. 2. He was about 17 seconds ahead of Minnetonka’s Sean Fries.

There were 442 finishers in the boys Championship race. Three Rosemount runners placed in the top 100 – junior Abram Anderson (48th, 17:04.2), sophomore Boston Peterson (56th, 17:09.3) and senior Connor Amos (85th, 17:27.3). Also scoring for the Irish were sophomore Channing Goodwin (111th, 17:36.4) and junior Isaac Harder (147th, 17:51.3). Also competing for the Irish were senior Karm Goodburne (205th), senior Andrew Tennessen (239th), junior Drew Molenaar (275th), senior Quinn Zeissler (347th) and junior Isaac Hegy (378th).

All of the Rosemount runners gained ground in the final 2,000 meters. Anderson, for example, passed 46 runners over the final 2 kilometers.

Farmington competed in the girls Championship race, placing 34th. The Tigers were led by sophomore Lauren Lansing, who finished 69th individually in 20:42.3, and junior Sophia Venning, 148th in 21:23.8. Lindsey Woestehoff (215th), Mara Brock (243rd) and Brylee Cavanaugh (258) also scored team points for Farmington.

Burnsville junior Carley LaMotte ran in the girls Championship race, finishing 19th in 19:32.7

Cardinal Gibbons High School of Raleigh, North Carolina, won the girls Championship division with 94 points, 30 fewer than second-place Wayzata. Ella Hagen of Summit (Colorado) High School won the girls Championship race for the second year in a row, finishing in 18:02.9.

Eagan finished eighth and Farmington 15th in the boys Maroon division, won by Olathe West of Kansas. Top runners for the Wildcats were senior Noah Daniel (12th, 17:13.5), junior Ethan Wilske (42nd, 18:15.5) and junior Liam Frank (46th, 18:19.6). Leading Farmington’s boys were sophomore Patrick Carroll (34th, 18:04.5), junior Adam Johnson (38th, 18:11.5) and ninth-grader Carter Lippold (78th, 18:49.3).

Rosemount was 22nd in the girls Maroon division race, led by senior Grace Mensink in 94th place. Jayla Kaplan (124th), Delaney Macken (127th), Londyn Peterson (131st), Kyra Werk (139th) and Morgan Weyrens (143rd) also placed in the top 150 individually.

Menomonie, Wisconsin, won the girls Maroon team championship.

Lakeville North grabbed third place in the boys Gold division race in a close battle with three other Minnesota teams, Osseo, Woodbury and Nova Classical Academy. Osseo finished with 124 points with Woodbury second at 131, followed by North (135) and Nova (149). Apple Valley was 19th in the team competition.

Lakeville North senior Darby Griffin finished 11th in the Gold race in 17:42.2. Sophomores Carter Penney (18:04.8) and Tyler Kimmel (18:08.8) were 24th and 27th. Senior Raegan Lopez (34th) and eighth-grader Sawyer Bartizal (39th) also scored for the Panthers.

Apple Valley senior Matthew Urgiles Suarez finished eighth in the Gold race in 17:35.4. Andrew Berndt of Sartell was Gold division medalist in 17:07.9.

Woodbury won the girls Gold division team championship. Local teams competing in that meet were Eastview (sixth place), Lakeville North (14th) and Apple Valley (34th).

Sophomore Kienna Loberg led Eastview with a 15th-place individual finish in 20:46.1. Senior Gracie Puit (34th), junior Hadley Knight (36th) and senior Eleanor Patterson (50th) also placed in the top 50.

Sophomore Hannah Stuckey (20th, 21:03.4) and junior Elyse Stachewicz (32nd, 21:31.9) were Lakeville North’s top runners in the girls Gold division race. Top runner for Apple Valley was senior Hanna Baron, who finished 209th.

This is the 38th year of the Griak Invitational, named for Roy Griak, the former University of Minnesota cross country and track and field coach who worked at the school more than 50 years. He was a teacher and coach at St. Louis Park High School for 10 years before going to the university.

This year’s Griak Invitational included four races for college athletes and teams in addition to the six high school races.

Mike Shaughnessy can be reached at mike.shaughnessy@apgecm.com.