Runners gear up for SSC championships

South’s Aiden Jakubic is on two-race winning streak

Aiden Jakubic of Lakeville South and Carley LaMotte of Burnsville won the boys and girls individual championships at the Farmington Cowbell Classic and will be among the runners to watch at this week’s South Suburban Conference cross country championships.

Jakubic battled through the hot weather at the Sept. 26 Cowbell Classic to win the 5-kilometer race in 16 minutes, 6.3 seconds. He also led the Cougars to second place in the team standings behind Two Rivers, which is ranked seventh in Class 3A.

LaMotte is ranked sixth individually among Class 3A girls runners, and demonstrated why by winning her Cowbell Classic race by more than one minute. Her winning time was 18:08.8. Placing second in the girls race was Lauren Lansing of Farmington (19:17.1), who also led the Tigers to the team championship.

The massive boys varsity field included 543 runners who completed the 5 kilometers. Elisha Cairney (ninth, 16:42.2) and Bryce Edwards (13th, 16:48.7) placed in the top 20 for Lakeville South. Burnsville’s Lliam Merrel was third overall in 16:23.9. Peter Andersen of Trinity School at River Ridge finished 16th in 16:51.4. Adam Johnson (16:55.7) and Patrick Carroll (16:55.9) finished 20th and 21st for Farmington.

Farmington was sixth, Burnsville ninth, Apple Valley 10th and Trinity 17th in the 30-team boys varsity race.

Lansing helped Farmington to a five-point victory over second-place St. Paul Central in the varsity girls team race. Lakeville South was fourth, Trinity 17th, Burnsville 18th and Apple Valley 22nd of 27 teams.

Three of the top four individuals in the girls race were from the South Suburban Conference with LaMotte winning, Lansing finishing second and Lakeville South’s Josie Hudson (19:46.3) finishing fourth. Top-20 finishes included Sophia Venning of Farmington (11th, 20:25.4), Chloe Thoennes of Lakeville South (12th, 20:26.9), Lindsey Woestehoff of Farmington (14th, 20:37.8) and Rebekah Willard of Trinity (18th, 20:50.2).

Elk River Invitational

Lakeville South’s Aiden Jakubic won his second consecutive race, taking first in the boys division at the Elk River Invitational on Oct. 3. His winning time was 16:03.1, about two seconds ahead of Charlie Loth of St. Paul Como Park.

Como Park had three of the top five individual finishers and won the team championship by 16 points over runner-up Lakeville South. South’s Bryce Edwards and Elisha Cairney were sixth and ninth individually.

Josie Hudson finished fourth individually in 18:54.3 for Lakeville South in the Elk River Invitational girls race. South was third in the girls team standings, trailing only St. Paul Central and Centennial.

Ev Berg Invitational

The Rosemount boys and Eagan girls teams finished first at the Ev Berg Invitational in Owatonna on Oct. 3 in their final tune-up for the South Suburban Conference championships.

Rosemount’s boys team, ranked fourth in Class 3A, won its third meet of the season. The Irish finished 23 points ahead of second-place Mankato East, the third-ranked team in Class 2A. South Suburban teams Lakeville North and Eagan were third and sixth in the 14-team field.

Mankato East runners Audi Thom (15:46.3) and Dayton Clobes (15:57.4) finished first and second in the boys race. Rosemount’s Abram Anderson (16:00.6), Channing Goodwin (16:01.7) and Boston Peterson (16:07.7) were fourth through sixth, and Connor Amos (ninth, 16:18.0) and Isaac Harder (24th) also scored for the Irish.

Lakeville North’s Darby Griffin (13th) and Ethan Kimmel (19th) were top-20 finishers, and the Panthers’ Carter Penney was 21st. Ethan Wilske (16th) and Liam Frank (20th) were top-20 finishers for Eagan.

Lilah Bartels (third, 18:28.4) and Lauren Boerger (fourth, 18:33.2) led Eagan to the girls team championship in Owatonna. The Wildcats finished 45 points ahead of second-place Owatonna. Also competing from the South Suburban Conference were Eastview (fourth), Lakeville North (seventh) and Rosemount (13th).

Norah Sjerven finished 14th, Abby Davidson 19th and Ella Walters 32nd to count toward Eagan’s team total.

Eastview’s Kienna Loberg finished fifth in the girls race in 18:49.0. Also placing in the top 20 for the Lightning were Hadley Knight (18th) and Eleanor Patterson (20th). Elyse Stachewicz of Lakeville North finished 10th in 19:21.2, about five seconds ahead of teammate Hannah Stuckey, who finished 11th. Grace Mensink finished 51st to lead the Rosemount girls.

SSC championships

The South Suburban Conference meet returns to Eagan High School on Friday, Oct. 11.

The event starts with the junior varsity girls race at 10:30 a.m., followed by varsity boys at 11:25, varsity girls at 11:55 and junior varsity boys at 12:30 p.m. The awards ceremony is 1:15 p.m.

Rosemount’s boys and Prior Lake’s girls are defending team championships. Rosemount, fourth in Class 3A, is this year’s top-ranked South Suburban Conference team. Prior Lake is second in the state Class 3A girls rankings, with 12th-ranked Eagan and Farmington among the contenders.

Shakopee senior Owen Stuwe, Lakeville South senior Aiden Jakubic, Rosemount sophomore Boston Peterson and Rosemount junior Abram Anderson are among the contenders for the boys individual championship. Burnsville junior Carley LaMotte was second in the 2023 SSC girls race. She could have a host of challengers as eight of the top 10 finishers from last year’s conference girls race returned this season.

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