Canby/Minneota boys, girls first in home meet
Canby/Minneota kept up its winning ways by running to first place in both the boys and girls meets on Thursday night at its first home meet of the season.
"What a beautiful night for races," Coach Allyson Pesek. "And wow, did we represent. Not only did we have outstanding performances, but we got to do it at home."
The boys had their closest race of the season, outpointing Ortonville 23-30. Border West was third with 63 points and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton finished with 101 points.
The girls' meet featured only two full teams with Canby/Minneota winning with 16 points and Border West finishing with 43. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and Central Minnesota Christian School were incomplete.
Grace Drietz of Canby/Minneota was the winner of the girls' race.
For the first time this season, a Canby/Minneota boy didn't win. But they did finish second, third and fourth. Ortonville's Nathan Neu crossed the finish line first in a time of 17:28. Blake Stoks was just two seconds behind in 17:30. Kolton Duis was third in 18:04 and Zach Ourada fourth in a time of 18:47. Nathan Gustafson of Ortonville rounded out the top five, finishing fifth in 18:56.
Blake Giese of Canby/Minneota was in eighth place in 19:16, while teammate Isaac Bach finished 10th in 19:32.
Other C/M runners were: Colton Ruether, 13th in 20:18; Sam Skorczewski, 14th in 20:30; Tristen Bierschenk, 15th in 20:51; Nicholas Full, 17th in 20:55; Hunter Cleveland, 24th in 21:53; Caleb Danielson, 27th in 22:15; Joseph Wollum, 30th in 23:15; and Logan Myhre, 32nd in 23:44.
Drietz's winning time in the girls' race was 19:18, the only sub 20-minute time in the meet. C/M also took the next three places with Claire Stoks second in 20:33, Braelyn Merritt third with 20:37 and McKenzie Ruether fourth in 21:45.
Natasha Erickson of Central Minnesota Christian placed fifth in 22:22.
Other C/M places and times were: Natalie Stoks, ninth in 23:56; Lillie Wollum, 11th in 25:26; Hannah Fadness, 13th in 25:35; Jaelin Anderson, 17th in 27:54; Rachel Wollum, 18th in 27:59; and Isabel Thompson, 21st in 29:51.
"Congratulations to both our Boys & Girls Varsity on great wins! The Boys' race was a close one but we came out on top, and the Girls had nearly a perfect score. Truly a fabulous night!," added Coach Pesek.