By John George
It was an event larger than the State Meet. More than 25 college teams, close to 90 high school teams. Over six hours of racing. Nationally ranked teams, State ranked teams, college coaches scouting future talent.
And in the middle of it all stood Perham High School, poised and ready to show that the runners from this small town in the Lakes Country of Minnesota were pretty darn good.
They did just that as the girls impressively finished in seventh place of the Gold Division of the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota's Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul. The boys also finished very well, taking 15th out of 45 of the region's best teams.
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Girls impressive
The girls 5K race featured three of the top-five teams in the Heartland Region rankings on dyestat.com, No. 2 Sioux Falls Roosevelt, No. 4 Iowa City and No. 5 Lakeville North. Sioux Falls, ranked No. 4 in the country, won the race with a total of 151. Iowa City finished second, followed by Minnesota's No. 1-AA team, Lakeville North, in third.
The next Minnesota team to finish was the No. 2-A Yellowjackets in seventh place. Leading the team was freshman Maddie McClellan, who was 14th overall out of 390 total runners with a time of 19:53. That finish moved McClellan up to No. 6 in Class A in the latest rankings. No. 16-A Brittany Gigstead finished 43rd.
The race was won by Roosevelt's Allison Eckert with a time of 18:16.
"Maddie got out to a good start, establishing good position early," head coach Jeff Morris said. "Brittany, Holly Sheets (55th) and Sadie Ellenberg (59th) formed a tight pack right behind her."
McClellan was the top Class A runner, ahead of No. 2 Claire Richardson of Blake, who finished 22nd, and No. 3 Naomi Landecker of Staples-Motley, who finished 32nd.
Running in a meet this big will help the team down the road.
"Our biggest problem in the past has been not getting out to a good start in the first 400 meters," Morris said. "I was so pleased when I saw where our girls were in the first 400m. They were aggressive and finally realized that they could run with the front of the pack the entire race.
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"It really elevated all of our runners where I feel they should be running," he continued.
Boys 15th in loaded field
The boys Gold Division race featured six of the State's Class AA top-10 and several regionally ranked teams in a stacked 45-team field. Willmar, ranked No. 1 in Minnesota and in the Heartland Region, won the race with a score of 209. No. 3-AA Rosemont edged No. 2-AA Wayzata for second. No. 1-A Perham finished as the top small-school at the race in 15th place with a total of 446.
The other four State Class A ranked teams at the race were No. 2 Rochester Lourdes (34th) and No. 6 Minnehaha Academy (37th).
"I can not be happier with how our guys team is lining up with the best in the state and realizing they can compete with bigger schools," Morris said. "The experience and confidence that they are gaining is pushing us in practice and is showing in our races."
Individually, No. 1-A Kevin Lachowitzer defended his top ranking, finishing 15th out of 429 runners with a time of 16:34. He was the seventh Minnesota runner to finish, the first from a Class A school.
Minneapolis South's Hassan Mead, the No. 1 ranked runner in Class AA, won the race with a time of 15:48.
Perham's Justin Tellinghuisen was the next Jacket to cross in 51st place (17:22). He was followed by Eddie Stenger (87th) and Nick Adkins (103rd).
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"Our seventh runner, Alex Barney, ran a personal best (18:36) and really worked together with our fifth and sixth runners, Parker Carignan and Bryan Paridon," Morris said.
This week, the Jackets will run at the Fergus Falls Invite (Sept. 28) before hosting their own invite on Oct. 3 at Arvig Park. Action begins at 4 p.m.
Perham's next meet will also be at home as they host they Heart O' Lakes Championships at their Arvig Park course on Oct. 10 at 4 p.m.
