Cross Country team cross season finish line

Coach
Sariina Kalli

Section 8A Cross Country Meet, Thursday, October 24, 2002.
Headwaters Golf Course, Park Rapids, MN
Girls Varsity Race
(4,000 meters)
Madie Heinrich, 20th, 21:18
Sam Reinert, 21st, 21:21
Elyse Dornhecker, 29th, 21:58
Jessy Olsen, 33rd, 22:10
Shantelle Davidson, 35th, 22:12
Sheila Johnson, 37th, 22:19
Elaina Hansen, 50th, 23:18
Team Results
East Grand Forks, 28
Northland-Deer River, 71
Warroad, 88
Lake of the Woods, 127
Frazee, 157
Pequot Lakes, 167
Park Rapids, 170
Sebeka-Menahga, 173
Pine River-Backus, 216
Bagley-Fosston, 251
Boys Varsity Race
(5,000 meters)
Matt Neilson, 29th, 18:11
Jay Neilson, 36th, 18:30
Tyler Bredeson, 44th, 18:51
Garrett Ravndalen, 50th, 19:05
Chris Heinrich, 56th, 19:31
Victor Ballard, 74th, 20:35
Team Results
Warroad, 48
East Grand Forks, 54
Hawley-UH, 104
Frazee, 118
Northland-Deer River, 122
Bagley-Fosston, 141
Lake of the Woods, 185
Pequot Lakes, 201
Pine River-Backus, 222
Roseau, 246
Sebeka-Menahga, 252
Coach’s Comments/Highlights
The top 10 individuals and the top two teams in each division advance to the Minnesota State Cross County Meet in Northfield Nov. 2. This year, East Grand Forks and Deer River-Northland girls, and Warroad and East Grand Forks boys will represent Section 8A.
Despite warnings from several coaches that the girls 4,000-meter course was incorrectly marked on the map, Section 8A girls ended up running nearly 800 meters farther than usual on Thursday (Oct. 24) in Park Rapids. Despite this extra distance, eighth grader Madie Heinrich pulled herself to first on the team, with a 20th place finish in her last meet of the season. Her time was 21 minutes, 18 seconds. Seventh grader Sam Reinert was 21st, followed by juniors Elyse Dornhecker and Jessy Olsen in 29th and 33rd, freshman Shantelle Davidson in 35th, senior Sheila Johnson in 37th, and junior Elaina Hansen in 50th.
Davidson, who was our best hope of individual representation at the State Meet, was limited by a stress fracture during the last quarter of the race, and struggled to a disappointing 35th place. The only way to heal a stress fracture is to take time off, and Shantelle chose to stick it out for her team’s sake. On Thursday, however, her body made the decision for her, and her mental carried her through the remainder of the challenging course.
Although the girls didn’t make it as far as they wanted this year, I am so proud of what they’ve accomplished as a team. They supported each other when it counted and really came together as a group. Lake of the Woods will lose only one runner for next year’s varsity squad - senior Sheila Johnson.
On the boy’s side, junior Matt Neilson and freshman Jay Neilson led the Bear pack through the hilly course and came within just a few seconds of the personal records (PRs) set on the same course Oct. 14. They finished in 29th and 36th place. Junior Tyler Bredeson and sophomore Garrett Ravndalen finished in 44th and 50th place, while sophomore Chris Heinrich placed 56th with a season best of 19:31, and junior Victor Ballard ended his season with 22-second PR (20:35), to place 74th.
The boys were still getting used to the idea that they’re "too old" to run junior varsity races, so to pull personal bests in the last two meets of the year proves that they can accomplish good things at the varsity level. All six members return for the 2003 season.
Girls Section 8A Coach of the Year:
Dave Hetland, East Grand Forks
Boys Section 8A Coaches of the Year:
Dave Hetland, East Grand Forks Rick McBride, Warroad
Girls Section 8A Academic Team Honors (Based on the top 5 class rank percent averaged)
East Grand Forks, 94.36
Lake of the Woods, 94.03
Sebeka-Menahga, 92.03
Pequot Lakes, 89.07
Warroad, 84.54
Boys Section 8A Academic team Honors (Based on the top 5 class rank percent averaged)
East Grand Forks, 88.48
Pequot Lakes, 84.58
Bagley-Fosston, 82.85
Lake of the Woods, 81.38
Deer River-Northland, 80.01
Warroad, 64.66