Loyola cross country has showed all season that they have plenty of talented athletes. On Saturday, November 2, at the U of M Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul, they were able to do just that. WEM-JWP’s MaKenzie Westphal also got some more state experience.
Both Loyola teams represented Section 2A at the meet. Out of 16 teams, the boys placed 12th with 281 points, barely edging South Ridge. The girls, despite having individuals placing higher, were 15th out of 16 teams with a score of 254, beating fellow section rival Mountain Lake-Comfrey by 93 points. Only eight points was the difference between 15th and 12th.
Charlotte Meyer was less than seven seconds behind eventual state champion Audrey Brownell of Staples-Motley. Meyer clocked in at 18:24, beating the third-place person by over 25 seconds. Valerie Quast also had a fantastic showing, finishing in fifth at 19:05.1, beating Maple River’s Sophia Stencel by 2.4 seconds.
Out of 159 runners, the other Crusader girls placed as follows: Molly Koester, 120th, 22:10.5; Kate Daly, 131st, 22:35; Izzy Endres, 140th, 22:59.5; Gisele McCabe, 144th, 23:25.4; and Teya Waagner, 155th, 24:14.2.
WEM-JWP’s MaKenzie Westphal had a great showing representing the Grizzlies as well. He finished in the top half of the runners, placing 64th with a 20:38.9 time.
The Loyola boys had a slightly more challenging time at the meet. Soren Kelly was the only Crusader runner to secure a top 20 position, barely taking 20th with a time of 16:44.9. He barely beat Redwood Valley’s Landyn Nordby by three-tenths of a second. Sam Vetter, who took second in the Section 2A meet, placed 45th with a 17:04.7 time. He was a second behind 40th place.
Out of 159 runners, the rest of the Crusader boys placed as follows: Kyle Zimmerman, 111th, 17:58.9; TJ Waldrom, 131st, 18:32.1: Mitchell Buboltz, 132nd, 18:25.3; Chase Kijenski, 144th, 18:58.2; and Rollie Matejcek, 145th, 19:00.4.
For their efforts, Meyer, Quast, and Kelly were named as part of the All-State team.
With the cross country state meet over, that’s a wrap on fall sports for both the JWP and St. Clair athletes. Congrats to Meyer for being the runner-up and to the other athletes who made it to the state tournament this year. Sam Vetter, Kyle Zimmerman, TJ Waldron, and Chase Kijenski will be graduating after this season.
