Posted: 11/5/04
Panthers qualify for state meet
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by Todd Abeln
Thisweek Newspapers
The Lakeville Panthers will be sending both of their cross country teams to the state cross country meet.
Both the boysí and girlsí teams won the Section 1AA meet at Brooktree Golf Course in Owatonna.
The girls return to the state meet to defend the state title they won last year.
They edged a gutty Dover-Eyota-St. Charles team to qualify by 10 points.
On the boysí side, Lakeville dominated winning by 53 points over Faribault.
Both the boys and the girls had great races from all six runners.
For the girls, they had three of the top four runners and didnít have a runner finish lower than 15th place.
They needed that type of performance to top Dover 33-43.
ìWe had a number of impressive efforts on the girlsí side,î head coach Bob Ertl said.
Leading the pack was junior Elizabeth Yetzer who dominated the 4,000-meter course.
She finished in 14:27, the only runner to break the 15 minute mark.
She beat the second-place runner by 37 seconds.
ìOn a wet and somewhat muddy day, she clearly was the class of the field,î Ertl said.
After Yetzer, Lakeville came in third and fourth with eighth-graders Michelle Volz and Solange Miller.
Volz came in third in 15:10 and Miller was fourth in a time of 15:15.
After that, the Panthers finished in the 12th through 15th spots.
Junior Laura Roach was the first in that pack to finish at 15:49.
Freshman Abby Kruse was next at 15:51 followed by Heather Wollesen and Chelsea Wolf at 15:52.
ìThe girls are definitely peaking at the right time of the year,î Ertl said. ìThey have been building momentum all season. Miller is proving she can run up in the front pack of runners, just behind Elizabeth Yetzer and Michelle Volz. The girlsí team is proving once again to be a mentally tough team that handles the big meets well.î
For the boys, they were equally impressive as they won the meet with 33 points. Faribault was second with 86 points.
The Panthers had three of the top five finishes and didnít have a runner finish below 21st.
Junior Tim Bruhn led the pack along with sophomore Paul Hilsen.
Both finished with a time of 16:06 over the 5,000-meter course.
Bruhn finished third and Hilsen fourth followed by Dylan Peterson in fifth place in a time of 16:17.
ìThe boysí team saw a number of career best races,î Ertl said. ìThe biggest improvement was Paul Hilsen who surprised many with a time of 16:06.î
Lakevilleís fourth through seventh runners also had strong efforts.
Senior Dan Johnson finished 10th in a time of 16:41. He was followed closely by teammates Tyler King in 11th place and Karl Nygren in 13th place.
Benjamin Plankis finished 21st for the Panthers.
Eagan
The Eagan cross country season came to an end at the Section 3AA cross country meet.
Both the boys and girls failed to qualify a runner for state.
The boysí team finished in fifth place with 101 points and the girls finished in seventh place with 179 points.
In the boysí race, Henry Sibley edged Park of Cottage Grove 63-64 for the title.
On the girlsí side, Park topped Tartan, 23-71.
Back to the boys, Eagan had two runners finish in the top 15 and five finish in the top 25.
Leading the charge was senior Brett Wingad in 14th place with a time of 18:01.9
Teammate freshman Mark Sinclair followed closely in 15th place with a time of 18:03.4.
After that sophomores Bobby Vyvyan and Matt Klassy finished 23rd and 24th. Senior Luke Garrison was in 25th place.
Charlie Hersman and Andy Thomas finished in 47th and 49th place to round out the boysí runners.
For the girlsí team, they ran well in packs as their top runner finished 32nd and their sixth runner finished 51st.
Senior Kristina Bruns was the lead runner as she finished in 32nd place with a time of 17:48.3.
She was followed closely by teammate Ashley Scott, who finished 33rd with a time of 17:48.7.
After that it was junior Morgan Koth in 36th and Lauren Renneke in 37th.
Mal Berg was next in 41st place followed by Steph Seidel and Jen Berg.
Todd Abeln is at sports.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.
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