BP boys second, NRHEG seventh at invite

Unusually good weather for a cross-country meet treated the Blossom cross country boys well, as they finished second to Mankato Loyola/Cleveland in an 8- team invitational meet at New Richland Tuesday.    Twin City United claimed third, with Lyle-Pacelli, and Maple River following.  WEM, NRHEG, and Madelia-Truman trailed in that order.  TCU won the girls’ division, with only five complete teams in the meet.
Individually, Alec Ille earned second in the meet, trailing first place Kaden Cameron of WEM/JWP by just 10 seconds. Elijah Baker (5) and Evan Doerhoefer (15) also finished in the top fifteen runners in times of 17:49 and 19:08, and Cameron Kubista and Quentin Kubista edged into 17th and 18th with 19:09 and19:29.   Kyle Bramstedt (22) and Jesse Schewe (22), placed in the top thirty runners in 20:09 and 20:23 minutes respectively.  Ethan Grant and Jake Hyland also ran for the BP boys.
“The kids ran really well today,” remarked Coach John Bruns, “and we had some outstanding performances.  We competed well against a very strong Loyola/Cleveland team, and Alec Ille had a great race again.  Elijah Baker ran his best race of the season in finishing fifth.”
“Because of injury and illness, we didn’t have a complete team for the girls, but 7th grader Bobbie Bruns ran an excellent race to finish fifth. Abby Smith won the race for junior high girls,” added Bruns. 
Bruns ran a time of21:41, and Olivia Johnson timed a 26:48 for 28th.  Rose Michaud and Jackie Hyland had times of 26:55 and33:46.  Abby Smith won the junior high girls’ race in 8:32, with  Asha Lightizer timing a 9:48.  Emily Anderson and Jordyn Sanchez tied in 11:04.
Coach Mike Weber of NRHEG had two boys finish in the top 25.  Josh Fleming placed 14 in 19:04, and Ben Lewer(21) ran the course in 19:49.  Kollin Reese, Braden Routh, Jagger Beck, and Tyler Malakowsky timed 21:51, 22:35, 23:44, and 25:30 minutes respectively.
“Fleming had a great finish on the home course,” commented Coach Weber. “Lewer also had an impressive race. Times are coming down for the other runners as well. For the girls Jade Mely turned in her best time of the season to finish 13th.”
Mely timed a 23:51 for her place, and Mia Williams followed Mely with a 27:06 time.  Freshman Destiny Medrano rounded out the girls’ scoring with a 28:48 time.