New season, new coach, new meet venue.
The Lakers Boys Cross Country team traveled with new Coach Missy Rock on September 6th to participate in their 2nd meet of the season but their first time ever being on the Faribault course. The middle school team ran 2400m while the JV and Varsity teams ran a 5K (3.1 miles) in all types of weather – sunny, cloudy, misting, downpours, wind, rain, and ending with a rainbow over the finish line.
The Varsity team was led once again by senior Ledger Sears with a time of 17:53. The team looked strong doing their first 5K of the season and will only get better with more experience. Other members of the team include senior Bryce Lindgren, senior Sam Holm, junior Joe Gannon, junior Luke Schwandt, freshman Tony Malinosky, and 8th grader Isaiah Rock.
The Junior Varsity team was led by freshman Joseph Basile and freshman Nolan Goss who finished within 0.8 seconds of each other. There is a lot of talent here and as Coach Rock said, “This sport (cross country) is about patience. They (all of the Lakers) are working hard and their times will come.”
For their next meet, the team boarded a bus at 5am on Saturday, September 14th to make the trek to Decorah, Iowa, for the All-American Invitational hosted by Luther College. While the bus ride was a sleepy one, the Lakers were awake and ready to tackle the course in one of their largest meets of the season once they arrived (this meet has middle school, high school, and college teams from all over Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota come to compete).
The middle school division ran first, and the champion was one of our own. Prior Lake had 5 runners in this race, and eighth-grader Isaiah Rock finished the 2 mile course with a time of 11:13 to become the winner. Coach Missy Rock was proud to point out that 4 of the middle school runners earned new personal records on this course as well.
The Junior Varsity race was led by senior Jackson Zeeb finishing the 5K course with a time of 19:11. The Lakers had 15 runners in this race, and 10 of them ended up earning a new personal record or a season best time. The Lakers were rocking and rolling!
The Varsity race was the final one held – which the Lakers had 10 runners entered in. Junior Joe Gannon led the way with a time of 18:04 for the 5K, followed closely behind by freshman Tony Malinosky (18:10), senior Bryce Lindgren (18:13), and senior Ledger Sears (18:15). This group also had 7 runners earn a personal record or season best time.
To celebrate such a big day, it is tradition that the team stops for ice cream on the way back home, and this year was no exception. The team is looking forward to their next meet on September 23rd in Mankato where they hope to keep dropping times.
