Aubrey Woodwick, pictured above, placed third at the Grizzly Pie Invitational on Sept. 28. Woodwick was in seventh place early in the race, but kept working to pass other runners as the race continued.

The Blue Earth Area boys cross country team ran to a third-place finish at the Grizzly Pie Invite which was held at Prairie Ridge Golf Course near Janesville on Sept. 28.

Blooming Prairie took first place at the meet with 46 points followed by Maple River with 63. BEA’s 83 points earned third place by three points over the fourth-place team from Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf- Pemberton who finished with 86. Medford was fifth with 104 points and Randolph came in sixth with 114.

Brady Lorenz topped the Buccaneer runners with a time of 20:07.9 which put him in ninth place. Devin Haase finished 16th with a season-best time of 21:46.

“Brady gave a strong effort, pushed himself hard and passed three runners in the last mile,” BEA cross country coach Peter Koenig commented. “Devin got after it to run a season-best time and finish just outside of the dessert winnings.”

Marcus Eckles and Seth Mathews also recorded season-best times at the meet.

Eckles had a time of 23:59 which was good for 29th place and Mathews was 30th in 24:17.3. Right behind Mathews was Aiden Donahue in 31st place with a time of 24:17.5.

Owen Jahnke finished 38th with a personal-record time of 25:10. Julian Rodriguez was 39th in 25:20.2, Oliver Ankeny was 40th in 25:20.6, Gibson Haase was 44th in 26.06, Manav Chaudhari was 49th in 29:09 and Gustavo Chavero was 50th with a personal-best time of 30:51.

In the 2500-meter junior high race, all three Buccaneer runners recorded personal records.

Jase Casey had a time of 9:56 to finish in fifth place, Nolbert Garcia was 12th in 12:30 and Gus Ankeny was 20th in 13:00.

“Jase came out swinging in the boys junior high race with a new personal record and a cookie for his efforts,” Koenig said. “Nolbert got a chance to run his second-ever cross country race and Gus put in a great effort with his always impeccable form and sock selection.”

Girls Results

The BEA girls were unable to field a complete team but they still had two runners, Aubrey Woodwick and Sidney Eitzmann, place in the top-ten individually.

Maple River placed first in the team competition with 52 points, WEM/JWP was second with 64, Blooming Prairie took third with 75, United South Central-Alden Conger was fourth with 103, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva was fifth with 111, Medford was sixth with 120 and Randolph was seventh with 127.

Woodwick continues to run strong this season and placed third with a time of 22:19.

Also cracking the top-10 was Eitzmann who finished ninth with a season-best mark of 23:44.

“Aubrey got off to a great start and was sitting in seventh place around the first 400 meters. She found a pack and kept pushing to get third at a meet that has some strong competition,” Koenig said. “Sidney ran her fastest race of the season. She passed lots of other runners along the way and overtook seven runners between the one mile mark and the finish.”

Leah Becker was the next BEA runner to cross the finish line. Her time of 29:48 put her in 42nd place. Makayla Ankeny rounded out the BEA squad with a time of 31:29 for 47th place.

“Leah came in a minute faster than last year despite dealing with some struggles,” Koenig explained. “This was the first time Makayla has run this course as a varsity runner.”

Natalie Griffey ran to a second-place finish in the junior-high race with a time of 10:20.9 which was a personal record. Myla Eastman also recorded a personal record and finished 20th in 15:01.

The teams ran in Fairmont on Thursday, Oct. 5. They will host the BEA Invitational at Riverside Town and Country Club on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The Big South Championship will be held at the Marshall Country Club on Oct. 17, and the Section meet will be held at America Baylor Park at Norwood Young America on Oct. 26.

The Minnesota State Tournament will be held on Saturday, Nov. 4, and hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights.