The Buc girls finished third and the boys fourth at the South Central Conference Meet held Oct. 11 at Riverside Town & Country golf course in rural Blue Earth.

Waseca tallied 30 points to gain the title among the girls teams, followed by Fairmont with 44 and BEA 60.

Leading the way for the Bucs was freshman Courtney Grandgenett. For the second year in a row, she earned All-Conference honors with a sixth-place finish in 15:33.

Head coach Tom Plocker says because of the tough competition repeating last year’s sixth-place finish was going to be hard for Grandgenett.

“Our conference is loaded with a lot of talented girls. Her accomplishment is great and pretty noteworthy,” says Plocker.

Sophomore LaNay Walker covered the 4,000-meter course in 16:10 to nab 11th, two seconds ahead of freshman teammate Marissia Hagedorn in 12th place with 16:12.

Sophomore Rylee Wagner posted a time of 16:24 for 14th, while fellow sophomore Lindsey Ankeny was clocked in 16:33 to take 17th.

Mandy Warmka’s time was the 28th best overall. The Buc junior finished with a time of 17:34, and senior Miranda Murray was 30th in 17:58. 

On the boys side, senior Eduardo Vega raced to a third-place finish and All-Conference honors with an 18:01 in the 5,000-meter race.

Plocker says Vega may have started out the race a little too fast, but he gained control to move up and finish strong.

“It’s gratifying to all of us coaches to see Eduardo overcome the things he has this year. It was really neat to see,” Plocker says.

A quartet of sophomores were the next to cross the finish line for the Bucs.

Riley Holmseth’s 18:50 was good enough for 13th overall, followed by Aaron Wilhelmi in 19th with 19:13, Brandon Christians 22nd with a 19:26 and Wade Wilhelmi finishing 23rd in 19:31.

In his final conference meet, senior Garrett Passer was 27th in 20:21.

Girls team results:

Waseca 30, Fairmont 44,  Blue Earth Area 60,  St. James 83, St. Peter 156, New Ulm/MVL 164

Boys team results:

Waseca 41, Fairmont 52, St. James 57, Blue Earth Area 80,  St. Peter 144, New Ulm/MVL 148

Girls junior varsity results:

(4,000 meters)

Courtney Dunbar — 17:40, 8th

Sierra Halvorson — 18:22, 15th

Makenzie Determan — 18:45, 20th   

Kelly Aukes — 19:11, 26th

Anna Aukes — 19:50, 28th

Niki Welder —  20:20, 30th

Taylor Swanson — 21:10, 34th

Audrey Schmidtke — 21:25, 35th

Makenzie Jenkins — 21:28, 36th

Amanda Pecholt — 23:06, 38th

Emily Clement — 23:48, 39th

Moira Jans — 34:20, 40th

Boys junior varsity results:

(5,000 meters)

Jason Mertens — 21:29, 18th

JT Roe — 21:38, 19th

Korey Frandle — 21:47, 22nd 

Hans Kittleson — 22:45, 32nd

Alvin Goraczkowski — 23:50, 38th

Luke Loveall — 29:12, 48th  

Jake Berndt — 31:03, 50th

Buc Invite

The girls claimed second and the boys third at their own cross country invite held Oct. 14.

The meet was scored based on the combined time of the top seven runners of each school, rather than placings.

Class A No. 7-ranked Fairmont finished with a total time of 111:52, while the Bucs had 115:59.

Courtney Grandgenett posted the fastest time for BEA with a 15:30 to take third in Heat C, while Marissia Hagedorn’s 15:59   put her sixth overall in the same heat and Rylee Wagner seventh overall in 16:18.

In Heat B, Lindsey Ankeny was fourth in 16:33, Miranda Murray fifth in 16:44 and Courtney Dunbar was ninth in 17:33.

Sierra Halvorson placed fourth in Heat A in 17:22, Mackenzie Determan was sixth in 18:44 and Kelly Aukes was seventh in 18:45.

For the boys, Eduardo Vega was fifth in Heat C in 18:19, followed by Riley Holmseth’s 18:31 for eighth and Aaron Wilhelmi in ninth with a time of 18:57.

Brandon Christians took second in Heat B in 18:51 and Wade Wilhelmi was fifth in 19:12.

In Heat A, Garrett Passer was second in 19:34, Jason Mertens took eighth in 21:28, JT Roe ninth in 22:03 and Korey Frandle’s 22:07 put him 10th overall.Girls team results:

(sum of top 7 times)

Fairmont 111:52, Blue Earth Area 115:59, St. James 120:33

Boys team results :

(sum of top 7 times) 

Fairmont 130:56, St. James 133:16, Blue Earth Area 134:52, Lyle/Pacelli incomplete

Girls junior varsity results:

(3,200 meters)

Niki Welder —  14:35, 9th

Audrey Schmidtke — 15:16, 13th 

Makenzie Jenkins — 15:30, 16th

Taylor Swanson — 15:53, 17th

Anna Aukes — 15:59, 19th

Amanda Pecholt — 16:22, 20th

Emily Clement — 17:29, 22nd  

Mercedes Briseno — 20:18, 24th

Moira Jans — 20:53, 25th

Boys junior varsity results:

(3,200 meters)

Tommy Handke — 12:11, 6th

Hans Kittleson — 12:34, 11th

Alvin Goraczkowski — 12:35, 12th

Tedd Bakken — 14:11, 21st

Luke Loveall — 15:21, 27th

Jake Berndt — 15:50, 28th