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Buc cross country girls 10th at State

By Staff | Nov 10, 2008

The Blue Earth Area girls cross country team finished in the “Top 10” at the State Meet held Nov. 1 at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

The Bucs finished 10th, three spots better than last year. It was BEA’s second-best ever finish in nine State meets, behind 1994’s seventh-place effort.

BEA tallied 256 points, 19 points behind arch rival Fairmont with 237.

“I was very pleased. The girls ran a solid race. Our goal was to finish in the top 10, and we accomplished that,” says head coach Tom Plocker.

Once again. leading the way for the Bucs was Courtney Grandgenett, who took 69th with her time of 16:06.7. Her time was 15 seconds faster than last year’s State meet performance.

The second BEA runner to complete the 4,000-meter course was Marissia Hagedorn. She placed 73rd in 16:12.0, improving 38 spots over last year and her time was 46 seconds faster.

LaNay Walker was five spots back in 78th with 16:20.4.

Running in her fourth straight State Meet, Rylee Wagner was in the top 100 runners with a time of 16:36.6 to finish 100th. 

Miranda Murray capped off her career by placing 117th in 16:46.6. Competing in her fifth straight State Meet, Murray shaved one minute off last year’s time and finished 25 places higher.

“That’s pretty remarkable and a tremendous accomplishment,” Plocker says of Murray’s string of State appearances.

Lindsey Ankeny took 134th in 17:12.5 and Mandy Warmka was 147th overall with 17:36.1.

Plocker says the team once again displayed its “pack running” ability to help them improve on individual times and placing over last year’s meet.

“As a team, we had the smallest spread of time from first to the fifth runner of any team in the field,” Plocker says. “It’s a testament to the girls and a real team effort.”

Team Results:

Adrian 98, Perham 108, Holy Family 125, Staples-Motley 160, Canby-Minneota-LH 164, Paynesville 186, Mille Lacs 223, Rochester Lourdes 232, Fairmont 237, Blue Earth Area 256, Albany 260, La Crescent 260, St. Paul Academy 270, Esko 283, Annandale 287, Crosby-Ironton.