The Blue Earth Area cross country teams opened their season against the Jackson County Central Huskies and the Waseca Bluejays at the JCC Triangular on Aug. 27, at the Jackson Golf Course.

The conditions were hot and sunny on the hilly course making it a formidable challenge for the runners in their first meet of the year.

Waseca placed first in the girls varsity 4K contest, with 15 points. BEA was second with 40 and JCC had an incomplete score.

The Bucs were led by Eloise Blair who finished in 15th place with a time of 24:26.

Elizabeth Jacobson had problems with her hamstring in the second half of the run and finished in 18th place with a time of 27.20.

Lily Olson and Allison Redepenning competed in their first ever cross county races and finished in 19th and 20th place respectively. Olson had a time of 29:19 while Redepenning’s time was 29:20.

Leah Becker finished 21st with a time of 30:53. Aubrey Hueper’s time of 33:50 put her in 22nd place.

“Eloise paced herself well,” BEA head coach Tom Plocker said. “It was too bad Elizabeth’s hammy acted up, but she finished gamely.”

The Bluejays also took first place in the boys varsity 4K event. Waseca’s score of 23 was 10 better than JCC’s 33 points. BEA finished with 64 points

Angel Martinez was the top finisher for BEA with a time of 17:02 to claim 11th place.

Blair Lunz ran a personal best of 17:54 to finish in 14th place.

Cameron Germain took 15th place with a time of 18:15 and Zaire Morrow took 16th with a personal best time of 18:54.

Damion Mahlstedt ran a 20:58 course time for 21st place, Dominic Morrow took 27th with a time of 25:02, Eli Paz finished 28th with a time of 25:17,?James Greer took 29th in 26:17 and Shane Levenhagen was 30th with a time of 31:20.

“Angel raced smartly to claim the top honors for BEA runners today,” Plocker commented. “Blair had a very impressive cross country debut.”

BEA had two girls compete in the 2K junior high meet.

Destinee Griffey finished in fifth place with a time of 11:33. Addison Smith took seventh place, finishing in 11:52.

Four BEA boys competed in the boys junior high race, which was 2,000 meters long.

Devin Haase clocked a time of 9:54 to earn 10th place. Hayden Vereide took 12th place with a time of 11:29. Marcus Eckles’ time of 11:44 was good for 13th place and Gibson Haase ran the course in 12:42 to finish in 14th place.