Sidney Eitzmann passes another runner on her way to the finish line at the cross country meet held at the Jackson Golf Club on Sept. 21.

Jackson County Golf Club was the site of Blue Earth Area’s cross country meet on Sept. 21. Overcast skies, a slight breeze and a temperature of 77 degrees greeted runners from eight different schools who were present to take on the hilly 5k course.

Windom was the winner of the boys meet with 45 points. Luverne was only four points behind with 49, which put them in the runner-up spot. BEA’s score of 175 put them in sixth place.

“We were short a few men today due to illness,” BEA head coach Peter Koenig said. “But, the remaining Bucs persevered through the hills of Jackson.”

Brady Lorenz, with a time of 20:01, was the top BEA runner and finished in 25th place. Devin Haase was next for the Bucs with a time of 22:11 which put him in 41st place.

“Brady ran a great race today and was just barely off of 20 minutes,” Koenig commented. “Devin ran strong and passed six people on his way to a time of 20:11.”

Seth Mathews, Marcus Eckles and Oliver Ankeny were the next BEA runners to cross the finish line. Mathews finished 51st in 24:24, Eckles was 52nd in 24:37 and Ankeny was 58th in 25:16.

“Seth narrowly edged out Marcus and Oliver set a new personal record on what may be the hilliest course we will run this season,” Koenig said.

Gibson Haase had a time of 26:24 to finish 60th and Manav Chaudhari was 68th in 29:08.

In the junior high 2400-meter race, BEA’s Jason Casey had a season-best time of 8:39 to finish in sixth place. Brayden Garlic completed the course in 11:02 for 22nd place and Gus Ankeny was 25th in 11:22.

Girls Results

Only four schools were able to field a complete team in the girls competition. Luverne placed first at the meet with 26 points followed by second-place Martin County West with 55 points. Jackson County Central was third with 66 and Worthington placed fourth with 81.

Aubrey Woodwick and Sidney Eitzmann each had a top-10 finish for the Bucs.

Woodwick clocked a time of 22:58 to finish in sixth place. Sidney Eitzmann finished seventh with a time of 24:16.

“Aubrey ran a tough race after getting stranded in ‘no man’s land’ after the first lap. But, she pushed through and did a great job on the hills to finish with a good time,” Koenig said. “Sidney had to fight with a pack for most of the race but ran another solid race to take seventh place.”

Leah Becker’s time of 29:50 was good for 35th place and Makayla Ankeny was 42nd in 34:06.

BEA had two girls run in the 2400-meter junior high race. Natalie Griffey crossed the finish line in 8:46 to finish in third place and Myla Eastman had a time of 12:30 to finish 17th.