Aubrey Woodwick, above left, and Devin Haase, above right, were the top finishers for BEA at the Buc Invite on Oct. 8. Woodwick finished fourth for the girls. Haase was 18th for the boys.

The Blue Earth Area cross country teams hosted the Buc Invite on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at the Minn-Iowa Golf Course north of Elmore. Five teams competed at the event which was run under sunny skies and comfortable temperatures.

Girls Results

Mountain Lake-Comfrey won the girls event with 43 points. St. James claimed the runner-up spot with 63 points. Windom Area and BEA both had 85 points with the Eagles being awarded third place and the Bucs placing fourth. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial-Nicollet finished fifth with 93 total points.

Aubrey Woodwick and Sidney Eitzmann both had top-10 finishes.

Woodwick placed fourth with a time of 21:51.3 and Eitzmann was sixth in 22:45.8.

Natalie Griffey was the third BEA runner to cross the finish line. Her time of 24:20.9 put her in 13th place.

April Garcia finished 34th in 29:47.7, Myla Eastman was 36th in 30:33.6, Makayla Ankeny was 40th in 31:38.0 and Analiz Leal was 41st in 35:53.3.

Boys Results

Mountain Lake-Comfrey was also the winner for the boys with 35 points. Windom Area claimed second place with 44 points, St. James was third with 68, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial-Nicollet was fourth with 85 and Blue Earth Area was fifth with 135.

Devin Haase was the top performer for the Bucs with a time of 19:59.1 to finish in 18th place.

Marcus Eckles crossed the finish line with a time of 21:11.5 to place 28th.

Gibson Haase came in 31st in 21:56.7, Oliver Ankeny was 35th in 23:04.8, Samuel Bell was 36th in 23:17.2, Michael Vaske was 39th in 25:01.3 and Noah Hanson was 40th in 25:17.9.

Blue Earth Area will host the Big South Conference Cross Country Championship Meet at the Minn-Iowa Golf Course on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

I-90 Invitational

Cedar Creek Park in Fairmont was the site of the I-90 Invitational cross country meet hosted by the Fairmont Cardinals on Thursday, Oct. 3. Runners and teams from 10 different schools competed on a day that saw temperatures in the low 70s under partly cloudy skies.

Girls Results

The Blue Earth Area girls finished in sixth place with 117 points. St. Peter won the team portion of the competition with 45 points followed by Jackson County Central with 66, Worthington with 81, Fairmont with 85 and St. James with 91.

All of the BEA runners finished with either a season-best or personal-best time.

Three Bucs finished in the top 20 individually with Aubrey Woodwick leading the way with a time of 22:08 which put her in 12th place overall.

Sidney Eitzmann crossed the finish line less than one minute later. Her time of 22:57 was good for 16th place.

Natalie Griffey also made it into the top-20 finishers with a 19th-place time of 23:24.

“More great running for the girls today,” BEA coach Peter Koenig commented. “It has been quite a while since three Bucs were in the top 20 at the I-90 Invite.”

April Garcia claimed the fourth spot for the Bucs with a time of 27:54 which put her in 51st place. Makayla Ankeny was 58th in 28:56, Myla Eastman was 60th in 29:40 and Analiz Leal was 67th in 33:47.

In the junior high race, Sakura Harding broke into the top 10 with a ninth-place finish. Her time was 9:48.

“Sakura came out fast in the junior high race and hung with the front of the pack,” Koenig said.

Boys Results

St. Peter totaled 47 points to also win the boys’ portion of the meet. Finishing second was Madelia with 55 points. Worthington was third with 78, Fairmont came in fourth with 87, St. James was fifth with 94, Huron Lake-Okabena took sixth with 190 and BEA was seventh with 203 and JCC was eighth with 209.

Devin Haase led the Bucs with a time of 20:04 to finish 23rd.

“Devin had his fastest race in two years,” Koenig remarked. “This should be a good sign for things to come.”

Setting a personal record was Marcus Eckles who finished 39th with a time of 21:08.

“Marcus rocked a new personal record, breaking his record from the Section meet last year,” Koenig said.

Oliver Ankeny finished 58th and Gibson Haase finished 59th. Ankeny ran a season-best 22:40 while Haase had a time of 22:49.

Sam Bell, Michael Vaske and Noah Hanson also set personal records at the meet. Bell finished 64th in 23:16, Vaske was 70th in 24:19 and Hanson was 72nd in 24:46.

The junior high race had three Bucs competing and all three set new personal records.

Brayden Garlick finished 11th in 8:07, Gus Ankeny finished 14th in 9:06 and Harrison Patten was 26th in 11:21.

“This was the last official junior high race of the season so it was good to see all three runners achieve personal records,” Koenig concluded.