ST. BONIFACIUS -- The drama concerning Willmar's defense of its cross-country championship centered on the possibility of a perfect score.
The No. 1-ranked Cardinals nearly did it, placing five runners in the top six and all seven in the first 16.
But instead of a perfect score, Willmar finished just one off with a 16.
For the second year in a row, Abdi Awale, in first, and his Willmar teammates dominated the Section 2AA boys cross-country meet on the campus of Crown College.
"We were going for another perfect score, but we're happy with 16," said Awale. "We wanted to make a statement going into state."
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Last year, the Cardinals won the school's first section title with a score of 21 on the same course.
Awale ran his best race of the fall, a 15:49 (compared to 15:57 a year ago).
Right behind Awale came three teammates: Kaafi Adeys (also second last year) in 16:07, Mahad Hassen third in 16:09 and Mustafa Yusuf fourth in 16:10.
Kyle Schmidt of Hutchinson broke up the a Willmar "straight", finishing a stride behind Yusuf and 3.3 seconds up on Willmar's fifth runner, Mohamed Bedel, sixth in 16:14.
Not far back came Andrew Nicklawsky and Scott Boros in 15th and 16th place. Second-place Buffalo (114 points) put only two runners in the top 24.
"We ran really well," said Yusuf, one of the five seniors. "Not our best, but really good. We're proud of the way we ran."
Jackie Johnson, one of four freshmen, led the Willmar girls to 11th place.
"In a year or two, we'll be going further," said Johnson. "We all have our hearts and minds set on going to state."
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Jayne Cole, Britta Pederson, Vanessa Englemann and Danielle Erickson finished out the Willmar top five. All return next year.
The Willmar boys will defend their 2005 championship at the state meet Nov. 4 at Northfield on the St. Olaf College campus.
BOYS
Team scoring
(1) Willmar* 16 (2) Buffalo* 114 (3) Hutchinson 127 (4) Chaska 130 (5) Mankato West 147 (6) Shakopee 171 (7) Waseca 185 (8) Mankato East 213 (9) Marshall 221 (10) Mound Westonka 236 (11) New Prague 243 (12) Prior Lake 265 (13) New Ulm/Minnesota Valley Lutheran 401 (14) Dassel-Cokato 461 (15) Worthington 465 (16) Waconia 467
* -- qualify for state tournament as team
Individual
STATE QUALIFIERS -- (1) Abdi Awale, Wil, 15:49 (2) Kaafi Adeys, Wil, 16:07 (3) Mahad Hassan, Wil, 16:09 (4) Mustafa Yusuf, Wil, 16:10.1 (5) Kyle Schmidt, Hut, 16:10.8 (6) Mohamed Bedel, Wil, 16:14 (7) Josh Myers, Sha, 16:37 (8) Ben Rodriquez, Buf, 16:38 (9) Pat Bigaoutte, Cha, 16:38 (10) Keagan Marbel, Was, 16:44
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WILLMAR -- (1) Awale 15:49 (2) Adeys 16:07 (3) Hassan 16:09 (4) Yusuf 16:10 (6) Bedel 16:14 (15) Andrew Nicklawsky 17:06 (16) Scott Boros 17:10
GIRLS
Team scoring
(1) Prior Lake* 65 (2) Marshall* 66 (3) Chaska 79 (4) Waseca 127 (5) Shakopee 176 (6) Mound Westonka 179 (7) Mankato West 192 (8) Mankato East 209 (9) New Prgue 227 (10) Buffalo 227 (11) Willmar 230 (12) Hutchinson 257 (13) Waconia 390 (14) New Ulm/Minnesota Valley Lutheran 422 (15) Worthington 448 (16) Dassel-Cokato 515
* -- qualify for state tournament as team
Individual
STATE QUALIFIERS -- (1) Laura Hughes, MW, 15:07 (2) Brooke Wyffels, Mar, 15:48 (3) Megan Lundgren, ME, 15:49.2 (4) Meghan Heuer, Prior Lake, 15:49.5 (5) Sarah Heuer, PL, 15:50.5 (6) Kaila Urick, Chas, 15:50.9 (7) Julia Harrison, Mou, 15:54 (8) Paige Sotirin, Mou, 16:03
WILLMAR -- (30) Jackie Johnson 17:06 (40) Jayne Cole 17:19 (48) Britta Pederson 17:28 (51) Vanessa Englemann 17:31 (61) Danielle Erickson 17:47 (76) Carlie Freese 18:01 (80) Brin Hanson 18:19
