ALEXANDRIA -- More evidence that the Willmar boys cross-country team runs in a class by itself was posted Saturday at the 34th annual Lions' Meet of Champions.
The No. 1-ranked Class AA Cardinals put five runners in the top 10 and amassed only 24 points to outrace runner-up Stillwater by 81 points. The Ponies, ranked No. 8 in the Coaches Poll released Oct. 2, were second by 18 points to Willmar at the 2005 state meet.
No. 2-ranked Roseville finished third, while No. 6 Moorhead took fourth among 21 teams running at the Arrorwood Resort golf course.
Stillwater's Ben Blankenship in 16:03 was the individual winner, but Willmar runners took the next four places -- Kaafi Adeys in 16:18, Abdi Awale at 16:25, Mohamed Bedel also at 16:25 and Mahad Hassan at 16:34. Mustafa Yusuf was 10th in 16:50.
Blankenship was fourth last year in this race. Adeys and Awale repeated their place and order of finish.
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No. 2-ranked Marshall won the girls race led by No. 5-rated Brooke Wyffels. The Willmar runners came in ninth. Jackie Johnson in 38th place was followed by teammates Carlie Freese 58th, Emily Ellingson 59th, Danielle Erickson 70th and Vanessa Engelmann 72nd.
BOYS
Team scoring
(1) Willmar 24 (2) Stillwater 105 (3) Roseville 106 (4) Moorhead 122 (5) Mounds View 144 (6) Benilde-St. Margaret 148 (7) Brainerd 161 (8) Alexandria 171 (9) Red Wing 206 (10) Chaska 298 (11) Cretin-Derham Hall 328 (12) Bemidji 348 (13) St. Cloud Cathedral 362 (14) Marshall 412 (15) Staples-Motley 443 (16) Prior Lake 461 (17) Belle Plaine 494 (18) St. Louis Park 496 (19) Little Falls 526 (20) Wahpeton 559 (21) Fergus Falls 653
Individual
TOP 10 -- (1) Ben Blankenship, Stl, 16:03 (2) Kaafi Adeys, Wil, 16:18 (3) Abdi Awale, Wil, 16:25 (4) Mohamed Bedel, Wil, 16:25 (5) Mahad Hassan, Wil, 16:34 (6) Richie Mark, RW, 16:36 (7) Justin Tyner, Brd, 16:37 (8) Andy Quinn, BSM, 16:39 (9) John Holt, Rose, 16:39 (10) Mustafa Yusuf, Wil, 16:50
WILLLMAR -- (2) Adeys (3) Awale (4) Bedel (5) Hassan (10) Yusuf (36) Andrew Nicklawsky 17:46 (46) Scott Boros 17:56
GIRLS
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Team scoring
(1) Marshall 75 (2) Stillwater 95 (3) Chaska 97 (4) Prior Lake 102 (5) Moorhead 118 (6) Roseville 127 (7) Staples-Motley 217 (8) Mounds View 221 (9) Willmar 297 (10) Alexandria 305 (11) Brainerd 305 (12) Bemidji 309 (13) Cretin-Derham Hall 314 (14) Fergus Falls 315 (15) Belle Plaine 367 (16) Little Falls 382 (17) St. Louis Park 531 (18) Red Wing 533
Individual
TOP 10 -- (1) Brooke Wyffels, Mar, 15:05 (2) Carolyn Baird, Stl, 15:13 (3) Meghan Heuer, PL, 15:21 (4) Kaila Urick, Chs, 15:34 (5) Caitlin Hewes, Stl, 15:35 (6) Taylor Warnes, MV, 15:43 (7) VanKeulen, Mar, 15:44 (8) Landecker, Stp, 15:45 (9) Kelsey Junget, Chs, 15:46 (10) Emma Gray, Rose, 15:47
WILLMAR -- (38) Jackie Johnson 16:40 (58) Carlie Freese 17:05 (59) Emily Ellingson 17:07 (70) Danielle Erickson 17:22 (72) Vanessa Engelmann 17:25 (97) Britta Pederson 18:18
