Crowning achievement

NORTHFIELD - Talk began on the bus ride home a year ago about what it would take to win a state championship.

This year, the talk on the way back to Willmar was presumably on what it will take to repeat.

The Willmar Cardinals are the champions of Class AA cross-country after narrowly defeating running powerhouse Stillwater 84-91 Saturday in the 16-team state meet.

Kaafi Adeys finished fourth and Abdi Awale took sixth to lead the favored Cardinals.

The victory justified the team's No. 1 rating all season. It was their eighth victory without a loss in Minnesota meets.

"Yes, we felt the pressure of being No. 1," said Awale. "Everyone was after us, but we felt that Stillwater was the team we had to beat."

The Ponies race at state virtually every year and have won three state titles. There were some anxious moments for the Willmar team before the final results were displayed on the digital read-out more than a half-hour after the race ended.

The official results prompted whoops, shouts and somersaults by the Willmar runners, who were about to start on their cool down run.

"I can't put it into words," said Mohammed Bedel, who finished 25th. "We knew what we had to do because a lot of people were after us."

Mustafa Yusaf was 43rd overall in his first state trip.

"I feel happy, excited," said Yusaf, one of four natives of Somalia in the line-up. "Coming down the hill through the woods, I was picking off runners."

Mike Switzer, one of five veterans on the squad, was the fifth runner in 44th place. Though he improved 13 places from a year ago, he was worried at first that it wasn't enough.

Later he said of being on the top-ranked team: "You can act like it's no big deal, but it does effect you."

Willmar's point total was the same as a year ago when their 84 points were second to Marshall's 34.

In the head-to-head race with Stillwater, Adeys and Awale made it their goal to beat Stillwater's top gun, Ben Blankenship, who took seventh.

"I told Kaafi to kick it in," said Awale, who finished 15 second behind his teammate. "He was feeling good. That kid is a stud."

Adeys, who had more often run second to Awale this fall, got as high as third in the last 800 meters but Tim Branigan of Roseville caught him on the final rise heading into the chute.

Willmar's five returnees from 2004, including Dustin Geselius who moved up from 110th to 52nd overall, improved a total of 119 places from a year ago. Paul Kimpling in his first state meet took 103rd in a field 153. If all seven runners were counted, Willmar's margin over Stillwater stretches to 42 points.

It was only the third state title for Willmar and first in cross country, but it wasn't the first in the family of head coach Disa Daucsavage. Her father, Dale Hillstrom, was coach of the Deer River/Northland at Remer, team that won Class A girls in 1999.

She said the championship is exciting but also a "relief."

"The kids handled the pressure really well," she said. "They knew they deserved to be there (No. 1)."

Saturday, they went out and proved it.