ST. CLOUD - The Willmar girls cross country team turned in one of its best performances in recent memory on Tuesday as juniors Jessa Hanson, Sophie Schmitz and Kayla Rudie, and freshman Heidi Schmitz placed 1-2-3-4 at the St. Cloud Tech Invite.
The fifth runner to cross the finish line for the Cardinals was freshman Serena Monson, giving Willmar a first-place score of 18. Duluth East was second at 70 points.
Freshmen Leah Hansen and Elsie Duininck finished 10th and 11th for Willmar.
On the boys side Willmar also won the team title after senior Nadir Yusuf came in first and junior Mohamed Noor finished second.
The Cardinals collected five less points than runner-up Sartell, 45-50, and also had senior Ian Thompson (seventh), eighth-grader Hudeife Mire (12th) and freshman Cael Carlson (23rd) finish in the top 25.
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“This was a great tune-up for our teams as we head into the championship part of our season with CLC and Sections being our next two meets,” said Willmar coach Jerry Popp. “We are trying to find those final spots. It was also the first time in over a month that our full varsity girls team was able to compete together. They had an awesome effort.”
Up next for the Cardinals is the Central Lakes Conference Championships on Tuesday. The meet is being held at the Territory Golf Club in St. Cloud.
Willmar is the three-time defending girls CLC champion.
The Section 8AA meet is Oct. 29 at Monticello.
BOYS
Team Scoring
Not available
Individual
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TOP FIVE - (1) Nadir Yusuf, Willmar, 15:21.55 (2) Mohamed Noor, Willmar, 15:23.73 (3) Tyler Moore, Little Falls, 15:25.61 (4) Alex Nemeth, Sartell, 15:30.47 (5) Kendall Hill, Duluth East, 15:34.27
WILLMAR - (1) Yusuf (2) Noor (7) Ian Thompson 15:37.58 (12) Hudiefe Mire 16:07.78 (23) Cael Carlson 16:26.03 (32) Harley Anez 16:39.35
GIRLS
Team Scoring
Not available
Individual
TOP FIVE - (1) Jessa Hanson, Willmar, 17:39.37 (2) Sophie Schmitz, Willmar, 17:53.61 (3) Kayla Rudie, Willmar, 18:03.12 (4) Heidi Schmitz, Willmar, 18:03.56 (5) Ingrid Buiceag-Arama, Sartell, 18:12.38
WILLMAR - (1) Hanson (2) S. Schmitz (3) Rudie (4) H. Schmitz (8) Serena Monson 18:24.34 (10) Leah Hansen 18:51.56 (11) Elsie Duininck 18:54.72
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