ALEXANDRIA - The Willmar girls team placed all six of their runners in the top 15 Saturday to easily win the team title at the 42nd running of the Lion’s Meet of Champions at Arrowwood Resort.
Sophomore Sophie Schmitz paced the latest win for Class AA No. 1-ranked Willmar by finishing fifth in a time of 14:37.9, just under a minute off the winning pace of 13:44.9 set by Alexandria junior Megan Hasz.
Megan’s twin sister Bethany was second in 13:46.2.
Not far behind Sophie Schmitz for Willmar was sophomore Kayla Rudie in eighth at 14:50.2, eighth-grader Heidi Schmitz in ninth at 14:51.1, sophomore Jessa Hanson in 10th at 14:56.5, eighth-grader Serena Monson in 11th at 14:59.5 and senior Samantha Hanson in 15th at 15:09.9.
Willmar’s top five places totaled only 39 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Marshall’s 97 points.
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“Sophie led the way, but we had solid races from the entire team,” said Willmar coach Jerry Popp, “with a very small time spread from 1-5.”
The Willmar girls have won team titles in all seven meets they have ran this season. Up next is the St. Cloud Tech Invite on Tuesday.
On the boys side Saturday, Willmar finished 12th among 25 teams. Popp said two varsity runners didn’t compete due to illness and injury.
Junior Nadir Yusuf was the Cardinals’ top finisher by placing 10th in 16:29.7. Colin Thompson, also a junior, was timed in 16:40.5 to finish 17th.
BOYS
Team scoring
(1) Stillwater 52 (2) White Bear Lake 153 (3) Chanhassen 161 (4) Alexandria 209 (5) Mounds View 212 (6) Bemidji 221 (7) Red Wing 234 (8) Chaska 257 (9) Buffalo 264 (10) Rocori 312 (11) Roseville 317 (12) Willmar 329 (13) Moorhead 348 (14) Marshall 354 (15) Sartell 380 (16) St. Thomas Academy 380 (17) St. Cloud Cathedral 401 (18) Monticello 411 (19) St. Cloud Tech 437 (20) Detroit Lakes 458 (21) Cretin-Derham Hall 481 (22) Becker 487 (23) Windom 642 (24) St. Cloud Apollo 751 (25) Fergus Falls 752
Individual
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TOP 10 - (1) Bailey Hesse-Withbroe, Stil, 15:55.9 (2) Eli Krahn, Stil, 16:10.4 (3) Matthew Lundstrom, DL, 16:11.4 (4) Aaron Runge, Alex, 16:15.7 (5) Nick Yokanovich, Stil, 16:20.7 (6) Collin Kiley, Rose, 16:23.2 (7) Tyler Kobilarcsik, Chan, 16:25.5 (8) Zac Miller, Cha, 16:27.1 (9) Frank Graham, Buf, 16:28.8 (10) Nadir Yusuf, Wil, 16:29.7
WILLMAR - (10) Yusuf (17) Colin Thompson 16:40.5 (66) Jack Erickson 17:34.7 (99) Cael Carlson 18:01.6 (137) Kyle Knofczynski 19:04.7 (144) Dakota Tjaden 19:26.4
GIRLS
Team scoring
(1) Willmar 39 (2) Marshall 97 (3) Chaska 138 (4) Moorhead 147 (5) Roseville 189 (6) Monticello 209 (7) Chanhassen 233 (8) White Bear Lake 264 (9) Red Wing 265 (10) Mounds View 270 (11) Sartell 283 (12) Alexandria 294 (13) Stillwater 305 (14) St. Cloud Tech 314 (15) Rocori 333 (16) Buffalo 390 (17) Becker 424 (18) Detroit Lakes 498 (19) Fergus Falls 547 (20) St. Cloud Apollo 560 (21) Windom 606 (22) Certin-Derham Hall 646 … Bemidji incomplete
Individual
TOP 10 - (1) Megan Hasz, Alex, 13:44.9 (2) Bethany Hasz, Alex, 13:46.2 (3) Jasmyn Armstrong, RW, 14:24.5 (4) Anastasia Korzenowski, Chan, 14:30.3 (5) Sophie Schmitz, Wil, 14:37.9 (6) Sadie Hamrin, Bem, 14:47.2 (7) Clare Boersma, Mar, 14:48.2 (8) Kayla Rudie, Wil, 14:50.2 (9) Heidi Schmitz, Wil, 14:51.1 (10) Jessa Hanson, Wil, 14:56.5
WILLMAR - (5) S. Schmitz (8) Rudie (9) H. Schmitz (10) J. Hanson (11) Serena Monson 14:59.5 (15) Samantha Hanson 15:09.9
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