Perham Girls Cross Country Wins State Title; Boys Finish Third

The Perham Yellowjackets Girls Cross Country pose with their 2022 Class A State Championship trophy (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

NORTHFIELD, MN (KDLM) – The Perham Yellowjackets girls won their fifth Class A state championship in the last seven seasons (excluding the Covid season with no state tournament) at St. Olaf College on Saturday at the 2022 State Cross Country meet.

“It was awesome,” said head coach Jeff Morris, who has now led Perham Cross Country teams to thirteen state championships since 2000. “We would have loved to get both (championships), but to get both teams on the podium with as good as the competition is down here. You gotta be proud when you compete well.”

The girls team won the meet with a total of 56 points, 22 points ahead of runner-up St. Cloud Cathedral. Last year’s state champion Staples-Motley took third place.

“This is the best our girls team has ever run down here,” said Morris. “We had three girls (Gracie Morris, Ella Hendrickson, Quincy Anderson) make the All-State team and came real close to putting three more in.”

Freshman Gracie Morris was the first Jacket to cross the finish line, placing 17th with a time of 19:33. Perham placed all five runners in the top 31 runners.

“Gracie got off to a really fast start,” said Morris. “She went out really, really hard and pulled the rest of the pack out with her. We couldn’t have asked for a better day on the girls’ side of the meet.”

The Perham boys, who competed in their 21st-consecutive State meet, were led by sophomore Bjorn Anderson, who finished third place overall.

Bjorn Anderson approaches the final hill before the finish line at the 2022 Class A State Cross Country Meet at St. Olaf College on November 5, 2022 (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

“Bjorn ran awesome up at the front,” Morris said. “Doing the same thing that Gracie does on the girls side…pulls the rest of the pack up with him. He just kind of ran out of gas at the end there. The two guys ahead of him (Sauk Centre’s Brandon Kampsen and Nova’s Henry Karelitz) ran really well today.”

The Perham boys finished with 133 points, trailing only champion Heritage Christian Academy (99) and Luverne (102).

A bittersweet part of state competition means it is the final race for high school seniors. Perham will graduate five seniors this upcoming spring.

“Micah Thompson is the only senior on our boys team, but he has been huge for us,” said Morris. “He’s been with us for three years. He actually came out with us because of Covid. He has said that he probably wouldn’t have ran cross country otherwise. He did it and ended up loving it. Micah has shown great leadership for us.”

“On the girls side, we have four seniors. My daughter Mya and Quincy Anderson have been on a couple of state teams. Lauryn Rustad has won four titles with us. Myriah Tharaldson is experiencing State for the first time. It’s been huge to have all of that state experience to pass on to the younger girls.”

The 2022 Yellowjackets pose with their championship and third-pace trophies following the State Meet at St. Olaf College on November 5th, 2022 (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

Part of that state experience is to bring the whole team, JV and all, down to St. Olaf to see what state is all about.

“We have about 95 kids from junior high up to varsity,” Morris said. “We do different fundraising projects throughout the year so that we can bring everybody…every runner and all of the managers, too. We’re probably one of the only programs that brings everybody. It’s great to show them what it’s all about and for them to be able to experience this because, ultimately, they’re the ones that are going to continue to push from the back of the pack and it trickles down to the front of the pack. Our top runners feel the push from the younger kids. And to have all their families and fans of Yellowjacket cross country is a huge boost for us.”

“We’re going to enjoy this, but the goal is already to come back next season, to continue to grow the program, to let the kids that came down to watch be a part of it, and to keep the tradition going.”

PERHAM GIRLS INDIVIDUAL TIMES:

17 Gracie Morris 19:33.3, 21 Ella Hendrickson 19:44, 25 Quincy Anderson 19:50.72, 29 Leelou Novotny 19:57.17, 31 Caidyn Breid 19:57.82, 33 Mya Morris 19:59.64, 61 Myriah Tharaldson 20:29.50

PERHAM BOYS INDIVIDUAL TIMES:

3 Bjorn Anderson 15:57.82, 32 Micah Thompson 16:56.03, 66 Caden Doll 17:19.38, 72 Dylan Guck 17:23.47, 86 Brayden Glorvigen 17:34.84, 99 Carter Flatau 17:49.16, 128 Blake Swenson 18:23.03