Local Results from 2022 Class A State Cross Country Meet

Jade Rypkema of Nevis (left) battles defending champ Amanda Overgaauw of Murray County Central at the 2022 State Cross Country Meet at St. Olaf College on November 5th, 2022 (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

NORTHFIELD, MN (KDLM) – Cross Country teams from six area schools, as well as 17 individual runners, competed at the 2022 Class A State Cross Country Meet at St. Olaf College in Northfield on Saturday.

In Class A, the Perham Yellowjackets girls team won their fifth championship in the last seven state meets (there was no state meet in 2020) with Staples-Motley finishing in third place. The Hawley Nuggets placed 8th, and Wadena-Deer Creek finished 9th out of 16 teams at the state meet.

Nevis senior Jade Rypkema finally won her individual state championship, beating out last year’s champion Amanda Overgaauw of Murray County Central. Rypkema finished runner-up as a freshman in 2019, and fifth last year. Rypkema recently committed to run DI for the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the fall. Rypkema’s teammate freshman Adeline Bjorklund finished 68th.

United North Central’s Anjalie Aho runs at the 2022 Class A State Cross Country Meet at St. Olaf College on November 5, 2022 (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

Sophomore Anjalie Aho of United North Central placed sixth overall as UNC’s lone representative at the Class A meet. Freshman Audrey Brownell also finished on the podium with a seventh-place finish. Junior Caroline Kuehne of LPGE placed ninth.

Perham freshman Gracie Morris was the first Yellowjacket to cross the finish line with a 17th-place finish. The Yellowjackets placed their five scoring runners in the top-31 runners overall with eighth-grader Ella Hendrickson (21), senior Quincy Anderson (25), freshman Leelou Novotny (29), and freshman Caidyn Breid (31) all finishing within 40 seconds of Morris. Perham’s sixth runner senior Mya Morris placed 33rd and senior Myriah Tharaldson placed 61st.

Perham freshman Gracie Morris runs in the 2022 State Cross Country meet at St. Olaf College on November 5th, 2022 (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

Bertha-Hewitt eighth grader Kendra Miller, already running in her second state meet, placed 28th this season after a 101st-place finish in 2021.

Senior Aften Robinson of Staples-Motley finished 32nd overall for the third-place Cardinals. Senior Ashley Robben placed 39th, followed by eighth-grader Bella Hines who PR’d with a 20:08.21. Eighth-grader Sophie Schlosser finished 95th for SM, sophomore Naila Mikhaeil was 105th and eighth-grader Suhaila Mikhaeil was 120th.

Ottertail Central’s lone runner, freshman Norah Froslee, finished 45th in her first state meet. Sophomore Katie Holzner of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy placed 50th, and senior Morgan Koppelman of Park Rapids finished 59th.

Junior Ivy Tickel of Hawley was the first Nugget in with a 58th-place finish. She was followed by sophomore Lily Olson (70), eighth-grader Mikayla Jelinek (100), junior Trista Baer (101), eighth-grader Rachel Swan (114), sophomore Dru Dauner (132), and senior Bree Nelson (146).

The Wolverines of Wadena-Deer Creek, making their first state appearance since 1999, finished in 9th place and were led by their young core of sophomore Amber Collins in 77th place, freshman Britt Sweeney (78th), and freshman Lydia Oldakowski (79th). Eighth-grader Brielle Kern was 92nd, freshman Cambrie Geiger was 123rd, senior Ally Pavek was 134th and eighth-grader Karly Haverkamp was 136th.

Freshman Ellen Schauer of Lake Park-Audubon placed 81st at this year’s meet after finishing 34th at last year’s state meet as an eighth-grader.

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)

In the boys Class A race, the Perham boys finished in third place with a 133. Park Rapids was close behind with a 139…their best State finish since finishing third in 1985. Staples-Motley finished sixth with 188 and Bertha-Hewitt, in their first-ever State tournament race, was seventh with a 200.

Perham sophomore Bjorn Anderson took third place with a time of 15:57.82. Bertha-Hewitt freshman Brady Rach, after placing 49th last year, finished on the podium with an eighth-place finish. Park Rapids junior Noah Huot was the third area runner to finish on the podium with a 10th-place finish.

Park Rapids junior Noah Huot runs in the 2022 State Cross Country meet. (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

Led by Huot’s tenth-place finish, Park Rapids placed fourth after a 35th-place finish by senior Blaine Hensel and a 39th-place finish by sophomore Ephraim Bervig. Senior Logan Maanum was 64th, senior Eli Bervig was 108th, sophomore Thomas Lopez was 117th and eighth-grader Asher Bervig was 125th.

Issiah Tabbat was one of four Staples-Motley Cardinals to PR in Saturday’s race. Tabbat finished 14th with a 16:37. Senior Luke Brownell placed 34th, sophomore Logan Robben was 73rd, sophomore Dillan Robben PR’d for a 106th place finish, senior Grant Johnson was 113th, junior Odin Trif and seventh-grader Gage Bjerga also PR’d for was 139th and 143rd place finishes.

Junior Zane Gunderjahn of Bertha-Hewitt finished 33rd with a 16:56 in the Bears State cross-country debut along with junior Zach Baumgartner (85), junior Preston Miller (87), freshman Gunnar Barthel (135), freshman Henry Lockwood (137), and senior Titus Eckel (141).

Pelican Rapids sophomore Charlie Larson finished 13th in Saturday’s race, despite shaving twenty seconds off his 2021 time in which he placed 11th.

A trio of Lake Park-Audubon Raiders competed at the state meet in senior Taylor Johnson (21st), sophomore Thor Erickson (28th), and senior Seth Torgerson (59th).

Area runners competing independently included Wadena-Deer Creek senior Bjorn Brunsberg (45th), Parkers Prairie senior James Suchy (47), DGF freshman Owen Winter (58), and Hawley senior Ben Geeslin (68).

CLASS A GIRLS TEAM SCORES: