Boys
Schiltz continued his outstanding season by winning the Blooming Prairie Invitational Sept. 25.
Pine Island won the seven-team race with 53 points, 13 better than runner-up Hayfield.
The Panthers finished with 138 points, eight behind fifth place Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. NRHEG was seventh among seven teams last year.
Schiltz covered the 5,000-meter course in 16:06, winning by a large margin.
“TJ was solid, taking a minute off of last year’s time,” said Weber.
Raece Johnson and Adam Anderson continued their trend of finishing second and third for the Panthers. Johnson placed 17th in 19:30, 10 seconds faster than Anderson who ended up 20th.
“This was Raece’s fastest time of the season,” said Weber. “And Adam took a minute off his best time.”
Dustin Burshem and Jake Schendel completed the Panther scoring. Burshem ran a 21:56 to finish 44th and Schendel was 56th in 24:22.
“This was about as good as our boys could run,” said Weber. “Nearly everyone lowered their times.”
NRHEG also competed in the four-team Grizzly Invite in Janesville Sept. 27.
Maple River ran away with the championship, scoring 26 points, 30 points fewer than Blue Earth. The Eagles had three of the first five finishers.
NRHEG came in third with 70 points, 15 fewer than host WEM/JWP. The Panthers were fourth in 2011.
Schiltz captured his second win of the week, running a 16:11. Jack Parsley of Maple River finished nine seconds behind Schiltz.
Girls
The WEM/JWP Grizzlies reversed things in the girls’ meet, winning with 52 points, 11 fewer than second-place Blooming Prairie.
The Panthers placed fifth with 111 points, four ahead of sixth place Hayfield. NRHEG moved up two places from last season.
WEM/JWP’s Tierney Winter was the girls’ winner, covering the 4,000-meter course in 15:24.
Gabriel Passmore of Maple River was 14 seconds back.
Lewer topped the Panthers with a solid fourth-place finish in 16:58.
“Katharine got off to a good start and got after it,” said Weber. “She was 40 seconds faster than her season’s best.”
Missy Malakowsky held down the second spot for NRHEG, finishing 18th in 18:21.
Crystal Olson came in 23rd in 19:10, followed by Sandra Quezada in the 26th position in 19:30.
All three runners ran personal bests for the year.
Kristy Possin finished 42nd and Taya Olson came in 47th to round out the Panther runners.
“All our runners are showing great improvement,” said Weber.
NRHEG matched last season’s third-place finish at Janesville by scoring 64 points at Prairie Ridge Golf Course.
WEM/JWP captured the top spot with 31 points, easily holding off Blue Earth with 48.
Tierney Winter of WEM/JWP was the race winner, completing the course in 15:24. She was 14 seconds ahead of Maple River’s Gabriel Passmore.
Lewer was the top Panther runner, placing fourth in the race in 17:42.
NRHEG returns to action this afternoon when it travels to Waseca to face a strong field at Lakeside Golf Course.
The Panthers will run at Oakview Golf Course in Freeborn Tuesday.
