The NRHEG High School cross country teams hosted their lone home meet of the season, the Panther Invitational, at Riverview Golf Course Thursday, Sept. 18.
The boys scored 134 points for sixth place, defeating Austin Pacelli and Madelia-Truman. Mankato Loyola won with 44.
Panther places and times: Tyler Schlaak, 20th, 19:15; Josh Fleming, 25th, 19:35; Brenden McMann, 37th, 20:22; Zach Mely, 40th, 20:33; Ben Lewer, 49th, 21:08; Aaron Seath, 72nd, 23:29; Orin Mely, 80th, 26:19.
“Tyler led the boys with a nice time, which has been coming down each meet, and he earned an award for being in the top 20,” said NRHEG coach Mike Weber. “Not only did Tyler run well, but each of our scorers this evening had their best 5K time of the season. Josh has consistently been our number two guy. Brenden ran well, as did Zach. I think having the home fans out really pumped up the athletes; they performed about as well as we could have hoped for tonight. I’d like to thank all the adults and students who helped out tonight. The meet rolled along smoothly through the evening and we had great support from the local community.”
The NRHEG girls fielded a full squad for the first time this season and finished fifth among five teams with 100 points. Tri-City United won with 42.
Individually for NRHEG: Sandra Quezada, 21st, 19:02; Katharine Lewer, 25th, 19:26; Missy Malakowsky, 31st, 20:06; Rayna Crosson, 47th, 21:48; Marissa Mortenson, 50th, 22:07.
“Sandra ran her best of the season and missed the awards by a place,” said Weber. “Katharine ran well and almost equaled her best. Missy ran her best of the season, as did Marissa. Rayna’s time jumped higher than we’d like, as she has been running well as of late. Overall, it was a good meet and it was nice having enough healthy runners to field scoring team.”
