NRHEG cross country
By DALE KUGATH
Sportswriter
MONTGOMERY – If you can survive the thundering herd at Montgomery, you should have a pretty good year. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva senior T.J. Schiltz should have a pretty good season.
Schiltz and his Panther teammates journeyed to the Redbird Invite in Montgomery last Thursday. The meet features 30-plus teams and nearly 300 runners in the race.
Schiltz, Adam Anderson and Katharine Lewer all cracked the top 100 finishers in their respective races
The Panther boys captured 21st place, while the girls had an incomplete squad of just four runners.
The NRHEG boys have an overall record of 9-34 after their first two starts, while the girls are 2-13.Boys
No one was able to stick with Waseca’s Shane Streich, but Schiltz came closer than anyone else over 5,000-meters.
Streich led the Bluejays to first place in the 27-team field with 68 points. Blake was a distant second with 123.
The Panthers totaled 552 points, earning them the 21st position among 27 complete teams.
Streich won the race by almost a minute, but Schiltz captured second place in 17:16. Schiltz finished third a year ago.
Anderson was NRHEG’s second runner, taking 96th place in 20:21.
“Adam took off nearly two minutes from last year,” said NRHEG coach Mike Weber.
Raece Johnson was pushed by Zach Mely for the third spot among the Panther runners. Johnson finished 141st in 22:19, while Mely came in 146th in 22:35.
“This was Zach’s best run this year,” said Weber.
C.J. Schiltz rounded out the NRHEG scoring with a time of 26:29, good for the 170th position.
Girls
The Panthers could field just four runners so could not compete in the team standings.
Mahtomedi won the meet with 79 points, four points better than Waseca.
Lewer and Sandra Quezada both broke the 20-minute barrier for NRHEG. Lewer was the top Panther finisher, running a 19:26 over 4,000-meters to capture the 92nd position in the race. Quezada placed 101st, finishing in 19:49.
“Sandra has run extremely will in both of our meets,” said Weber.
Missy Malakowsky ended up 114th, completing the course in 20:05.
Tina Quezada ran a 21:56 to claim the 146th position.
“Missy is cutting the difference between her and Sandra for our second position,” said Weber. “Tina has improved from last year. She was a minute faster than last year’s race.”
Weber is hoping to convince a couple of senior high runners to join the squad so that the Panthers can compete as a team.
NRHEG heads to Daly Park in Mapleton today for the Maple River Invite.
The annual Panther Invite will be held at Riverview GC Tuesday.
Redbird Invite
Team scores (B): 1)-Waseca 68, 2)-Blake 123, 3)-New Prague 134, 4)-Mahtomedi 161, 5)-TC United 162, 6)-Jordan 176, 7)-Mound-Westonka 210, 8)-Glencoe-Silver Lake 215, 9)-Belle Plaine 275, 10)-USC 289, 11)-Waconia 303, 12)-Norwood-YA 343, 13)-LCWM 381, 14)-Cannon Falls 428, 15)-Le Sueur 438, 16)-Fairmont 441, 17)-Maple River 481, 18)-Loyola 509, 19)-St. James 525, 20)-Blue Earth 527, 21)-NRHEG 552, 22)-Jackson 563, 23)-Sibley East 606, 24)-Mt. Lake 611, 25)-St. Peter 642, 26)-MVL 651, 27)-Medford 725.
(G): 1)-Mahtomedi 79, 2)-Waseca 83, 3)-Waconia 127, 4)-Fairmont 166, 5)-New Prague 170, 6)-Belle Plaine 240, 7)-USC 257, 8)-Norwood-YA 262, 9)-Jackson 306, 10)-St. Peter 316, 11)-Cannon Falls 321, 12)-TC United 326, 13)-Mt. Lake 349, 14)-Blake 350, 15)-Blue Earth 376, 16)-MVL 381, 17)-Glencoe 392, 18)-St. James 398, 19)-Jordan 451, 20)-Loyola 460, 21)-Maple River 473, 22)-Madelia 483, 23)-NRHEG incp.
NEXT: Today – NRHEG at Maple River Invite, 4:30 p.m.