By TORRI VAALE
Panther Press
The NRHEG Cross Country team hosted the Gopher Conference meet at the Riverview Golf Course on Tuesday, Oct. 19. Seven area teams competed: Hayfield, USC, WEM/JWP, Medford, NRHEG, Blooming Prairie, and Maple River. The NRHEG girls’ team earned a score which tied for first place, but unfortunately lost to WEM/JWP in the tie breaker. The boys’ team placed third.
The NRHEG cross country team had multiple runners receive awards, including Quinn VanMaldeghem who placed second and Torri Vaale who placed third. The winners of second team all conference were Devon Nelton, eighth place, Holly Bartness, tenth place, and Annabelle Petsinger, twelfth place. Two team members also received honorable mentions: Jacob Karl, thirteenth, and Conner Nelson, eighteenth.
“Overall I’m proud of the performances,” said head coach Miles Otstot. “It was of course frustrating to lose the tiebreaker, however second place for the girls is still really good. We were able to win the tiebreaker against Medford for the boys’ team, pulling out a third place finish.”
“The team gave great effort and I am very proud of all of our runners.”
On Friday, October 29th the cross country team traveled to Blue Earth for one last meet. At sections all teams are attempting to qualify for the state tournament, which will be held on November 6 at St. Olaf College. Despite their best efforts, the NRHEG team had no state qualifiers. Both the girls’ and boys’ teams placed 8th in the section.
The girls team was led by two All-section runners, Quinn Vanmaldeghem and Torri Vaale. Quinn placed 9th with a time of 21:03 and Torri placed 11th with a time of 21:43. Both runners ended the season running a career best.