The Minnesota Section 6AA cross country meet was contested on October 29 on a perfect sunny fall afternoon. These were much different conditions than 24 hours earlier, the original date of the meet.  Due to heavy rain and slippery terrain, the meet was delayed one day.  But now ready to race, twelve teams from across the metro trekked west to Collinwood Regional Park in Dassel, MN to celebrate their fitness, stamina and contend for a coveted trip to the State Meet.

State qualifying occurs in one of two ways; as a team or as an individual. The top two placing boys’ and girls’ teams automatically advance.  The first six individual finishers who are not members of the 1st and 2nd place teams also advance.

With a strong season to date, and expectations high, the girls team was the 3rd seed, just one point behind Breck.  The last time the White Hawks girls team qualified for State was back in 2007; would they be able to reset the clock this day?

The starting gun set runners immediately uphill then downwards for a wooded loop followed by two rolling field loops.  Junior Laura Sunnarborg and freshman Audrey Kirscht were the White Hawks leaders early on. The rest of the Westonka runners maintained a tight grouping which is ideal for cross country scoring.  As exhausted runners completed the grueling uphill finish, the waiting game for results began. 

With cheers and sighs of relief, and by placing second, the girls team qualified for the state meet.  The team finished with Laura Sunnaborg in ninth with a 20:25, Audrey Kirscht placed 13th with a 20:47, and right on her heels was Allison Soule in 14th with a 20:57.  Next in were Emma Andrev in 18th with a 21:07, Sophia Engesser in 20th with a 21:13,  Brooke Garlock in 30th with a 21:56 and Mari Engesser in 33rd with a 22:07.

The boys were up next. The typical nervousness and excitement at the start line right before a race was amplified due to the race postponement.  Not to mention, some of the fastest runners in the state would soon be unleashed to run.  White Hawks senior Lance Nemecek was seeded seventh and favorable for a qualifying spot.  Could he pull it off?  The pace was blistering from the onset and the field was soon spread out.  At the halfway point, Nemecek was fighting to hold the ninth spot, with senior Josh Engesser and junior Jacob Trost giving it their all to gain ground. 

The tense moments immediately following the race subsided with the posting of the official results. The White Hawks had an individual qualifier with Nemecek placing 10th with a 17:00.  Next was Josh Engesser in 18th with a 17:33, Jacob Trost in 30th with a 18:03, Charlie Paul in 37th with a 18:20, Max Epsky in 39th with a 18:28, Brandon Knock in 43rd with a 18:38 Wyatt Carlson in 53rd with a 19:03.  The team placed sixth out a total of 11 teams.

Coach Butch Humbert stated, “The Section Meet witnessed all of our kids racing well…I was impressed with the enthusiasm our kids brought to our events this week…”

The MSHSL State Cross Country Meet concludes the cross country season and will be held November 6 at Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Lance Nemecek races in the boys 2AA race at 2:30 p.m. and the White Hawks girls team will compete in the girls 2AA race at 3:30 p.m.