On September 2 at the Maple Lake Invitational, the Westonka cross country team showcased its commitment, talent and all-out hard work, placing first for the girls varsity, girls junior high and boys junior high. 

Coach Butch Humbert was impressed with his team's performance. “It was great to see so many of our kids on the award stand and many others that did so well," said Humbert. "We had 50 kids start and finish and capped off a busy week of training and learning, culminating with this meet.”

The returning varsity girls team was led by ninth grader Emma Andrev, coming in second place with a time of 21:29. Andrew was followed by sophomore Audrey Kirscht in fourth at 22:02, eighth grader Sophia Engesser in fifth place at 22:56, sophomore Mari Engesser in seventh place at 23:10, sophomore Brooke Garlock in eighth at 23:13, and junior Cassie Nemecek at 23:15.

One by one the White Hawks followed each other across the finish line, putting them first overall. The girls team has been together for two seasons and qualified for state in 2021. They are proving to be a competitive challenging team for 2022.

The varsity boys easily maintained third place overall out of 10 teams. Senior Jacob Trost led the team with an 18:46 finish, followed closely by junior Charlie Paul at 18:52, sophomore Isaac Hays at 19:22, senior Ethan Garlock at 19:28, and sophomore Andrew Finley at 19:29.

The girls junior varsity team was led by ninth grader Payton Stover, coming in strong at 23:23, ninth grader Bette Mae Grogan at 23:29, sophomore Claire Rashleger at 23:31, and sophomore Sierra Jerome at 28:00.

The boys junior varsity team had two runners finishing in the Top 20: ninth graders Miles Lund at 21:13 and Luke Sunnarborg at 21:48.

The middle school is showing great promise with another first-place win for both girls and boys. In the 1.5-mile competitive race for the girls, six runners were in the Top 20, with Anna Regenhold leading in fourth place at 11:31, Ella McClellan in sixth place at 11:46, Vayla Jerome in seventh at 11:47, Elise Hays in ninth at 11:47, Hadley Hoag in 13th place at 12:16, and Genevieve Fosler at 13:30. 

The boys junior high, with five runners finishing in the Top 12 places, was led by Owen Trost in second place at 9:30, Brendan Rashleger in seventh place at 10:04, Drew Carlson in eighth place at 10:30, Jacob Chilson in ninth place at 10:34, and Gabriel Lundgren in 11th at 10:38.

The Maple Lake Invitational was a hard course for all the runners.  The last 1.5 mile of the race had a challenging uphill slope that quickly fatigues any runner. As Coach Humbert said, “it was going to be a lonely race” due to the layout of the course. Very few spectators were able to cheer on the runners in the long 1-mile loop where runners begin to separate. This can slow a lot of runners when they have no one to compete with to maintain their training pace. Luckily, it was an early morning race with cooler temperatures.

“We head to Montgomery next Thursday to tangle with 33 other teams in perhaps the largest cross country meet in Minnesota this year,” said Humbert.

We look forward to watching the White Hawks compete again Thursday, September 8 at the Montgomery Golf Course.  Go White Hawks!