The Mound Westonka cross country team kicked off their 2024 season with a bang! The White Hawks traveled to Maple Lake on Aug. 30 to compete in the Maple Lake Invitational. The teams produced fantastic results, including two team wins. The White Hawks are led by the coaching staff of Head Coach Butch Humbert, Middle School Head Coach Sara Schwartz and assistant coaches Christine Morud, Todd Munsterteiger, Amy Velsor and Karla Humbert. 

"It was very satisfying to see almost all of our 50-person roster get to the starting line and put in a solid effort at Maple Lake," shared Butch Humbert. "We are listing very few injuries right now and are looking strong."

Humbert added: "I think our kids benefitted from a super summer of training and prep for our first competitive meet. We also had many rookies who got their first taste of CC racing, and they were not intimidated in the least. Perhaps most impressive about this past week is how our athletes recovered from a huge, long run effort Tuesday night and were ready to battle just 60 hours later.  We beat the heat, then several teams at all levels."

The varsity girls won the invitational with a team score of 36 thanks to five of their runners placing in the top 15. Sophomore Sophia Engesser led the team in third place, followed by senior Audrey Kirscht in fifth, eighth grader Hadley Hoag in sixth, senior Brooke Garlock in 10th and sophomore Anna Regenold in 12th. 

The varsity boys had strong performances and placed fourth in the 11-team meet. Senior Isaac Hays was the first White Hawk to cross the finish line in 13th place. The next four teammates followed each other, placing 24-27: senior Andrew Finley, sophomore Owen Trost, and juniors Luke Sunnarborg and Noah Huesmann.

The boys junior varsity team impressively won the meet by having five runners place in the top 10. Leading the team was ninth grader Gabe Lundgren in third place, followed by ninth grader Jacob Chilson (6th), sophomore Brendan Rashleger (7th), sophomore Drew Carlson (8th) and sophomore Levi Hays (9th).

The girls JV did not have enough runners to enter a team, but their two runners both had amazing races with ninth grader Vayla Jerome placing third and ninth grader Elise Hays placing fourth. The middle school teams provided two standout performances with sixth grader Raelyn Moslander placing third for the girls and eighth grader Kellen Mueller placing seventh for the boys.

The team’s next meet will be the Tri-City United Gerry Smith Invitational in Montgomery. Coach Humbert commented:

"We have a very attractive schedule this year, including a huge (35-team) meet on Thursday, Sept. 5, a new meet for us (Glencoe-Silver Lake) on Sept. 19, and many of our traditional favorites taking us up to Conference and Sections, which we host this year. In our conference (Wright County East), Delano is the huge favorite to win the boys title, while Delano and Hutchinson are the preseason picks on the girls side. In Section 6AA, Orono is the clear favorite to win both the boys and girls titles, but there are many contenders on the boys side, and Delano is always dangerous and tough on the girls side. We will do our best and hope to sneak up on some teams by the end of the season! We are excited about all aspects of our season - the fun and productive practices and team building, the challenge of 24 extra special efforts that punctuate our training, and all the learning along the way."