Accomplishing a shared dream
The Owatonna boys and girls cross-country teams pose for a photo with their section second-place plaques. The two teams qualified for state together for the first time since 2001 last week at Brooktree Golf Course. Staff photo by Lucas Candullo
It was a monumental day for Owatonna boys and girls cross-country last week when both the boys and girls teams qualified for the Class AAA state meet by taking second place at Brooktree Golf Course.
Each team featured multiple top 10 finishers en route to making achieving a feat the school has not seen in over two decades.
“It’s the first time since 2001 that both teams have qualified for state,” said Owatonna boys Head Coach Luke Holt. “It was awesome to see the girls qualify. They ran a heck of a race. It was such a close finish and for them to get it by one point was a testament to their hard work… One of the first things I said before our race was, ‘Hey, every place matters. Look at what the girls just did.’ It motivated them.”
The girls team took to the trail first and put on a clinic at their home course by finishing second with 66 team points.
The Huskies were chasing Farmington (58 points) for first place, but found themselves in a heated battle for second with Lakeville North.
Owatonna’s Gracie Randall (19:28.4) led all Huskies girls in seventh place with teammates Clara Sennott (19:46.1) and Leah Leckner (19:47.8) close behind in 10th and 11th place.
The trio set Owatonna up nicely for a competitive finish, but through three runners, Owatonna found itself barely ahead of Lakeville North at 28-29, meaning the team’s state dreams would hinge on their final two athletes.
While Huskies and Panthers fans anxiously awaited the next athlete to race down the chute, it was Clara Meier that emerged first to give Owatonna more breathing room in the standings.
The sophomore sprinted down the home stretch and finished 16th in 20:04.6 to beat out Lakeville North’s Neve Atwood (18th) and Hayden Jansky (20th.)
Meier’s finish kept the Huskies at 45 team points, but the team was not out of the woods yet with Lakeville North hoping that its 67 points would be enough to survive and qualify.
As runners continued to cross and the Huskies’ lead began to disappear, seventh-grader Bergen Rolloff came to the rescue by finishing 22nd in 20:23.5 to beat out the Panthers by one point 66-67.
“The two that really stuck out to me were Clara Meier and Bergen Rolloff. They really stepped up. Sections is one day, so you have to bring your best on that day… Clara fought so hard to catch those runners, and I knew those last 500 yards that it was going to be close. I thought she really brought us to that second-place spot with that finish,” said Owatonna girls Head Coach Tasheena Cooke.
The boys team also found itself in a thrilling finish with the top three teams all falling within six points of one another.
Owatonna was unable to edge out Lakeville North for first in a tight 55-57 race, but the team did sneak past Farmington 57-61 to qualify for state.
Making matters sweeter for the Huskies was watching senior athlete Ayoub Farah win the section individual title with a stellar 15:39.2 time to take first.
“He had a game plan that he wanted to execute and he really ran to his strengths. He executed the game plan flawlessly… When needed to drop the hammer with 1,200-meterse left, he was so strong mentally and crushed it,” said Holt.
According to Holt, Farah’s rise to section champion has been meteoric.
“His personal record last year was a 19:50. That’s a four-minute improvement in just one year. Over the summer, he ran 450 miles coming into the season… It was amazing to see him say, ‘I want to achieve this goal,’ and then go out and do it daily… It all paid off,” said Holt.
Farah’s win paid off huge for the Huskies, but was aided tremendously by Dawson Levy (seventh – 16:08.8) and Grayson Slotsve (ninth – 16:16.5) both earning under double-digit points.
With two runners left to go, Owatonna had a meet-leading 17 points – a huge edge for a team looking to make a state appearance.
The team’s dreams were accomplished when Kaiden Struss (17th – 16:50.1) and Andrew Jacott (23rd – 17:03.2) crossed to cement the Huskies’ second-place finish.
Both teams will now prepare to take on the Class AAA state meet at Les Bolstad Golf Course on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The boys team will hit the trail first at 2:30 p.m., promptly followed by the girls team at 3:15 p.m.