Huskies are headed back to state
The Owatonna girls’ cross-country team smiles with its plaque commemorating a second-place section finish last week. The Huskies’ girls’ team will now compete at the state tournament for the second consecutive year. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Owatonna cross-country had an action-packed day at Brooktree Golf Course last week for the Section 1AAA Meet, sending the entire girls team to state and qualifying two boys runners as individuals.
The Huskies’ girls’ team was excellent from top to bottom with all five qualifying runners placing 24th or better.
“We’re very excited. We have a team that when they’re running well, they run as a pack. They really packed it up today. You could see it in their eyes before the race that they really wanted it. From the gun, they really battled and stuck together. I couldn’t be any more proud of them,” said Owatonna girls’ Head Coach Dan Leer.
The Huskies’ top finisher was freshman Leah Leckner, who took eighth place in 19:34.
Not far behind Leckner was teammate Clara Sennott in 11th (19:44.9), followed closely by Kendra Melby and Clara Meier in 17th (20:22.9) and 18th place (20:24) respectively.
Rounding out the pack was Ava Cox, who took 24th in 20:35.
The Huskies’ big day scored the team just 78 points – only 15 points off of Farmington’s 63 in first place.
On the boys’ side, Owatonna was able to qualify two runners as individuals for the state tournament in Dawson Levy and Jack Sorenson.
Levy and Sorenson ran down the final stretch side-by-side as fans cheered on, with Levy edging out Sorenson in the final 50 feet to take second.
The two finished just 0.05 seconds apart with Levy taking second in 16:11.9 and Sorenson earning third in 16:12.4.
The two set their squad up for the chance to potentially qualify for state as a team, but the Huskies’ next best finish came from Grayson Slotsve in 21st place in 17:04.3.
Overall, Owatonna was able to take third place behind Lakeville North and Lakeville South, with the former outscoring the Huskies 58-89 for second place.
Both the Huskies’ girls team and the boys’ individuals will compete next at the University of Minnesota’s Les Bolstad Golf Course on Saturday, Nov. 2.
Owatonna’s girls’ team will compete first at 12:15 p.m., followed by the boys at 1 p.m.
Awards will be handed out soon afterward at approximately 1:30 p.m.
