Huskies’ girls earn the ‘four-peat’ at home

As Owatonna’s Kaylin Herman crossed the finish line at Brooktree Golf Course as her team’s fifth and final qualifying runner at the Section 1AAA meet, silence fell upon the local crowd as supporters held their breath and waited for the electronic scoreboard to decide the Huskies’ fate.

When the monitor flashed its changes with newly updated scores, that silence turned to cheers as Owatonna’s girls cross-country team learned it had accomplished its goal: qualifying for state for the fourth consecutive season.

The team’s final tally of 67 team points was enough to leapfrog Lakeville North’s 74 to take over possession of second place and punch the Huskies’ tickets to the Class AAA state meet.

“My heart was pounding watching the board,” said Owatonna girls Head Coach Tasheena Cooke. “I told the girls at the beginning of the day that no matter what, we were going to run grateful today. No matter how it went, this team has been running so well and their times have improved so much. But when the times were going onto the scoreboard and teams are going up and down in the standings, your heart is just racing. When we came in second, my heart just jumped. It was amazing.”

Owatonna’s big raceday kicked off with Gracie Randall running neck-and-neck alongside Farmington’s Lauren Lansing for the section title.

Randall finished second in 18:03.40 to earn her team critical points with four Huskies runners still waiting to cross.

“I was just staring at the board, but I wanted to be there for all of the girls finishing the race – both on our team and the others – because that’s always the most important,” said Owatonna’s junior Gracie Randall.

She didn’t have to wait long for company as teammate Clara Meier also cracked the top 10, finishing eighth in 19:17.30, just ahead of a large pack of opponents.

“I told myself that I wanted it more than the girl next to me. That I worked harder than her this entire season, so I wasn’t going to let her be the reason I wouldn’t go to state,” said Meier on the late stages of her race.

With two across, Owatonna’s Leah Leckner and Clara Sennott were next to make their mark with the former finishing 13^th in 19:33.90 and the latter earning 17^th in 19:58.10.

With just Herman left on the trail, Lakeville North’s team score had already been inputted with 71 team points after having runners finish in sixth, 11^th, 16^th, 20^th and 21^st place.

To this point, Owatonna had already compiled 40 points, meaning Herman had to finish 31^st or better to earn her team second place.

Another large pack of runners turned for the final stretch toward the finish line with spots 24-31 on the line, but it was Herman whose kick was strong enough to earn her 27^th place in 20:30.80 to secure her team the trip back to state.

“These girls have built such a strong culture. They’re such inspirations and role models for the younger girls. It’s been years and years of building this culture and they’ve done such a great job to be back in this position,” said Cooke.

The Huskies will take the course for the Class AAA state meet held at Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 10 a.m.

Boys cross-country

Joining the girls team at state will be three Owatonna boys runners: Grayson Slotsve, Kaiden Struss and Noah Eickhoff.

Slotsve was able to earn his ticket to state by finishing fourth in 16:08.70 with his teammates Struss (12^th – 16:38.10) and Eickhoff (14^th – 16:40.20) close behind.

The Huskies boys team was close to qualifying as a squad, but fell just short of its ultimate goal by taking third with 61 points, just six shy of Farmington’s 55.

Owatonna’s boys state qualifiers will start their run at 10:45 a.m., immediately following the girls’ race.