November 4, 2017
The state cross country meet provided a little drama, with Declan once again involved in the closest finish in meet history.
Margo was first on the line for us. She was under strict orders to have fun. Despite a very fast first mile (only a few seconds slower than what she did in Phy Ed a few weeks ago!), she ran one of her best times of the season to finish 46th. Afterwards, the winner of the race took a few minutes to talk with her about her race!
Declan led our boys team during their race. In a near replay of last year, Declan and Matt Steiger sprinted down the final straight side by side. But this year, Steiger outleaned Declan by less than a tenth of a second. Once again, the closest finish in state cross country history. Those two sure know how to put on a show!
Tanner led a pack of panthers across the line, running his second best race ever. Matt was close behind, running his second best time of the season. Henry S. and Isak were only seconds behind to complete the scoring for the boys.
Henry P. and Sumner finished up their races to wrap up the race for the boys. Henry’s time, while not his best of the season, was still a minute faster than his best of last year. Sumner may still be wondering how he wound up running in the state cross country meet. But the answer is simple: he ran a lot of miles last summer.
The state meet is a challenging affair. The course, despite lacking big hills like Battle Creek, is deceptively challenging, and has a way of sucking the life out of your legs. The race starts fast and you’re always running in a crowd. And most of you were tapering for our section race and were probably a little past your peak.
Despite those challenges, you all ran reasonably well. I hope you enjoyed this opportunity. We bid farewell to Declan and Sumner. But the rest of you might just be back here next year.
Results for girls and boys are available at Wayzata Results. There are articles at the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press (with many nice photos of MPA runners), and Down the Backstretch. There is a post-race interview with Declan on Milesplit.
