By Brian Tschetter –

On Monday, October 18, the Eagle cross country team traveled to Adrian to compete in the Red Rock Conference Meet. The event was held on the grounds of the Adrian Country Club. The course has multiple, long rolling hills. Warm temperatures and a strong wind out of the south made for tough running conditions. The conference has five teams with cross country. They are: Murray County Central / Fulda, Heron Lake – Okabena, Mt. Lake Area / Comfrey, Adrian – Ellsworth and SWC/E.

The team just ran this same course last week. Despite the strong wind making for worse conditions than the week before, the girls were able to have 7 out of the 12 run quicker times including the top 6 runners. The boys had 5 out of the 7 runners. That shows the amount of heart and determination these runners have.

The junior high girls ran a 2100 meter race. There were 19 girls that competed. All three Eagle runners were able to earn top 10 finishes: 3rd – Hannah Masselink (9:57), 4th – Reese Vande Griend (10:05), 8th – Kalli Blom (10:46). Race winner was Addison Wieneke of A/E with a time of 9:39. There were only two full teams which resulted in a very close points battle as MLA/C (26) just edged A/E (30).

The junior high boys ran next. There were 24 runners involved. Jayven Kooiker worked to a 17th place finish with a time of 9:36. Matthew Stapek of MCC/F was the race winner in 7:43. MCC/F also won the team title with a perfect 15 points. MLA/C (50) was second with A/E (67) third.

That wraps up the season for the jr. high teams. They accomplished a lot over the course of the season and can be proud of their hard work. Hopefully, they discovered this is a sport they want to stay a part of and continue with it.

Next on the course was the girls’ varsity 5K. There were 50 runners that competed. SWC/E results were: 5th – Maddie Fick (23:20), 10th – Kinsie Nelson (23:44), 11th – Kierra Binford (23:56), 14th – Shaylee Van Essen (24:02), 24th – Olivia Muyskens (25:15), 31st – Alexia Vander Pol (26:59.3), 32nd – Kathryn Prins (26:59.4), 37th – Kylee Brands (27:33), 44th – Ellie Decker (31:59), 46th – Annika Dyk (33:07), 47th – Braelyn Kracht (33:25), 49th – Chloe Kracht (37:22). Amanda Overgaauw of MCC/F won the race in 18:35. The top 10 earn All-Conference medals. Congratulations to Maddie (2nd time) and Kinsie (1st) for your accomplishment.

MCC/F has been the team to beat for a number of years and that was again the case as they were dominate as they scored a very impressive 19 points (scoring spots 1,2,3,4,9). Coming in, the Eagles figured to be in a tight battle with A/E and ML/C as both those teams have beat them at meets over the course of the year, including just last week.

The SWC/E squad really stepped up and battled for spots to earn the runner-up position with 61 points. A/E was third with 71 with MLA/C just 5 points back in fourth with 76. HL-O rounded out the scoring with 155. This is the seventh consecutive year the girls squad has been runner-up. That is such an impressive accomplishment to maintain that level for that period of time.

The boys’ varsity 5K race had 39 runners. The Eagle finishers were: 4th – Mason Hamm (19:04), 10th – Ethan Sas (19:54), 18th – Gabe Vis (21:30), 30th – Jordan Bloemendaal (24:01), 33rd – Jacob Masselink (24:25 – career best time), 36th – Eli Van Iperen (25:17), 38th – Devin Bloemendaal (26:38). Kody Wassman of MLA/C won the race with a time of 17:54. We have not had an All-Conference winner on the boys side since Dillon Mulske in 2015. That streak has now been broken thanks to the efforts of Mason Hamm and Ethan Sas. Congratulations to both on the accomplishment.