The 2019 Season is a wrap! I don't post weekly updates on here as in the past, but I will add the season highlights as a final entry.
On the Boys side, running at the Swain Invitational in Duluth was a highlight for the varsity with the weather conditions that made for a very challenging, muddy race. It was the 69th Annual Swain Invite and no one I spoke with has seen anything close to this level of mud, slick and cold combined. Isaiah Fitzgerald ran first for the Tigers at this grueling meet giving it his all. They also enjoyed a night of much "gaming" in their room.
At the HVL Conference meet our boys took 5th place.. We had 4 All-Conference runners. They are: Jake Ratelle, Scott Boelman, Caleb Goff and Isaiah Fitzgerald placing in the top 19 to make All-Conference. Caleb Goff ran a PB time of 18:00.0 and Isaiah ran a PB time of 18:00.9. The boys placed 12th, 13th, 17th and 19th respectively.
The Boys and Girls together also won the shoe trophy at the Chatfield meet with the boys and girls times combined. Always an exciting challenge! Second year in a row Champions! Well done!
At the Section 1A meet the boys placed 5th out of 22 teams. Jake Ratelle ran a very strong race and placed 14th in a season best time of 17:42.7 missing State advancement by 1 place! As a team, the boys ran very strong races with several of them just missing PB or Season Best times! Well done and way to finish strong boys!
On the Girls side they also enjoyed the Swain Invitational and, while running cautiously, pulled out a 2nd place win out of 30 teams, behind first place Lake City.
It was another season of food trophies for the girls. At Lake City the girls took first place to win the Apple Pie for the 5th year in a row.
St. Charles, they won the Big Cookie for the 5th year in a row.
Austin was exciting as they were very surprised to beat Lake City by 1 point and took home the donuts!
HVL Conference was a 2nd place finish to Lake City, after 4 years running as Champions. They ran without varsity teammate Ali Graff and came up short to a tough Lake City team. The girls top five received All-Conference Honors. They are Kailee Malone, 5th, Isabel Field, 10th, Gracie Waltman, 13th, Olivia Field, 16th, and Gloria Nelson, 19th.
Section meet had them ranked 2nd going in but, having been there before and not working out, they were elated to get 2nd and advance for the 2nd time in school history to the State Meet as a team! Kailee Malone and Isabel Field qualified as individual runners as well placing 8th and 12th. They also received All-State recognition by placing in the top 15 at Sections and having a GPA above 3.75. Way to go girls!
The girls were ranked 9th in the State going in and that's where they finished. Kailee Malone improved from a 47th place finish a year ago to 26th, missing All-State Honors by 1 place! She was first for the Tigers. Her time of 19:40 was one of her best of the season. Isabel Field ran within 2 seconds of her season best time placing 65th and 2nd for the Tigers in 20:13.9. Ali Graff, ran a personal best time of 20:32.8, dropping 7 seconds and placing 89th. Olivia Field was within 3 seconds of her PB and ran 111th in 20:56.3. Up next in a time of 21:06.8 (115th) was Gracie Waltman. Gloria Nelson ran 22:06.3 (156th) and Kaylie Doherty, new to varsity, ran 23:15.5 for 169th as a freshman.
We say goodbye to 4 seniors. They have contributed so much to the success of this team and our program. We will deeply miss the contributions and personalities of Kailee, Isabel, Gloria and Gracie. Best of everything to you in your future pursuits, Ladies! Tiger CC on 3! ;-)
We have a lot of things to be happy about this season. Fun with teammates, competition, practices. There is still work to be done and it is exciting to hear the plans of those that are already thinking ahead to next year and setting goals for their next CC season! Well done runners! Have a restful but active off-season and find things to do that bring you joy!
EnJOY the run!!
Coach T.
