It’s really good for the start of the season.”

Up next:

Next up for the Wolfpack is the Dewey Minnaert Invite at St. Croix Bluffs with a 4 p.m. start on Thursday.

Park’s Henry Joa and Eli Firchau showed all but one runner their heels Thursday in the annual Grey Cloud Invitational cross country 5K run.

Joa finished second in 16:31.53 and Firchau was third in 16:36.53 among the 48 finishers. East Ridge running ace Brandon Paine finished first in 16:28.21. The course was different this year, but both Joa (18:09.00 in 2024) and Firchau (18:03.00) improved their times considerably from last year’s race in Cottage Grove.

“Me and Eli went out, we led most of the race and one of our friends, Brandon Paine, he took it out and ended up outkicking us but that’s completely fine, we’re all good,” said Joa. “He’s kind of art of our team too.

“It’s really good for the start of the season,” Joa said. “Last year here I ran like 18:10.”

Both Joa’s and Firchau’s times would rank in the top 15 of Park boys’ all-time best performances, if the pair weren’t already in the top six.

“It was exciting,” said Firchau. “Last week was a little disappointing with so much heat and I thought I was in better shape, and I didn’t do so well. This week I kind of redeeming myself a little bit I would say. I took it out, the whole group kind of went out pretty conservative I would say. But I took the lead probably less than half a mile in and led for most of it. I kind of gave up my spot just for a little bit to reset mentally from leading because that can take a toll on your mind. So I sat back for a little and then probably 600 meters to go or so I made a pretty gutsy move which I was a little concerned I wasn’t going to be able to hold it, which I wasn’t able to hold but I’m also glad that I did make the move because it shows that I’m at least trying to do something.”

Jana Hafiz finished sixth in the girls 5K in 21:43.66 to lead the Park girls. Hafiz dropped nearly five minutes from her time of 26.22.45 in last year’s Grey Cloud finish.

“I was expecting the race to be a little tough because of last year it was really hot and humid, but this year was really nice, the wind was nice, it was flat. I felt really strong as well. I’ve been training really hard this summer,” said Hafiz.

“It’s a drastic change,” Hafiz said of her time. “I mean I ran 21:44 at the end of the season last year at conference.

Hafiz’s time of 21:43 would rank as the eighth best on Park’s all-time list, although like Joa and Firchau, she’s already on the list at fourth with a best time of 21:12.

Ben Paulsen of the Wolfpack was eighth in the boys race (17:36.53), Will Mann 13th (18:38.83), Liam Fleming 18th (19:33.65), Sam Craig 25th (20:49.41), Marshall Bowe 29th (21;11.10), Jay Halstad Delgado 32nd (22;28.03), Logan Peterson 39th (23:58.83), Eli Vargas 41st (24:22.16), Dominic Kamau 42nd (25:52.78), Hamish McAvaney 43rd (26:13.37), Ryley Johnson 44th(29:53.13), Adam Kluz 45th (30:45.78), Silver Govea -Spears 46th (30:57.07) and John Voyda 47th (31:28.41).

“The boys ran really well today,” said Park co-head coach Brad Narveson. “I was really proud of Henry and Eli competing all the way to the finish. Good competition too. East Ridge had some good runners; Hastings had some good runners. It was a good meet for both of them. Both ran faster than last year. Ben Paulsen, big improvements from last year to this year. Will, was our fourth runner, ran really, really well. All the boys ran well.”

East Ridge put four runners in the top 14 finishers to take the boys team title with 37 points. Hastings was second with 42, Park third with 44 with Cretin-Derham Hall incomplete.

East Ridge also won the girls half of the meet with 31 points. Hastings was second with 41, Park third with 70 and Cretin-Derham Hall fourth with 88.

Park’s Ali Devine finished 11th in 23:10.35, Mya Albrecht was 15th (24:16.44), Bella Walker 17th(24:24.55), Eva McMorrow 27th (26:14.24), Natalie Long 33rd (29:34.10), Annleigh Johnson 34th (29:37.45), Joyce Yang 39th (31:04.90) and Jaylynn Meyer 40th (31:06.52).

“It looked like Jana had a really strong race,” said Narveson. “Wau faster than last year. She ran really, really well. Ali was our second runner, Mya and Bella competed hard all the way to the finish. Eva, I thought ran really well tonight. Really proud of the whole team.”

Next up for the Wolfpack is the Dewey Minnaert Invite at St. Croix Bluffs with a 4 p.m. start on Thursday.