Henry Joa ran his way back to state to lead the Park High cross country runners in the Section 3AAAa Championships Thursday at Valleywood Golf Course in Apple Valley.

Joa, who said he was feeling a bit under the weather, still placed fifth overall in the boys 5K with a time of 16:18.5. He qualified for state for the third time. He was 76th as a sophomore in a time of 16:43.4 and 143rd last season in 17:32.4.

“It went out fast, I think it was sub five, so I think it was about 4:55 I went out in,” said Joa. “So, it was about the same as conference when I PR’d. And then the hills kind of took the reins. It’s definitely a hard course. This year they made it 200 meters longer. That definitely didn’t feel great. But I still got the job done, qualifying. I felt pretty weird this morning. I was just hoping to qualify today so I’m glad I got that done.”

“Just caps off an outstanding year with qualifying for the state meet, so super proud and happy for him to take care of business today and get to the state meet,” said Park cross country cohead coach Jesse Nelson about Joa. “And he put together a very solid race. I thought he ran a very smart race just to get himself in position to guarantee him a spot at the state meet.

“He might have been a little under the weather and that maybe makes today even better that maybe he didn’t feel great, but he still put together a solid performance,” Nelson added.

The Park boys finished fifth in the team race, moving up two places from last season. The Wolfpack girls repeated their sixth-place team finish.

Seniors Jana Hafiz (19th in 21:42.5) and Alli Devine (27th in 22:41.5) once again led the Park girls.

“Her (Jana) objective was to qualify for the state meet and she got herself in position and she gave it everything she physical had and mentally had to qualify there and just came up a little short at the end,” said Nelson. “So, we’re super proud of her and she may be a little disappointed in the result but not in what it took to get here and the type of runner she’s become and the type of person she is. So super proud of her.”

Following Joa for the Park boys were Liam Fleming 20th (17:31.0), Nolan Bowe 22nd (17:43.1), Ben Paulsen 40th (18:46.0). Marshall Bowe 49th (19:10.4), Will Mann 53rd (19:48.7) and Dominic Kamau 56th (21:41.9).

In the girls race after Hafiz and Devine for the Wolfpack were Chloe Peters 29th (23:32.1), Mya Albrecht 30th (23:35.9), Alaina Murphy 36th (24:27.9), Ramsey Nelson 38th (24:28.7) and Bella Walker 40th (25:00.7).

“I think it caps off a very solid year,” said Nelson. “These kids are so great to each other. They work so hard. They do everything we ask of them every single day and then they come back for more the next day. So I couldn’t be prouder as a coach of how both the boys and the girls finished. We’re just like every team, we’ve got our injuries, we’ve got our sicknesses and things like that and our team bounced back from each one just like we would have hoped.

“Our senior leadership on this team, we’re going to miss that the most,” Nelson added. “They’re great runners, they’re even better kids but they’re even better than that, they’re leaders. We go from Henry and Ben and Liam on the boys side to Jana and Alli on the girls side along with Bella. Just the leadership these kids provide from our seniors has just been outstandings and we’re really going to miss that. But you know what, they set a great example for the next group coming up.”

Rosemount won both the boys and girls team races.

In the boys meet it was: 1, Rosemount 29. 2, Eastview 39. 3, Bloomington Kennedy 120. 4, Eagan 127. 5, Park 136. 6, Hastings 150. 7. Burnsville 159 and 8, Apple Valley 175.

The girls meet team scores were 1, Rosemount 33. 2, Eagan 60. 3, Eastview 75. 4, Hastings 112. 5, Burnsville 136. 6, Park 141. 7, Apple Valley 167. And 8, Bloomington Kennedy 221.

Joe was the only Park runner to qualify for the state cross country meet, held this season at a new course, the Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake. The boys Class AAA race will start at 10:45 on Saturday. Nov. 7.

“Next week I’m hoping to make all state, and maybe even push to the top 15, top 10,” said Joa. “I think next week I’ll be feeling a lot better and a lot more hungry.”

Spectator parking is free of charge and will be available on race day at Blaine High School, 12555 University Ave NE, Blaine. Parking can only be accessed from University Ave. Shuttle service to and from the golf course and the parking lot will be provided from 8:45 am to 4:30 pm on race day. The shuttle pickup and drop off points will be posted with large “Shuttle Stop” signs.