Everyone competed hard and ran well.”

Park Co-head cross country coach Brad Narveson.

Given his choice of photos between one of surprisingly winning his first cross country race and congratulating a teammate, Henry Joa, Park’s senior two-time state qualifier, made the unsurprising choice.

He picked the congratulations shot.

Joa ripped off a time of 16:36.7 to easily finish first in the 2026 Grey Cloud Invite Thursday at Cottage Grove Middle School. His winning time was 47 seconds faster than East Ridge’s Jack Sales who finished second in 17:23.6.

It was all in a day’s work for Joa, who finished sixth in this race as a sophomore and second last fall.

Joa said he went out fast with a pair of East Ridge runners, slowed down in the second mile and took the lead at about the mile and a half mark.

“I then I kind of just took it from there,” Joa said. “Continued my gap, I was looking behind me a little bit, you’re not really supposed to do that because it shows that you’re looking back I guess. But I could tell they were falling off so I just kept going.”

Probably the most surprising thing was that this was Joa’s first individual cross country victory, after excelling for the Wolfpack for the past two seasons.

“Henry looked really good,” said Park Co-head cross country coach Brad Narveson. “I was nervous at the mile mark when it looked the leaders were pulling away from him. But when he made his move, he made it confidently and pulled away. It’s the first race he’s ever won in cross country. I don’t think it will be the last.

“Today was the best I’ve seen Liam race in hot weather,” Narveson added. “There was a moment it looked like he was going to give in to the heat, but he battled through and had a strong race. Really proud of him. I love that our second through fifth runners are so close to each other. Now we need to continue to have them get better and a little closer to Henry.”

Joa’s efforts highlighted a good race day by both the Park cross country teams, both of which finished second.

East Ridge won both halves of the team competition. In the boys events it was East Ridge 28, Park 40, Hastings 60 and Cretin-Derham Hall 104. The Raptors placed four runners in the top five.

On the girls' side East Ridge won with 35 points, Park was second with 51, Hastings third with 65 and Cretin-Derham Hall fourth with 76.

“The kids ran great today,” Narveson said. “We’re really proud of how they handled the heat and humidity. There was no complaining because they know they can’t control the weather. Everyone competed hard and ran well.”

Park’s Liam Fleming (18:54.2), Ben Paulsen (19:08.1) and Marshall Bowe (19:17.6) finished eighth through 10th, with Nolan Bowe coming in 12th (19:23.4).

“Today was the best I’ve seen Liam race in hot weather,” Narveson noted. “There was a moment it looked like he was going to give in to the heat but he battled through and had a strong race. Really proud of him. I love that our second through fifth runners are so close to each other. Now we need to continue to have them get better and a little closer to Henry.”

Will Mann was 25th (22:26.4), Dominic Kamau 32nd (23.28.3), Eli Vargas 34th (23:39.1), Hamish McAvaney 40th (26:26.6), Adam Kluz 43rd (28:01.5), Lachlan McAvaney 45th (28:56.6), Louis Harris 49th (30:20.3), John Voyda 50th (31:16.7), Jadin Ulrigg 51st (33.22.5) and Ryley Johnson 52nd (34:02.4).

Senior Jana Hafiz again led the Park girls, finishing fifth in 22:44.2. Alli Devine was seventh (23:46.5), Bella Walker 11th (24:40.1), Mya Albrecht 12th (24:44.6) and Alaina Murphy was 16th (25:48.0).

Ramsey Nelson finished 19th (26:44.9), Chloe Peters 21st (27:19.0), Eva McMorrow 29th (29:06.0), Joyce Yang 36th (33:10.2), Jaylynn Meyer 39th (35:56.2) and Kylie Iverson 40th (38:20.8).

“The girls team looked strong today,” Narveson said. “Last week we tied Cretin and today we beat them by 25 points. We’re looking for continuous improvement and we saw that today. We love how they train together, and I think that’s being shown on the racecourse. I can’t wait to see what the season holds for our girls' team.”

The Wolfpack runners compete Thursday in the Dewey Minnaert Invite at St. Croix Bluffs, starting at 4 p.m. Teams competing are Park, Osseo, East Ridge, St. Croix Prep, Cretin-Derham Hall, Hastings and North St. Paul/Tartan.