Park junior Henry Joa’s 12th place finish in a time of 16:16.1 led the Wolfpack in the Suburban East Conference cross country meet at Tanners Brook Golf Course Tuesday afternoon.

Jana Hafiz led the Wolfpack girls, finishing 52nd in the girls 5K in 20:30.5, her time moving to second on the Park cross county all-time best list. Mya Albrecht ran a 20:46 race which places her third on all-time best list.

In all, 22 of Park’s 29 runners set personal bests in the meet.

Senior Eli Firchau finished 28th in 16:37.7. Ben Paulsen was 41st (16:59.9), Liam Fleming finished 47th (17:08.6), Will Mann 61st (17:40.5), Kroix Pearson 69th (17:56.1), Adebare (goodness) Agu 81st (18:44.9), Marshall Bowe 82nd (19:54.3), Samual Craig 85th (20:29.9) and Adam Kluz 86th (20:42.6).

Park ace Firchau competed although still not feeling

“He’s been under the weather lately,” said Brad Narveson, co-head cross country coach said of Firchau. “Trying to get him back full strength. After talking to him the morning of the Simley meet it was in all of our best interests (Eli’s included) to hold him out of that one. He competed hard at the conference meet and even though he was not feeling great he still earned all-conference honorable mention which is a great accomplishment.”

Park was eighth in the boys' team race and ninth in the girls' event.

“Overall, the boys ran really well,” said Narveson. “While we finished eighth and would’ve liked to place higher, we were only 12 points out of fifth place. So, we feel like we’re close to where we want to be. If we had to pick a runner of the meet it would be Liam Fleming. A big PR for him and we’ll need him if we want to perform well at sections. Henry Joa earning all-conference was great to see. Eli earning all-conference Honorable Mention was great too. Ben Paulsen had a big PR and got under 17:00 for the first time ever. Overall, lots of positives to take from this meet heading into our section meet.”

Stillwater won the boys team race with 55 points, followed by 2. Roseville (67), 3. Mounds View (68), 4. Woodbury (104), 5. White Bear Lake (161), 6. Forest Lake (165), 7. East Ridge (168), 8. Park (173) and 9. Irondale (238).

Park’s Mya Albrecht was 56th (20:46.1), Bella Walke 61st (21:08.0), Alli Devine 72nd (21:32.4), Ramsey Nelson 87th (23:53.2), Natalie Long 88th (24:45.0) and Eva McMorrow 89th (24:45.2).

Hafiz (second), Albrecht (third), Walker (fifth) and Devine (eighth) are now all on Park’s all-time best list for 5,000 meters.

“We had lots of movement in our top 15 all-time list at Park,” said Narveson. “Jana is now number two all-time and Mya is number three. Huge PR’s for both of them at the biggest meet to date. Bella Walker also PR’d by two and a half minutes. Alli PR’d by nearly a minute. Just great races by all of them. And a huge shoutout to our captain Kalin Randrup. She’s been hurt all year, but she shows up and cheers on her teammates.”

In the girls' team race it was Forest Lake on top with just 37 points. Mounds View was second (53), Roseville third (96), White Bear Lake fourth (98), Stillwater fifth (116), East Ridge sixth (196), Irondale seventh (204), Woodbury eighth (211), Park ninth (264) and Cretin-Derham Hall 10th (276).

Next up for the Wolfpack s the Section 3AAA championships, held again this year at Valleywood Golf Course in Apple Valley. The girls' race has an 11:30 a.m. start, followed by the boys at 12:15 p.m.

In last year’s section meet, Joa finished a strong fourth in 15:43.3 – his best time of the season and third on Park’s all-time list, Gavin Stauffer was 11th and Firchau 13th in 15:69.3. Albrecht was 36th (22:03.8) in the girls' race and Hafiz 39 (22:19.7).