By John Molene

Gavin Stauffer of Park took a tight cross country battle over East Ridge’s Nathan Schultz to lead the Wolfpack in the annual Grey Cloud Invite Thursday. Stauffer finished first in 17:38.71 in the 5K race to Schultz’s tome of 17:49.97.

East Ridge won the boys team race with 20 points. Park was second with 50 points, Hastings finished third with 91 and Cretin- Derham Hall was fourth with 93 points.

Park had eight runners finish in the top 25. Nick McDonald finished sixth overall. Bronson Stachowiak was eighth in 18:56.00, Tyler Krogman was 13th in 19:23.76, Jack Weir was 17th in 19:52.84, Henry Schluetter finished 19th in 20:07.77, Mason Allen was 20th in 20:08 and Eli Firchau was 22nd in 20:29.99.

“The runners handled the conditions really well,” said Park coach Brad Narveson. “It was hot and humid, but they didn’t complain, they just competed hard and did their best.

“We had the overall winner on the boys’ side so obviously very pleased with that,” Narveson said. “Gavin ran a great race. Even though he was a few seconds out of the lead at the mile he just continued to stay relaxed and eventually took control of the race and was able to hold off the East Ridge’s top runner. I think those two could have some good battles this season.

Lydia Best was the only Park runner in the girls’ race, finishing fifth overall in the 5K in a time of 24:31.14.

Linnea Ronning of Hastings won the girls race in 21:50.59.

“We had several personal bests which was great to see considering the weather,” Narveson added. “It’s nice to have that first race behind us. We know where everyone’s at and it’ll be fun seeing them improve throughout the season. They’ve been working hard every day in practice because they want to get better and that’s why I’m confident we’ll see improvement as a team from meet to meet.”

Park competes Thursday in the Dewey Minnaert Invite at St. Croix Bluffs in Hastings, starting at 4 p.m.