Trio leads Park boys in SEC cross country meet

By John Molene
Posted 10/29/24

Park placed three runners in the top 10 and had perhaps its highest finish in the conference Tuesday as the Wolfpack boys and girls competed in the Suburban East Conference cross country meet at …

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Trio leads Park boys in SEC cross country meet

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Park placed three runners in the top 10 and had perhaps its highest finish in the conference Tuesday as the Wolfpack boys and girls competed in the Suburban East Conference cross country meet at Tanners Brook Golf Course in Forest Lake.

Park junior Eli Firchau finished eighth in 15:59.3, senior Gavin Stauffer was ninth in 16:01.0 and sophomore Henry Joa was 10th in 16:01.3.

Roseville’s Robert Mechura finished first in a time of 15:10.8.

“It went out really fast but that was kind of expected,” said Firchau. “We came through the mile fast; we came through the two mile fast. And then from the two mile it was kind of just get to the end as fast as possible.”

“Eli, Gavin, and Henry ran outstanding races today,” said Park co-head coach Brad Narveson. “For all of them to finish in the top 10 in one of the hardest conferences in the state is awesome. With the times they ran they are now fourth, fifth and sixth in school history in the 5K. Couldn’t be more proud of how all the boys raced today. Now we have to refocus and get ready for the section meet. That’s going to be another tough meet but I’m excited to see what the boys can do.”

Dieudonne Kwizera holds the Park all-time record for the 5K with a 15:28 time set in 1986. But Dave Borner’s third-place all-best time of 15:51 is definitely in striking distance of any of Park’s three top runners in the next meets.

“It felt really breezy for the first two miles,” said Stauffer. “I felt very strong, I wasn’t hurting at all. And then I guess as soon as we passed that two-mile point it definitely started hurting me a little bit more. But I tried my best to push through it. I think my final K could have been a bit better.”

“I went through the first two miles way faster than I expected,” said Joa. “Two-mile PR in a three-mile race. And I came through the finish at 16:03, 16:05 (actually Joa ran a 16:01 race) 40-second PR, felt great. I felt amazing the whole race, so I was really glad my teammates were there to help pace me.”

Ben Paulsen of Park finished 58th (17:36.6), Will Mann was 66th (17:59.0), Liam Fleming 67th (18:00.3), Samuel Craig 73rd (18:40.7), Miles Kaiser 77th (18:51.6), and Sam Paulsen 78th (18:53.0).

Mounds View won the boys team title with 51 points. Stillwater was second with 59, followed by, 3, White Bear Lake, 77; 4, Roseville, 107; 5, Park, 129; 6, Woodbury, 136; 7, East Ridge, 164; 8, Forest Lake, 227; 9, Irondale, 264.

Jana Hafiz was 60th in 21:44.3 and Kalin Randrup 61st in 21:48.5 to lead the Park varsity girls.

Hollen Thompson (22:25.2), Aria Waletzko (22:39.2), Allie Devine (22:40.5), Mya Albrecht (22:50.3), Esme Edlund (23:14.5) and Ramsey Nelson (24:15.2). With the exception of Thompson, all of Park girls could return for another season next fall.

“All of our girls set personal bests,” said Narveson. “Some improved by several minutes. It’s fun to see them excited when they cross the finish line and see their times. And they should be happy, they worked really hard all year to race the way they did today. And we now have five of this year’s girls on out top 15 all-time 5K list at Park. Jana, Kalin, Hollen, Aria, and Alli are all on that list. They all deserve a lot of credit. They raced really well.”

Hafiz’s time of 21:44 moved her to seventh place on the all-time best Park list. Randrup is 10th, Thompson 12th, Waletzko 14th and Devine 15th.

Host Forest Lake scored just 34 points to win the girls SEC crown. Mounds View was second with 55, followed by, 3, White Bear Lake, 101; 4, Roseville, 104; 5, Woodbury, 115; 6, Stillwater, 151; 7, East Ridge, 177; 8, Park, 255, and 9, Irondale, 261.

Park competes Thursday in the Section 3AAA championships at Valleywood Golf Course in Apple Valley. The varsity boys race starts at 3:30 p.m., followed by the girls' varsity race at 4:15 p.m.

The Wolfpack boys were sixth in the nine-team section meet last season at Valleywood. Stauffer finished 11thin 16:38.5 while Firchau was 12th in 16:38.9. Hollen Thompson finished 42nd in the girls 5K race a year ago with a time of 23:22.3.