Dual sweep at Deuel Invite
“This was a great meet for our runners to run with some different competition and really work together as a team,” said Canby-Minneota Coach Allyson Pesek after her cross country teams both won the Deuel Invite at Clear Lake, SD on Monday.
“ I’m excited to see where we go from here! We have the Milaca Mega Meet on Saturday,” the coach added.
Grace Drietz won the girls event and Jalyn Ufkin was second for the Canby-Minneota boys.
The girls scored 19 and beat second place Webster, Area, 19-39. Four others followed.
Drietz time of 13:32.19 easily defeated the rest of the field with C-M runners McKenzie Reuther in sixth; Faith Tradeen in seventh, Braeleyn Merritt in eighth and Cameron King in 23rd.
The fact they bunched the group together from sixth to eighth helped Drietz sweep the field for the victory.
“We had four girls place individually in the top 20,” said Pesek.
“Canby-Minneota had a great showing,” she said.
That was also true for the boys.
They won their meet over Sioux Valley, 21-38 with six other teams following.
Ufkin finished second in 17:34.06, just nine seconds behind champion Max Nielson of Sioux Valley, SD
After that C-M got Blake Stoks in fourth, Tristan Bierschenk in seventh, Sean Dilley in eighth and Alexander Full in 11th place.
For Bierschenk, it was just the second time he’s broken 20 minutes and first time he’s vaulted himself into the top three C-M runners.
“The boys teams took first and we had eight boys placed in the top 20,” added Coach Pesek.
C-M’s next three runners, Zachary Hansen, Nolan Harding and Jared Josephson were grouped together from 15th to17th place.
Both Drietz and Ufkin have been the Canby-Minneota leaders in every meet this week.
The real test will come on Saturday when the team travels to Milaca for one of the largest meets outside of the state championships.
All size schools and team will race in what is called, “The Milaca Mega Meet.”
The word “Mega” hardly says it all.
They expect upward of 150 teams and nearly 6,000 runners at the Stones Throw Golf Course at Milaca. Teams come from all over Minnesota plus North Dakota and Wisconsin.
Deuel County at Clear Lake, SD
GIRLS—1. Canby-Minneota 19; 2. Webster Area 39; 3. Dakota Hills, SD 52; 4. Deuel, Clear Lake, SD 62; 5. Redfiel/Doland, SD 68; 6. Great Plains Lutheran, 73.
Medalist: Grace Drietz, C-M, 18:32,19,
Canby-Minneota: 1. Drietz; 6. McKenzie Reuther, 20:32.62; 7. Faith Traen, 21:03.14; 8. Braeleyn Merritt, 21:13.87; 23. Cameron King, 22:33.91. Others: 29. Aidyn Bruns, 22:55.55; 30. Mackenzie Hemish, 23:08.93; 37. Rachel Wollum, 24:43.71; 42; 38. Gabby Verheist, 25:04.33; 42. Sarah Hansen, 25:38.47; 43. Kayellee Johnson, 25:39.07; RyAnn Hansen, 26:16.28; Allison Anderson, 26:59.82.
Totals runners: 52.
Boys-1. Canby-Minneota 21; 2. Sioux Valley, SD 38; 3. Webster Area, SD 78; 4. Deubrook Area., SD, 81; 5. Estelline/Hendricks 85; 6. DeSmet, SD 89; 7. Groton Area, 120; 8. Clark/Willow Lake, SD, 129.
Medalist: Max Nielson, Sioux Valley, 17:25.32.
Canby-Minneota: 2. Jaylin Ufkin, 17:34.06; 4. Blake Stoks, 17:53.15; 7. Tristan Bierschenk, 18:14.4; 8. Sean Dilley, 18:14.78; 11. Alexander Full, 18:22.21. Others: 15. Zachary Hansen, 18:30.20; 6. Nolan Harding, 18:35.61; 17. Jared Josephson, 18:36.08; 41. Carter Wente, 18:53.39; 54. Jack Nemitz, 21:02.07.
Total Runners: 72.